BT warns it will increase phone bills by 6.5%

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-28902300
BT has warned millions of customers it is increasing its prices by up to 6.5% from December this year.

It will increase the line rental for direct debit customers by 6.25% to £16.99, and the rate for calling UK landlines by 6.44%.

The set-up fee for landline calls, residential calls, to the speaking clock and call return charges will also increase for some or all customers.

But BT said it had added "extra money-saving options" for poorer customers.

'Taken care'
The majority of its customers were on inclusive call packages and would not pay set-up fees or pence per minute charges on calls, said BT.

BT's option for low-income customers, BT Basic, will stay the same at £5.10 a month with a call allowance.

John Petter, chief executive at BT Consumer, said: "We have taken care to make sure that low-income customers avoid price increases."

He added: "We have added extra money-saving options for low-income customers and for customers who only want a phone line for calls."

Broadband prices are going up by as much as 6.49%, although BT said its current "high profile" press and TV broadband offers would stay at the same price.

It added that call bills had fallen 14% in the past five years.

Sky, BT's rival, is set to increase some of its tariffs from September.
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Comments

  • BKMBKM Posts: 6,912
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    I see that Line Rental is being increased by ANOTHER £1/month to £16.99:o

    This is immensely attractive to Phone Companies as it is a regular income that compensates them for the fact that calls and broadband income are going down. It's also hard for customers to escape!

    HOWEVER it may, at some stage, backfire on them as I know people who have moved totally to mobile phones for BOTH calls and broadband - and thus pay NO line rental!
  • SexbombSexbomb Posts: 20,005
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    Getting a bloody rip off this country >:(>:(>:(
  • Magic TorchMagic Torch Posts: 658
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    'Free' BT Sport?!?
  • Gavin_DGavin_D Posts: 2,004
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    'Free' BT Sport?!?

    The move has already been dubbed a "football tax".
  • daver34daver34 Posts: 825
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    Gavin_D wrote: »
    The move has already been dubbed a "football tax".

    BT should be forced to use BT vision/youview/Sports subscribers to pay for all their new media contracts, not BT customers.
  • DRAGON LANCEDRAGON LANCE Posts: 1,424
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    Knew this would happen when they overpaid so much for the sh*ty football!

    I'm not with BT, but this will effect everyone wont it due to us all having to pay a line rental tariff on whatever firm you are with, which goes to good old BT as they own the phone lines.

    BT should have their monopoly taken off them.
  • alan.walan.w Posts: 1,437
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    Sexbomb wrote: »
    Getting a bloody rip off this country >:(>:(>:(

    GOT :o
  • RadiogramRadiogram Posts: 3,515
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    Yep, it's outragous and the other companies will happily follow.

    The only time I use my landline now is to answer the shitty sales calls that you cannot avoid despite being with TPS etc.
  • Ray266Ray266 Posts: 3,576
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    £16.99 a month line rental is a bit much I have to agree, We pay the line rental saver but of course thats gone up we pay that next year, If we didn't have the internet we wounldn't have a phone line simple as that we don't have the anytime plan we just have after 7pm & all weekend for £3 a month. I know people who would never have the internet in their case it would be cheaper for them to have a cheap mobile contract & ditch the phone line.>:(
  • tghe-retfordtghe-retford Posts: 26,449
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    BKM wrote: »
    HOWEVER it may, at some stage, backfire on them as I know people who have moved totally to mobile phones for BOTH calls and broadband - and thus pay NO line rental!
    How do people use many gigabytes of data from their mobile phone considering how tethering on phones are having their data caps reduced and are advising people to use landline broadband and Wi-Fi?

    Line rental is becoming a licence to print money at the moment as the alternatives are unavailable outside of London and are being closed by competitors. As with energy firms, once one puts prices up, everyone else follows and competition seems to be lacking.

    I know of one company which uses 4G purely for Internet without line rental but only within London. Maybe that will provide competition against landline broadband as long as the capacity doesn't become a hurdle.
  • omnidirectionalomnidirectional Posts: 18,796
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    Virgin used to market the fact that you don't need an unwanted landline for their broadband, but now it hardly makes any difference:

    eg. for 100Mb:
    With Landline: £36.49/month (Broadband £20.50 + line rental £15.99)
    Without Landline: £33/month (from 1st October 2014)
  • RadiogramRadiogram Posts: 3,515
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    It makes you wonder if the regulator is actually there for the public. We are being fleeced year on year (twice a year sometimes) and they sit back and accept it.

    I am with Talk Talk but it is safe to assume the will announce another rise soon on top of the recent one. It's getting beyond a joke now.
  • gothergother Posts: 14,655
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    Radiogram wrote: »
    Yep, it's outragous and the other companies will happily follow.

    The only time I use my landline now is to answer the shitty sales calls that you cannot avoid despite being with TPS etc.

    I can't see why companies can't follow VMs suite and allow broadband without the need of line rental.
    I was close to switching to BT yesterday glad i held off.
  • Gerry1Gerry1 Posts: 4,206
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    The telcos all know that Ofcom is a completely toothless regulator, so they don't even bother to pretend they compete with each other.

    BT does something and all the others follow suit almost at once.
    * Call set up fee
    * Later time of 7pm for evening rates
    * Per second pricing replaced by per minute
    * No broadband-only: line rental from same telco is now usually compulsory
    * Confusion pricing: being charged extra if you don't take other services
    One thing that's seldom mentioned is that Ofcom should insist that it should be possible to rent a 'naked' phone line, i.e. just a pair of wires for broadband access, no dial tone and no telephone service connected.

    But Ofcom are just in cosy relationships with the telcos, so it'll never happen. :(
  • GroutyGrouty Posts: 33,943
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    Yup, definitely made my mind up now, im switching mine to Sky, and upgrading to their Fibre, £17 for line rental, they aving a larf!.
  • occyoccy Posts: 64,627
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    I might think about coming off the phone, but I need a line for broadband which is why they put the prices up. I might return to sky anyway.
  • SteveMcKSteveMcK Posts: 5,457
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    Sexbomb wrote: »
    Getting a bloody rip off this country >:(>:(>:(

    Rubbish. Try living in some other countries before you make such sweeping generalizations. When you combine prices, indirect and direct taxes, general cost of living and average wages, etc. the UK is slightly better than the EU average.
  • RadiogramRadiogram Posts: 3,515
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    Grouty wrote: »
    Yup, definitely made my mind up now, im switching mine to Sky, and upgrading to their Fibre, £17 for line rental, they aving a larf!.
    occy wrote: »
    I might think about coming off the phone, but I need a line for broadband which is why they put the prices up. I might return to sky anyway.

    Do you both not think Sky will follow suit? Of course they will.
  • SteveMcKSteveMcK Posts: 5,457
    Forum Member
    Knew this would happen when they overpaid so much for the sh*ty football!

    I'm not with BT, but this will effect everyone wont it due to us all having to pay a line rental tariff on whatever firm you are with, which goes to good old BT as they own the phone lines.

    BT should have their monopoly taken off them.
    BT's official monopoly ended in the 1980's. They are a single supplier in some cases today simply because no other company wanted to take on the business.
  • GroutyGrouty Posts: 33,943
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    Radiogram wrote: »
    Do you both not think Sky will follow suit? Of course they will.

    Of course, it says some of Skys tariffs are going up in Sept, id still expect their line rental to be a bit cheaper though, and thats all id be paying on this line, as my phone service line is downstairs on a seperate one, which ive got through SSE, as they cheaper than BT.

    Just checked, my line rental through SSE for my downstairs line, its only £14.49, my BT line rental is £16.
  • howard hhoward h Posts: 23,350
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    £22.40.
    That's Tesco's unlimited broadband* + phone line rental which includes free anytime calls. (Nothing to pay BT the line rental)

    Even cheaper if you decide to pay for your calls rather than have them inclusive. They've provided excellent service so far - and, no. I don't work for them and hate shopping in their gigantic megahangers.

    I get around 12mb/s, plenty for streaming HQ vids etc.
  • neyney Posts: 12,516
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    If it was not for the fact that we need the phone line for Internet services we would do away with the phone line as its lucky if we make 10 calls using the landline in the 3 months.
    When mum was alive she used the landline more to phone family and friends in the Falkirk area.
    BT Sport as someone said is not really free as they putting prices up else where to cover it.
    I have BT TV though Youview and although its a ok service. BT are starting to get as dear as Sky and Virgin for there services.

    Darren
  • BKMBKM Posts: 6,912
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    Grouty wrote: »
    Of course, it says some of Skys tariffs are going up in September.
    Which is a bit of VERY sloppy reporting! NONE of Sky's Broadband OR Phone prices are going up in September!

    Mind you, if they had looked further, they would have found that - for the last few years - Sky's TV prices have gone up on 1st September while the Broadband and Phone have gone up on 1st December!:o
  • muppetman11muppetman11 Posts: 2,832
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    Gerry1 wrote: »
    The telcos all know that Ofcom is a completely toothless regulator, so they don't even bother to pretend they compete with each other.

    BT does something and all the others follow suit almost at once.
    * Call set up fee
    * Later time of 7pm for evening rates
    * Per second pricing replaced by per minute
    * No broadband-only: line rental from same telco is now usually compulsory
    * Confusion pricing: being charged extra if you don't take other services
    One thing that's seldom mentioned is that Ofcom should insist that it should be possible to rent a 'naked' phone line, i.e. just a pair of wires for broadband access, no dial tone and no telephone service connected.

    But Ofcom are just in cosy relationships with the telcos, so it'll never happen. :(
    I'd much sooner have BB only , there's also a choice of VOIP providers who are considerably cheaper if you need a phone number.
  • neyney Posts: 12,516
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    I'd much sooner have BB only , there's also a choice of VOIP providers who are considerably cheaper if you need a phone number.

    There maybe a choice of VOIP providers that are cheaper but you still need a phone line and pay line rental to the likes of BT.

    Darren
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