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gt94sss2
01-02-2008, 11:53
BT have announced that effective today, all BT Together Option 1 customers will get free weekend calls.

In addition, if you agree to a 12 month rolling contract, you will also get evening calls for free.

More details:

BT has today (Friday) made UK weekend call charges a thing of the past by extending free weekend calls to UK landlines for its 10.8 million Option 1 customers.

The move takes effect from today and will mean that, for the first time, all 14.8 million BT households - the majority of those in Britain - will no longer have to pay for weekend calls.

BT says the giveaway is the first step in a revision of its prices that will also see the cost of its two most inclusive calling plans slashed from 1 April. BT says the move will undercut its closest rivals for such standalone plans.

The main changes are:

* Unlimited Weekend Plan (replaces BT Together Option 1): This plan is free with customers paying line rental only. From today, customers on this plan will receive free weekend calls without having to do a thing. If they take a 12-month renewable contract, they will also get free evening calls, saving them a further £32.40 a year on top of the savings they will enjoy through receiving free weekend calls

* Unlimited Evening & Weekend Plan (replaces BT Together Option 2): BT is cutting the price of this plan, which offers free calls at weekends and evenings, by 22 per cent from £3.45 to £2.70 a month. The monthly cost of this plan has now fallen by more than 50 per cent in two years

* Unlimited Anytime Plan (replaces BT Together Option 3): BT is cutting the price of this plan, which offers free calls at all times, by 25 per cent from £7.95 to £5.95 a month. The monthly cost of this plan has now fallen by almost 60 per cent in two years. The plan includes discounts of up to a third on calls to mobiles as well as 200 inclusive texts.

BT says customers will enjoy further savings from April with the launch of a new International Saver calling plan. This offers highly-competitive rates for calls to all international destinations for just £1 a month.

This is the third time in the past two years that BT has slashed the price of its inclusive calling plans. A recent report from Ofcom estimated that a typical basket of fixed-line calls had fallen in price by 30 per cent since 2002 and that fixed-line prices are now lower in the UK than in France, Germany, Italy and the US.

BT Retail consumer managing director Gavin Patterson said: “These are radical changes that will benefit millions of our customers - and they don’t need to do a thing. Millions of people will see the price of their call plans fall whilst millions more will enjoy free weekend calls for the very first time.

“These are fantastic deals and, unlike with some of our competitors, there’s no need to take another costly service to get the benefits. Weekend calls are being given away free to millions of people and there’s the added bonus of free evening calls if customers take a contract and stay with BT.

“Our research shows that customers prefer to know what their bill will be in advance and that’s what we’re giving them.

“Customers can now get all their calls for less than 20p a day - less than the price of a second class stamp, or what you’d pay for sending a couple of texts. We’re moving towards a world where people won’t pay per call in the same way they don’t pay per e-mail.”

From 1 April, BT is revising some other prices. For the first time in two years, the price of line rental - now available with free calls at the weekend - will go up by 75p to £11.75. Customers who take paper-free billing will see no change, however, as the discount for that option is increasing by 75p to £1.25.

The price of daytime calls is also being increased from 3.25p a minute to 4p a minute. These calls are free for customers on the Unlimited Anytime Plan.

The price of evening calls for Unlimited Weekend Plan customers is also changing to 1.5p a minute. Those customers can enjoy these calls free if they sign a 12-month contract which will then operate on a rolling basis. This means they will enjoy free weekend and evening calls as long as they stay with BT. The existing set-up fee of 6p will apply to all chargeable evening calls.

also more information here (http://www.productsandservices.bt.com/consumerProducts/dynamicmodules/pagecontentfooter/pageContentFooterPopup.jsp?pagecontentfooter_popupid=23771) and here (http://www.productsandservices.bt.com/consumer/consumerProducts/pdf/Changes_to_BT_Pricing.pdf)(pdf)

Regards
Sunil

cedge
01-02-2008, 12:06
Looks good!

expressman33
01-02-2008, 12:14
how does this affect people on the "low user scheme" ?

gt94sss2
01-02-2008, 12:25
how does this affect people on the "low user scheme" ?

It makes no difference to them at all..

Regards
Sunil

erebus
01-02-2008, 12:33
It makes no difference to them at all..

Unless your NOT on the paper billing scheme, then it's a 75p rise. As paper billing saves you a little money each month probably worth signing up for.

gt94sss2
01-02-2008, 12:40
Unless your NOT on the paper billing scheme, then it's a 75p rise. As paper billing saves you a little money each month probably worth signing up for.

I presume you mean e-billing :)

However, the light user scheme is one of those 'funny' tariffs and its price isn't affected by a) if you have e-billing or paper bills and b) if you pay by direct debit or not - unlike most BT tariffs

Regards
Sunil

Delh
01-02-2008, 13:31
No more circa 5p an hour chats weekday evenings for 'us' on the basic package :( ~ will cost me 90p from 1st April for the equivalent call

Delh

malcy
01-02-2008, 13:43
No more circa 5p an hour chats weekday evenings for 'us' on the basic package :( ~ will cost me 90p from 1st April for the equivalent call

Delh

Please I moved to Talk Talk (http://www.thedvdforums.com/affiliatelink.php?
localaffiliateid=115)

BT are forcing their customers to rolling 12 month contracts otherwise you will get a dramatic rise in call charges for weekday evenings which is a complete ripoff.

Also putting up line rental to cover the give away so affects those with other suppliers but have BT rental is a con.

Not really a bargain.

nictry
01-02-2008, 13:47
Not showing on the BT website yet :(

jroadley
01-02-2008, 13:51
Not showing on the BT website yet :(

Is it not this? (http://www.productsandservices.bt.com/consumerProducts/displayTopic.do?topicId=23734&s_intcid=con_intban_btcom_con_hub_callingpackages_june_promo_homepage_largeadslot)

gt94sss2
01-02-2008, 14:37
Please I moved to Talk Talk (http://www.thedvdforums.com/affiliatelink.php?
localaffiliateid=115)

BT are forcing their customers to rolling 12 month contracts otherwise you will get a dramatic rise in call charges for weekday evenings which is a complete ripoff.

Also putting up line rental to cover the give away so affects those with other suppliers but have BT rental is a con.

Give TalkTalk a couple of weeks and I can almost guarantee they will copy the BT tariffs.. minus 5 or 10%

Regards
Sunil

AndrewP
01-02-2008, 14:45
Please I moved to Talk Talk (http://www.thedvdforums.com/affiliatelink.php?
localaffiliateid=115)

BT are forcing their customers to rolling 12 month contracts otherwise you will get a dramatic rise in call charges for weekday evenings which is a complete ripoff.

Also putting up line rental to cover the give away so affects those with other suppliers but have BT rental is a con.
Not really a bargain.


You can have paper free billing and get £10.50 line rental only if you are with another supplier though can't you?

malcy
01-02-2008, 14:53
You can have paper free billing and get £10.50 line rental only if you are with another supplier though can't you?

Yes.
What I was objecting to is the way BT are linking into a 12 month rolling contract to keep the old prices people used to get for weekday evening calls.

Guess they must be worried by churn so way of locking you in.

Is definitely unfair, should only be 12 month initial then 1 month notice, not 12 month for ever. By the time your notice expires the terms of whoever you which to switch to will have changed !

axious
01-02-2008, 15:47
As seen elsewhere:

But, BT being the edit they are, prices rocket from 1st April.

As pointed out in uk.telecom by someone else,
the price of daytime calls will go up by 18%,

evening calls which are currently 4.5p up to an hour will now cost
1.5p/ minute [90p /hour] which is a 2000% increase if your partner
likes chatting to her friends an hour at a time.

rental goes up by £2.25/quarter
etc...

Of course, they offer yearly contracts which typically, if you pay xx
you get a discount of perhaps yy as long as you do zz but not aa
unless bb is longer than cc but not as large as dd in which case you
might suffer penalties of ee or ff, but not if you have a paperless
account in which case ... etc etc etc

Don't bypass the swear censor please.

Ricinus
02-02-2008, 00:22
Is definitely unfair, should only be 12 month initial then 1 month notice, not 12 month for ever. By the time your notice expires the terms of whoever you which to switch to will have changed !

Would BT have to give 12 months notice if they changed their prices again ?

I glimpsed an ad for the free weekend calls and got excited until I calmed down and remembered there is always a catch. There certainly is with the charge for week day evenings.

ic
02-02-2008, 17:09
There's always Plusnet (http://www.thedvdforums.com/affiliatelink.php?localaffiliateid=292) which offers free evening and weekend calls for 9.99 a month including the line rental (nothing to pay to BT). Bonus is that plusnet's call centers are UK based - unlike BTs!

pud77
02-02-2008, 18:03
Just signed up for the Anytime Option 3 at £5.95/mth, first 3mth free. Seems ok with 33% saving on mobile calls too. I know that I can probably get it a few quid cheaper from other providers but after hearing a few tales about Talk Talk's service, I'll stick with the devil I know.
The other half can now natter away all day long and leave me in peace ...... :thumbs:

benbobjr
02-02-2008, 18:20
Bonus is that plusnet's call centers are UK based - unlike BTs!

well 2 bt call centres are in india and the other 29 are in the uk.

nictry
02-02-2008, 18:24
Ignore me :doh:

splobber
02-02-2008, 21:44
Just signed up for the Anytime Option 3 at £5.95/mth, first 3mth free. Seems ok with 33% saving on mobile calls too. I know that I can probably get it a few quid cheaper from other providers but after hearing a few tales about Talk Talk's service, I'll stick with the devil I know.
The other half can now natter away all day long and leave me in peace ...... :thumbs:

I'm looking at that, but it seems to contradict itself with the £16.95 a month thing so not sure what's going on. I hardly ever use the home phone so £5.95 a month for light use would do me just fine (I'm currently on BT Together 1 at £10.50 per month)

BT Together Option 3 - Anytime plan with 3 months free

Get 3 months FREE inclusive calls to anywhere in the UK when you sign up to a 12 month contract. After this all you pay is just £16.45 a month (includes line rental).

Free UK Anytime calls offer. Closing date extended to 30/06/08. All your UK* landline calls included, any time of the day, any day of the week and up to 33% off call rates to mobile phones with calls from just 5p a minute (6p set-up fee). Available to eligible residential customers agreeing to a 12 month contract on BT Together Option 3 ('Unlimited Anytime Plan' from 1 April 2008). Excludes customers still benefiting from any other BT Together offer. For the first 3 months you will only pay line rental, which has a monthly cost of £10.50 a month if you pay by Direct Debit and elect for paper-free billing. Otherwise add £1.50 per month for payment processing fee levied by BT Payment Services Limited, a BT Group company, plus 50p without paper-free billing discount. Discount is via bill credit. Full price £5.95 a month plus line rental from the fourth month.

Anyone make head or tail of that?

edit - ah, it looks like another £5.95 on top of the £10.50 fo the unlimited stuff so will be £16.45 a month.

nictry
02-02-2008, 22:16
Yep that's what I didn't get to start with and then realised it is the 'normal' £10.50 plus the additional £5.95 so essentially for £49.35 a quarter you get all your calls free and line rental. Any mobiles are a third off. I did the maths on my bills from the last quarter and even with the mobile calls discounted I will still save going on the new plan, anyone spending more than £50 on their line rental and calls (excl mobiles) will be better off on option 3 from now on.

lcsneil
02-02-2008, 22:17
So just sign up with someone like www.call1899.co.uk and use them in the evenings. 4p connection charge and then its free to UK landlines.

Bobo Justus
03-02-2008, 05:46
Just signed up and found (under "Calling Plan" link):

http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/314/btlb6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

That's pretty good and actually fairly straightforward for a change.

The thing though that rattles is they're shafting poor people, unconnected or dumb people who don't have a ******* clue. This is supposed to be a public service but I suppose it no longer is once it was sold off and now essentially de-regulated in the last few months.

www.1899.com will be hit by this so they might drop their connection charge a tad.

Bobo Justus
03-02-2008, 05:54
And read (and save a copy) of the T&Cs here (https://www.productsandservices.bt.com/consumerProducts/dynamicmodules/pagecontentfooter/pageContentFooterPopup.jsp?pagecontentfooter_popupid=23769)

millec199
03-02-2008, 11:23
No more circa 5p an hour chats weekday evenings for 'us' on the basic package :( ~ will cost me 90p from 1st April for the equivalent call

Delh

I've not had time to look closely at it but to me it still shows 4.5p for up to an hour with the weekend call option (http://www.productsandservices.bt.com/consumerProducts/displayCategory.do?categoryId=CON-TOG-OPT-R1

If the evening calls are going to be 1.5p per min without the 12 month contract I will move my line rental and calls to someone else, as the evenings is when we use the phone the most (too busy at weekends).

AndyWilson
03-02-2008, 11:54
I can't see anything anywhere to say that the 4.5p/hr evening calls are ending if you don't sign up for the 12 month contract.

I suspect it's been made up by the kind of people who are upset there is no way of spelling BT with a $

splobber
03-02-2008, 12:15
How about B£?

TykeUK
03-02-2008, 12:39
I can't see anything anywhere to say that the 4.5p/hr evening calls are ending if you don't sign up for the 12 month contract.

It's mentioned on the PDF as coming in on 1st April , so you have a couple of month's grace.

http://www.productsandservices.bt.com/consumer/consumerProducts/pdf/Changes_to_BT_Pricing.pdf

gt94sss2
03-02-2008, 13:21
So just sign up with someone like www.call1899.co.uk and use them in the evenings. 4p connection charge and then its free to UK landlines.

1899 actually 5p/call connection fee for UK calls.. and 4p/connection for non UK calls.

Regards
Sunil

scotty2hotty2808
03-02-2008, 13:37
The thing though that rattles is they're shafting poor people, unconnected or dumb people who don't have a ******* clue. This is supposed to be a public service but I suppose it no longer is once it was sold off and now essentially de-regulated in the last few months.


see where you are coming from - poor people need protection. the downside is that you can't easily decipher who deserves subsidised lines.

de-regulation is good as it means BT Retail can compete with other service providers (since they all pay OpenReach the same line rental).

what gets me is that it's been a PLC for 20years and competitors have been given every chance (even with regulators keeping BT's prices higher) to put networks in / build up their operations and other than sporadic bursts of cable in some cities, they still haven't. even now BT are building the much fabled 21CN and are being forced to share it even though they are paying for the research/development/equipment.

with regards to calls -

if you have bt broadband opt 2 or 3 then you get evening and weekend calls free with Broadband Talk - so you cut down your line rental to the most basic to save cash.



someone was moaning about 12month contracts. you need to put it in perspective - the Openreach connection cost is £125 at time.

people moving around are going to have to commit long term to a provider due to the costs charged. every provider is trying to get you locked in and taking up more services. there are going to be a lot of unhappy people when companies like TalkTalk etc stipulate 18-24month contracts or pass the charges on.

AndyWilson
03-02-2008, 14:02
It's mentioned on the PDF as coming in on 1st April , so you have a couple of month's grace.

http://www.productsandservices.bt.com/consumer/consumerProducts/pdf/Changes_to_BT_Pricing.pdf

That was damn well hidden!

Personally, as a light user (last Q we spent £25 on calls - £19 of those to mobiles) there's no real alternative to BT, so may as well sign up to "Evenings And Weekends" for 12 months and get it free...