Hi , Im thinking about changing telephone line rental from BT to O2

Currently I'm with BT onlne billing but dont use Direct Debit.

I am on a 12 month contract ( which runs out on 12th June)

My monthly line rental is £15.78 a month I have read that this breaks down to £11:54 a month , plus , without DD Otherwise add £2.75 a month (£1.50 payment processing fee levied by BT Payment Services Limited,

I see on my bill that there is another Payment processing fee of £4:50 , is this because I do not use DD ?

Anyway O2 called and said I can take thier anytime plan for £12:50 which includes line rental and thier top phone package .... I called BT to ask if they can match that and was told that they would reduce line rental to £8:54 per month plus £4:99 for thier Anytime plane which = £13:53

Caller Display with O2 is £1:75 per month , if so then which would be £14:25

Caller Display and anytme plan with BT would be £13:53

A few questions
If I stick with BT and pay by DD would that stop the £2:75 plus £1:50 processing fee

and , what is the other £4:50 Payment processing fee for ?


cheers

Edit: I have a BT payment card that I use every fortnight , can I still use this even if I choose to pay by DD ?

And does O2 have a payment card ?

BT offered me the same so I get all calls Caller Display and 1571 for £12.53 A month and o2 charge £12.50 a month plus £2.75 for 1571 and caller display so BT is cheaper if you pay by direct debit and paperless bills.

Daz

Only BT and the Post Office use payment cards to pay your bills as far as I know.
BT phoned me on Sunday to offer me a speed upgrade to up to 20mb but said I would only be getting a speed increse of 3mb for my line. They also said I would stay on my £5 a month discount for BT me BT Vision but I said not just now as I have Freeview and Freesat and I seem happy with them. I was also offerd a 50p discount on my line rental a month.
I tane them up on the offer for another 12months and my new contract starts on 24th May and hopefuly I will see my speed incese a a little from the near 4mb I get the now 97% of the time.
The tried to get me to go DD so I could save more money but I told them I was happy paying £5 a week with the payment card.
BT may seem a little dear but they are by far not the dearest network once you add on the fre extras like caller display that some others charge for.

Darren

The £2.75 a month is made up of £1.50 surcharge for not paying by direct debit, plus the "loss" of £1.25 discount for having a paper bill. The £4.50 on your quarterly(?) bill is three months' £1.50 surcharge.

You can also get Caller Display for free by signing up for the Telephone Preference Service via the BT website.

To be fair, I think O2 is a 12 month contract, paid by direct debit and with paperless billing, so you need to compare like for like.

I cannot believe that landlines consider caller display an "extra" in the 21st century. As a con it is similar to Ryanair charging you extra to go to the loo!

Curiously though why do mobile companies not charge for this. Is that because they charge so much already?

Because BT prices are still subject to heavy regulation, and they've put caller ID outside the standard tariff so you don't have to pay for it unless you want to.


But Ryanair don't actually do that do they? But Michael O'Leary will thank you for the little bit of free extra publicity you just gave him.


Yes. If you think back around 20 years to when BT first introduced the caller ID paid for option, a basic mobile line rental with "free" caller ID and no calls was already about twice the price of a basic landline rental.

I called today and meantioned BT's quote of £13:53 (8:54 line and 4:99 anytime) chatted to an indian girl who didnt know anything , was passed to a colleague who had Geordie accent and she said the offer was still valid , signed up over the phone and for some reason she gave me a £16 credit to my bill .... anyway

At 7pm I checked my account on BT.com and it shows that I am now on the Unlimited Anytime Plan but the small print says the line rental is £11:54 (plus the £16 credit has dissapeared) , called BT and spoke to another Indian and explained the 8:54 offer , was put on hold only to be told that the line rental will be £12:79 ????

I'll have to call back tomorrow as I'm told 12:79 for the line plus in three months they will add the 4:99 to give me a grand total of £17:78 ????

geez , is there anyone higher up that I can contact over the weekend as I would like this sorted asap , plus is there a cancelleation period ?

13:53 is more appealing compared to 17:78

cheers

edit: just to add , when confirming the offer earlier today I setup DD.