Home phone News

TalkTalk raises line rental 9.5%

Friday 2 September, 2011

By Kelvin Goodson

: Home phone provider’s monthly landline charge to go up by £1.20 from October.

TalkTalk is to raise its standard line rental from £12.60 to £13.80 from 1 October - an increase of 9.5%.

However, the home phone provider has also introduced a new line rental product that can save its customers £50 a year, it said.

Value Line Rental offers TalkTalk customers the opportunity to make a one-off payment of £114 for a year’s line rental, which works out as £9.50 a month.

Tristia Clarke, commercial director of TalkTalk, said: “Our customers have told us that they love getting great value and they want long-term confidence about their outgoings.

“Offering pay in advance line rental at such a low price offers a simple way for our customers to get the best value.”

This follows an announcement from BT last week that its line rental will rise by 5% from 4 December to £14.60 - the highest charge of the major home phone providers. However, the company promised to freeze prices until 2013 following the rise.

Sky’s line rental costs went up by £1 to £12.25 on 6 July, while Virgin Media, the UK’s biggest cable home phone supplier, now charges £13.90 for its line rental.

Primus Saver currently offers the cheapest landline in the UK, with line rental costing from £6.79 a month through Homephonechoices.co.uk - far cheaper even than TalkTalk’s Value Line Rental.