Can I get free calls to mobiles and international numbers?

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Our expert says...

Dear Kate, switching your home phone tariff to a provider that includes these sorts of calls in its price plan will really help you reduce your phone bills.

There are a few home phone providers that offer similar services, but in most cases you will have to take calling plan add-ons to take advantage of cheaper rates for calls to mobiles and international landlines.

Below, I’ve reviewed a few home phone packages that may suit you. Before you sign-up for any package though, you should do a postcode search using the Homephonechoices.co.uk online price comparison service, to make sure you get the deal for you.

BT calls to mobiles and international landlines

Britain’s biggest home phone supplier, BT (www.bt.com), offers calling plan add-ons for a set monthly price. These add-ons could help reduce your bills, as they offer discounts on BT’s standard prices for calls to mobiles and overseas calls.

Choose from the following add-ons:

• Friends & Family Mobile - This costs just £1.50 a month, and lets customers call UK mobiles for only 7p a minute at any time - saving 42% off BT standard rates. Calls will all incur a 13.1p call connection fee.
• Friends & Family International - The add-on costs £1 a month and gives you discounted calls to 238 popular international destinations. Prices start from as little as 2.5p a minute for landlines, and 26.4p a minute for mobiles overseas (plus a 13.1p call connection fee on all calls).

For more information on how to reduce your bills with BT, read our guides to BT international calls and How much do calls cost with BT?.

TalkTalk calls to mobiles and international landlines

Sign-up to the Talk Anytime tariff with TalkTalk (www.talktalk.co.uk) and you’ll get unlimited anytime calls to all UK local and national landlines, as well as unlimited calls to 36 international destinations, including the US, Ireland, Greece and Sweden.

TalkTalk offers a similar add-on to BT for international destinations, though at a cheaper price:

• International Calls Boost - This add-on is only £2.99 a month, and discounts the cost of calls to other international landlines that aren’t included in the 36 countries that get free calls, to as little as 2p per minute.

The TalkTalk Talk Anytime tariff will cost you £6.21 a month, plus £14.50 a month for line rental, plus £2.99 for the add-on.

Post Office calls to mobiles and international landlines

Though its line rental is more expensive than BT and TalkTalk, the Post Office (www.postoffice.co.uk) offers a home phone tariff that includes free weekend calls to mobile networks and its top 40 international destinations.

The Post Office’s Home Phone price plan costs £12.25 a month and includes line rental, free evening and weekend calls to UK local and national landlines, as well as free weekend calls to 40 international destinations, including Argentina, Australia, Cyprus, Germany, Poland, and the US.

Although the plan only includes evening and weekend calls, daytime calling rates are very competitive, at 5.36p per minute - cheaper than BT, which charges 7p per minute.

Making calls using over the internet

If you’re locked into a contract by your home phone supplier and can’t switch, or don’t necessarily want to, you could make cheap calls using your broadband connection.

Using an internet phone service (also known as VoIP), such as those from Vonage (www.vonage.co.uk) or Skype, can help dramatically reduce your bills, particularly if you sign-up to a tariff that offers free international calls or free calls to landlines using the same service. Have a look at some of the packages below:

For more information, read our Vonage sign-up FAQs.

I hope this helps you cut the cost of calls to mobiles and calls to international landlines Kate.

Remember, always do a postcode search first to find out which providers are available in your area, then review the packages on offer by comparing line rental, as well as mobile charges and international rates.

Ask us a question

If you have a general switching or provider query please email us at ourexpert@homephonechoices.co.uk

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