Home phone News

Home phone bills are down by £46 a year

Thursday 10 December, 2009

By Becca Talbot - becca@consumerchoices.co.uk

British households are spending less on their landline, mobile phone and broadband services in 2008 than they did in 2007, shows new figures from Ofcom.

The average UK household now spends £3.83 less a month than in 2007 on their home phone line, mobile and broadband services. The figures were revealed by telecoms regulator Ofcom in The Consumer Experience 2009 report.

Landline costs were down by £1.23 a month last year, from £23.49 to £22.26. Similarly, monthly household broadband and internet costs were down in 2008, from £11.37 to £10.71.

Ed Richards, Ofcom chief executive, said: “Take-up of communications services keeps growing and consumers are becoming smarter at finding the cheaper deals available by choosing bundled services or switching from standard annual contracts.”

An increasing number of consumers are opting to bundle their telecom services with one provider, taking advantage of discounts and special offers. In 2008, 35% of consumers took a discounted bundle’ compared to 30% in 2007.

Simon Piper, business development manager at Homephonechoices.co.uk, said: “Bundling your line rental, calls package and broadband service can really help cut your monthly bills, as well as reducing the number of bills you actually receive.”

He added: “Look out for special offers from home phone providers such as BT and TalkTalk, and even companies better known for digital TV such as Sky and Virgin Media - you could save even more money if you take a phone, TV and broadband package.”