Home phone Guides

Home phone providers

By Becca Talbot - becca.talbot@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 11/11/09)

Choosing a call plan to suit you

It’s important that when you’re considering which home phone supplier to switch to, you think about how you use your landline. Do you just use it for broadband or do you make a lot of calls? When do you make the majority of your calls and who do you call? 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

A large number of telephone providers other than BT provide home phone packages with calls and line rental. These include Primus Saver, YourCalls.net (www.yourcalls.net) and Euphony. Primus offers the UK's cheapest line rental, exclusive to Homephonechoices.co.uk. Visit the Primus Saver page on our website to switch online. If you also need broadband, then TalkTalk (www.talktalk.co.uk) offers a competitive plan that pulls together line rental, calls and fast internet access.

Cable phone suppliers

Before switching phone provider, you should also think about the kind of service you want. Phone companies in the UK fall into one of the following groups: cable phone line providers, and secondary home phone providers.

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.

Secondary phone suppliers

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

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

1. Autodialler - 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 might 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 on our home phone comparison service or using the best buy tables, 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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