Home Phone Providers

BT home phone

Updated: Tuesday 4 January, 2011

By Becca Talbot - becca@consumerchoices.co.uk

BT is the UK’s biggest home phone supplier, offering customers home phone and broadband services, as well as digital TV in the form of its BT Vision service. Could bundling your services with BT save you money?

Take a look at some of the packages on offer from BT (www.bt.com) in the table below, and compare prices to see if you can reduce your home phone and broadband bills:

About BT

BT has over 20 million customers, employs over 45,000 people and provides more than 28 million exchange lines in the UK.

While the company hasn’t done well in recent customer satisfaction surveys, it is one of the world’s leading providers of telecommunication services, and is the UK’s largest and best-known home phone provider.

BT calling plans

BT currently offers two different calling plans. These packages include line rental and calls, as well as inclusive minutes to 0870 and 0845 numbers. Below is a breakdown of the deals available from BT:

BT Unlimited Weekend Calling Plan - A home phone tariff that offers:

• BT line rental
• Free unlimited weekend calls to all UK local and national landlines that begin 01, 02 or 03
• Free weekend calls to 0845 and 0870 numbers
• 12-month contract applies

BT Unlimited Anytime Calling Plan - A home phone tariff that offers:

• BT line rental
• Free unlimited anytime calls to all UK local and national landlines that begin 01, 02 or 03
• Free anytime calls to 0845 an 0870 numbers
• 12-month contract applies

With either of these home phone packages, you will receive one monthly bill from BT, and the company will deal with all aspects of your service, including any faults on your phone line.

Why should I get BT home phone?

All of BT’s home phone packages come with a range of features, including free unlimited weekend calls to national and local landlines, and free weekend calls to 0870 and 0845 numbers. The company also offers competitive call rates to both UK mobiles and international destinations with its friends and family add-ons:

Friends & Family Mobile - Save 42% on daytime pence-per-minute rates to UK mobiles compared with BT standard rates with this add-on. An 11.5p call connection fee applies. This service costs an extra £1.50 a month for all BT calling plan customers.

Friends & Family International - Get discounts on pence-per-minute rates to 234 international destination landlines with BT’s Friends & Family International. This includes Australia, Bulgaria, China, Italy, Netherlands and USA. This service costs an extra £1 a month for all BT calling plan customers. Calls start from 2.5p per minute (11.5p call connection fee applies to every call).

Inclusive international calls - Get inclusive calls to landlines in 36 international destinations and discounted calls to another 138 countries with BT’s International Freedom. Click here for a full list of destinations. This service costs an extra £5 a month for all BT calling plan customers. Inclusive calls can last up to 60 minutes; however you can hang up and redial after 60 minutes. It is important to note that a fair usage policy applies, and you are limited to 600 inclusive minutes a month.

When you sign-up to BT, you’ll have exactly the same access to the operator and emergency numbers, however if you would like additional call features such as call barring and anonymous caller ID, you will have to select these online from your call plan. There are charges for these features - check with BT before signing up.

There are a number of ways to pay your BT bill. You can set up a monthly payment plan (pay a set amount each month) or a monthly or quarterly direct debit (pay your whole bill automatically when it is due). Alternatively, you can pay by credit or debit card, online or telephone banking, cheque or cash (by post or at Post Office branches) when you receive your bill.

It’s important to note that customers who choose not to pay by direct debit or by monthly payment plan will be charged a payment processing fee of £1.80 a month or £5.40 a quarter.

You can receive your monthly or quarterly statement from BT in either an online paper bill, or a paper bill through the post. Set-up paper-free billing online at www.bt.com/paperfree.

How can I come back to BT?

Switching your home phone service to BT is really simple, and can be done either online or over the phone. If you already have an active phone line, there will be no interruption to your service, and you will be able to keep the same phone number.

The switch will be carried out at your local telephone exchange, so an engineer won’t need to visit your house, and BT will inform your existing home phone provider that it will be billing you for your line rental and calls in the future.

If you don’t currently have a phone line, need an additional line, or if you are currently a cable customer (i.e. Virgin Media), you can have a new line installed by BT. This may incur a £130 connection charge. However, not everyone needs to pay this. Visit bt.com/new-line for more information and watch out for special offers which are sometimes available for connection to BT.

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