Home phone News

Virgin Media offers free landline calls to mobiles

Monday 1 February, 2009

By Becca Talbot - becca@consumerchoices.co.uk

Households with a cable home phone service from Virgin Media will be able to call Virgin Mobile customers for free using their landlines, from 1 April.

Virgin Media (www.virginmedia.com), Britain’s largest cable home phone provider, will offer over four million of its customers free landline calls to Virgin Mobile owners from 1 April 2010.

Line rental with Virgin Media will also increase on 1 April, from £11 a month to £11.99 a month for all customers.

Customers with the Talk Weekends tariff will be eligible for free calls to Virgin Mobiles at the weekend.

Those on the Talk Evenings & Weekends calling plan can call Virgin Mobiles for free in the evening and at weekends, while people that subscribe to the Talk Unlimited deal can make free calls to Virgin Mobile customers at any time. Package costs are outlined below:

Graeme Oxby, executive director of mobile and telephony at Virgin Media, said: “At a time when other providers seem keen on giving their customers less from their phone service, we are extremely proud to be leading the way in this field, being the first to offer free home phone to mobile calls.”

Virgin Media believes the move will give customers a chance to save hundreds on call charges to mobiles each year, and will help families stay connected, without worrying about the cost.

Ofcom’s report, The Consumer Experience 2009, found that home phone customers spent £1.6billion a year on calls to mobiles.