As I think Telewests' prices are getting a little too high for my liking. We don't use the phone all that much but I don't want to be ripped off.

I don't have a BT connection so how much would that cost to get installed these days?

Cheers.

Well to answer your question,i did.
And i didnt regret it.The only problem is my broadband is capped to 40 gb's a month.Other than that no problems do it.

I'm still on TW and probably won't change as there is no BT line coming into the property. I make very few calls most times but the ones I do make are often long and at peak times. (My longest was FIFTEEN HOURS ) The cost tends to balance out over the course of a year, that's why I'm on unlimited. I don't want the hassle or expense of having a line fitted to a property that is not essentialy my own.

As for BB. It makes no difference if you change as TW is cable (unless you are on dialup). You don't have to cancel that as it is a seperate subscription and a seperate line (cable) from your telephone line.

chnage to onetel...they are much better than Bt

If there is no physical line from BT I think it costs £75 to install. Well worth it considering that you get UK-standard caller ID with BT (telewest / ntl still can't do that in a lot of places), access to all directory enquiries (tw/ntl can and do block ones they don't like and are allowed to), all indirect access providers so you can have cheaper calls (not on tw/ntl), ADSL broadband, and cheaper calls than tw/ntl anyway.


Are you completely sure there is no BT line into the property?

If you've got Telewest's broadband, and only use a landline occassionally, why not dump the landline altogether - just have broadband, which I think you can do with Telewest - and use VoIP? I've got www.draytel.org who do an adaptor for £29.99 so not too much to loose if it doesn't suit. No monthly charges. You can have a number from your locality.

I would post why but I already have - see the voip thread in the computers and networks forum (about why I would not rely on voip-only or voip and mobile)

I'm sure that there is no BT line here but I found out that I could spread the installation costs over the year (a small charge is added for this) which seems okay to me.

In the long run I'm sure I'd save money by switching and after at least 12 months with BT I could always go to a cheaper provider - something I can't do with Telewest.

As for my broadband Internet I wont need to change that from Telewest unless they mess it up or start charging much more than their competitors.

Edit: Not sure about VoIP as I've only recently heard of it (yesterday in fact. ). Will be worth looking into, though.

You can use lots of cheaper providers who want you to dial 1xxx codes as soon as you get the line - anything that wants them to take over the line may not be allowed though.

Tis worth looking into.

Do you use Telewest's TV service?

If you've got Telewest's broadband, and only use a landline occassionally, why not dump the landline altogether - just have broadband, which I think you can do with Telewest - and use VoIP? I've got www.draytel.org who do an adaptor for £29.99 so not too much to loose if it doesn't suit. No monthly charges.

Well I wouldn't change to BT from Telewest if you only use your phone on light basis.

First of all look at the comparison below:

Line Rental:

Telewest: £10.50 (Includes free weekend calls)
BT: £12.50

Calling features:
Telewest: £1.50 per feature or £3.50 for all of them.
BT: £1.75 per feature or £4.75 for all of them
Telewest 1471+3: Free
BT 1471+3: 6p per usage

Messaging services:
Telewest Voicemail: £1.50
BT Callminder: £2.50

Weekend calls on the standard tariff:
Telewest: Free
BT: 5p for up to an hour

And if you subscribe to Telewest TV and BT Telephone, expect to pay £10 extra. All TV packages are combined with the telephone service so, if you are on Supreme, then you will pay £25.50 per month and £12.50 per month for telephone line rental. And don't expect any cheaper from sky.

Also,Telewest are introducing 'Talk anywhere' (Smart-Talk) which gives you inclusive minutes to call anywhere at anytime at fixed rate per month.

I'm ditching the TV as it's not worth having (or paying for). They collect that on Monday. I will just be using Telewests' Broadband Internet - which doesn't require any additional services or cost.

I don't use the phone that often for example this months bill has just arrived and including VAT is a mere £2.87 for all call charges. Though that sometimes doubles depending but rarely exceeds £8 per month.

I also don't require any call features.

Well in that case, your better off using Telewest if your call charges are around £2 since you'd be paying for line rental and then calls on top of that meaning that your highest bill will be an estimated £14, the Blueyonder internet £14.99= £29.

You should really downgrade your TV pack to Starter pack at £5.50 per month, then use Blueyonder Broadband lite which is between 512K and 2MB for £14.99 per month and Talk weekends telephone package at £10.50 per month.

Total service charge: £31 plus £5 of call charges

Or if you ditch your TV service, the total monthly service charge would be: £24 saving you £5!

And don't listen to those who tell you to ditch your landline altogether as when you use Voip, you will have problems communicating with emergency services on 112 or 999. They will not be able to find where you are calling from and the emergency call could last for about 10minutes before they even send an anbulance out!

I don't want their TV packages (and wont have it come Monday) and if I went to BT I'd only paying £14 per month including calls. That would only equal £29 for the two.

And don't forget I am an Existing Telewest user so wont get any special offers like the new customers. I pay £10.50 plus call charges and (until July when it goes up to £17.99) £14.99 for my Broadband

I'm sure my calls would cost less with BT as well.

Overall I'd be either saving slightly or it'd be even at worst.

Also I see many new ISPs selling 8mg BB for £14.99 compared to what I am paying now.

But you can always call for emergency help from a mobile... They can tell the vicinity that you're in and you can hopefully give an address...

If you're happy with this, and subcription-free VoIP, you'll only pay for broadband. You can always give VoIP a longish-term trial before dumping the landline.

I'd expect you will be offered deals by Customer Retention when you phone up to cancel...

As I said in the other forum - mobiles stop working relatively easy whereas landlines work fine.

Bit of snow here in Cornwall last year, the 4 networks (dunno about 3, don't have a 3 phone) were busied out and took 10 attempts to get through - it was that bad that there were long queues outside the phoneboxes.

Just imagine if it were worse!

If you don't use the phone that much then it is probably not worth switching.

You could use 1899 via their 0808 access number and pay just 0.5p per minute (plus 3p connection) and then use TW for the free weekend calls.

With BT 1899 via 1899 access number is ZERO pence per minute plus 3p connection, and you could get for no monthly fee via Primus 2 free evening and weekend calls.

Since when has BT charged £12.50?

Telewest charge you 6p to connect EVERY call (not freephone numbers tho!)..

I think m419 works for or has shares in TW.

BT started charging its customer 6p for every time you press 3 to return a call, so if its a mobile and its switched off you will still pay 6p! So using the service 10 times in a month would cost 60p.

And don't forget, all service providers except a few CPS providers have a minimum call charge which relatively the same thing. So if you are on BT Together option 1 and make a daytime call lasting 1 minute, you will be charge 5p rather than the advertised 3p per minute charging. NTL charges the same known as call connection charge and if call lasts just under a minute, you will be charged 5p too.

Another thing, BT didn't even inform customers about this charging on 1471. Although there is a message 'There is normally a charge for the service'. People assume that this means calls will be charged at the standard rate.

Also, BT's billing system was rated the worst, people found that bills from BT were confusing and contained a lot of hidden charges. When I was last with BT, the bill showed 330 calls to a number in Guernsey starting 01481 and was the same number all the way down the page, I called the number and the number wasn't even in service and contacted Guernsey Telecoms now known as Cable and Wireless guernsey and they said the number has never even been in service before. BT credited this back until it happened again and this time it was a 0845 BT dial up internet access number with calls lasting 2 hours or so and was listed all the way down the page of the bill with total cost £110, It took over two months to rectify this and nearly had to pay it as Oftel was a complete waste of time!

You just don't press 3 on 1471.

Call connection charges and minimum charges are not the same.

Trying to say they are the same sounds like Telewest worker spin.


Daytime calls:

A 1 min call with BT 5p with TW 9p
A 2 min call with BT 6p with TW12p
A 5 min call with BT 15p with TW 21p

Evening calls:

A 1 min call with BT 5.5p with TW 8p
A 2 min call with BT 5.5p with TW 10p
A 5 min call with BT 5.5p with TW 16p

Weekend calls:

A 1 min call with BT 5.5p with TW 0p
A 2 min call with BT 5.5p with TW 0p
A 5 min call with BT 5.5p with TW 0p

However Primus offers for NO fee free evening and weekend calls.

Well, he clearly hasn't got shares in BT, has he!!!

I still can't work out why a subscription free VoIP service wouldn't be the answer to the original question. There's no 6p or whatever minimum charge either. Yes, you'd make sure that a mobile was always on as 999 backup.

I know my provider and yours, BexTech, would probably do. Worth a try anyway before changing landline provider.

Quite a lively thread, this!