DS Forums

 
 

BT warns it will increase phone bills by 6.5%


Reply
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old 23-08-2014, 07:30
Satellite John
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: London
Posts: 1,825

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.
Satellite John is offline   Reply With Quote
Please sign in or register to remove this advertisement.
Old 23-08-2014, 09:07
BKM
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 6,288
I see that Line Rental is being increased by ANOTHER £1/month to £16.99

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!
BKM is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 23-08-2014, 09:19
Sexbomb
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Lancs
Posts: 14,452
Getting a bloody rip off this country
Sexbomb is offline Follow this poster on Twitter   Reply With Quote
Old 23-08-2014, 09:27
Magic Torch
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Cheshire
Posts: 322
'Free' BT Sport?!?
Magic Torch is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 23-08-2014, 09:43
Gavin_D
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: England
Posts: 1,216
The move has already been dubbed a "football tax".
Gavin_D is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 23-08-2014, 09:46
daver34
Guest
 
Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 813
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.
daver34 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 23-08-2014, 10:19
DRAGON LANCE
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2009
Posts: 1,229
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.
DRAGON LANCE is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 23-08-2014, 10:27
alan.w
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: Southwick Brighton West Sussex
Posts: 1,246
Getting a bloody rip off this country
GOT
alan.w is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 23-08-2014, 10:52
Radiogram
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 2,918
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.
Radiogram is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 23-08-2014, 11:24
Ray266
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Leeds
Posts: 2,475
£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.
Ray266 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 23-08-2014, 11:34
tghe-retford
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Retford
Posts: 20,449
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.
tghe-retford is offline Follow this poster on Twitter   Reply With Quote
Old 23-08-2014, 11:44
omnidirectional
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 10,875
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)
omnidirectional is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 23-08-2014, 11:54
Radiogram
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 2,918
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.
Radiogram is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 23-08-2014, 12:18
gother
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Between Venus and Mars
Posts: 9,023
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.
gother is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 23-08-2014, 12:28
Gerry1
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 2,436

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.
Gerry1 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 23-08-2014, 12:51
Grouty
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: The Nth East
Posts: 21,589
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!.
Grouty is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 23-08-2014, 12:51
occy
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Sussex
Posts: 25,513
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.
occy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 23-08-2014, 13:05
SteveMcK
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 5,187
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.
SteveMcK is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 23-08-2014, 13:07
Radiogram
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 2,918
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!.
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.
Radiogram is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 23-08-2014, 13:09
SteveMcK
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 5,187
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.
SteveMcK is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 23-08-2014, 13:58
Grouty
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: The Nth East
Posts: 21,589
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.
Grouty is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 23-08-2014, 14:13
howard h
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Gtr Manchester UK
Posts: 7,915
£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.
howard h is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 23-08-2014, 20:11
ney
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Scotland, Dunfermline Area
Posts: 10,698
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
ney is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 23-08-2014, 20:38
BKM
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 6,288
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!
BKM is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 23-08-2014, 20:57
muppetman11
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 2,162
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.
muppetman11 is offline   Reply With Quote
 
Reply



Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

 
Forum Jump


All times are GMT. The time now is 11:03.