Home Phone Providers

Hive Telecom

By Becca Talbot - becca@consumerchoices.co.uk

If you want to save money on your home phone bills, Hive Telecom has cheap call rates and line rental. Could you benefit from switching? (Updated 1/6/10)

Hive Telecom is the newest home phone provider to enter the UK market, offering its customers competitively priced call plans and line rental. You could even bundle your broadband with your home phone service, to save more money on your monthly bills.

The tables below show Hive Telecom’s call plans, and you can find out more information about the company in our provider guide…

What does Hive Telecom offer?

Hive Telecom offers four call plans - two which are call-only tariffs, and two which combine calls and line rental. Customers can choose from either:

• Home Call Evenings & Weekends - Offers free evening and weekend calls to all UK landlines that start 01, 02 or 03.
• Home Call Anytime - Offers unlimited anytime calls to UK landlines for £3.99 a month. This is £1 cheaper than BT’s anytime price plan.

• Home Phone Evenings & Weekends - Offers free evening and weekend calls to all UK landlines that start 01, 02 or 03, and line rental for just £10.99 a month.
• Home Phone Anytime - Offers unlimited anytime calls to UK landlines and line rental for £14.98 a month. This is £1.55 cheaper than the equivalent tariff from BT.

All four tariffs come with a 12-month contract.

Why should I get Hive Telecom home phone?

Hive Telecom offers competitive rates for international numbers and calls to mobiles. For example, BT charges 59.2p per minute for calls to South Africa made during the day, whereas Hive Telecom charges just 7.07p per minute.

If you sign-up to a Hive Telecom home phone deal, you’ll also get free landline calls to other Hive customers, depending on your call plan. These calls have no time limit.

Hive Telecom customers can view and download their monthly bills for free on the supplier’s website however if you’d prefer to receive a fully-itemised paper bill, you will have to pay £1.25 extra a month. You can request this from Hive Telecom at anytime.

Payments can made by direct debit for free, or by continuous credit card or debit card payment, or manually on receipt of the bill. If you choose not to pay by direct debit however, you will be charged £1.25 extra a month.

What do I need for Hive Telecom home phone?

Switching to Hive Telecom is quick, easy and hassle-free. If you already have an active BT phone line, in most cases you will be able to keep your existing phone number. The whole switching process will take between seven and 14 working days.

The switch will be carried out at your local telephone exchange, so an engineer won’t need to visit your house, and Hive Telecom will tell your existing home phone supplier that it will now be billing you for your calls, and your line rental should you choose to switch this to Hive too.

If you don’t currently have a phone line, or you are currently a cable customer (ie Virgin Media), Hive Telecom can arrange and manage the installation of a new line for you which will cost £115. Similarly, if you have a disused BT line at your property that has been out of service for a long time, it is likely that a reconnection charge will apply. However if the line has been out of service for only a few days it is unlikely that a connection charge will apply.

To switch to Hive Telecom from either TalkTalk (www.talktalk.co.uk) or Tiscali, a connection charge of £50 will apply.