Home phone Guides

Home phone providers

By Becca Talbot - becca@consumerchoices.co.uk

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Choosing between home phone providers can be a daunting and confusing process, especially with new phone service providers appearing all the time. Our guide will help you find one that suits you. (Updated 13/4/10)

UK telephone service providers

When considering which home phone supplier to switch to, it’s important you think about how you use your landline. Ask yourself:

1. Do you just use it only for broadband or do you make a lot of calls?
2. When do you make the majority of your calls and who do you call?
3. Do you phone mobiles or international numbers a lot?

The answers to these questions will help determine which kind of calling plan you should choose.

Phone line providers

There are loads of phone providers other than BT to take your home phone package with. These include Primus Saver, YourCalls.net (www.yourcalls.net) and Hive Telecom. And you don’t just have to take your calls with them; choose to take your line rental too for a cheaper deal.

• Visit the Primus Saver page on our website to switch online
• TalkTalk (www.talktalk.co.uk) offers a competitive plan that pulls together line rental, calls and fast internet access
• Orange (www.orange.co.uk) also offers phone and broadband packages. Existing Orange mobile phone customers will also get a discount off the headline rates.

Cable phone suppliers

Before switching phone provider, you should also think about the kind of service you want. You can choose either a standard BT line service with another provider, or a cable phone line service.

The main cable provider in the UK is Virgin Media (www.virginmedia.com). Cable phone lines are a lot different from the standard BT line, so if you choose to have a cable home phone package, an engineer will have to come to your house and install a new phone system.

Virgin Media’s cable network currently reaches only about 51% of the UK, so you should use our price comparison service to see if cable is available in your area.

Other phone suppliers

Other home phone providers use BT’s lines and sockets but divert the calls you make through to their own networks. Companies such as TalkTalk (www.talktalk.co.uk), YourCalls.net (www.yourcalls.net) and Primus are just some of the other suppliers available, and the majority of the UK phone market is made up of this type of company.

The phone supplier will divert your calls by one of three methods:

1. Auto-dialer - This is a piece of equipment that plugs into your phone line to divert your calls.
2. Prefix number - Some phone service providers require you to dial a short number before each call you make.
3. Carrier pre-select (CPS) - This is becoming the most popular method as it automatically diverts calls without the customer having to do anything.

Switching home phone providers

You may be surprised to hear that you can save money on your phone bills just by switching home phone providers. Each provider caters for different types of call, so you could be wasting money by using the wrong one.

What’s more, switching doesn’t cost a penny. Just choose a new supplier by doing a postcode search using our home phone comparison service, sign-up online, and the rest of the process is taken care of by your new home phone provider. It couldn’t be simpler to start saving money.

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