I've done a search and cannot find anything, apologies if I've missd a previous thread!

Sky's own line rental service:

Does anyone know what they will be offering?
At what charge?
What add on's (ie Caller ID or Caller Reject)
When is it launching?

Sky don't offer line rental yet, I'd say late 2007 - summer 2008.

http://www.sky.com/Assets/PDF/StaticFiles/1210910.pdf

http://www.sky.com/Assets/PDF/StaticFiles/1460110.pdf

Line Rental: £10 per month.

Caller Display: Free

Anonymous Caller Reject: £4 / month

Choose To Refuse: £3.35 / month

Other add-ons £1.75 / month.

So they will be making a loss on the phone line rental, will make it up on their calls cost and other products / services from Sky.

aren't their call cost cheaper than BT anyway? According to the adverts they are. I have just moved to the £5 mth anytime rate and will pick up the rental deal later in 4 to 6 weeks according to Sky today.

Rgds,
Scorp

Yes, fractionally cheaper than BT for most call costs.

...but remember take line rental and it's likely they will block cheap call access providers like call 18185, so you are not able to save money on calls to mobiles (with 18185 it's 3p/min weekends and 6p/min weekdays) and international calls from 0.5p/min.

Yes, it will be slightly cheaper than BT, but still a lot dearer than others.

So although you might save a few pennies on the line rental, the fraction saving on some calls doesn't make up for the loses you could make on many other calls.

However if you don't call mobiles, don't phone international not included and do make over 100 daytime calls per month each and EVERY month then the deal is OK.

You wouldn't need to use 18185 because the calls are already fairly cheap on skytalk

Not calls to mobiles and International not included.

So if you call mobiles then you'll be worse off.

It all just depends on your calling pattern.

If you only call landlines 01 / 02 numbers, then £5 for the 24/7 inclusive package is very good.

I find it astonishing that anyone would even consider transferring their line rental to save 50p a month.

Oh well, there's nowt so queer as folk as they say.

Well why not, the calls are cheaper and if you're calling a mobile you may as well use a mobile. Landlines are good for calling companies and landlines though. Cheaper landline than BT, cheaper calls, cheaper broadband you can't go wrong.

No, but there are plenty of people like me who were just glad of the chance to leave BT. I hate them. For years they have abused their monopoly position, offered poor value for money etc.

I just hate their attitude to customer service. Like for instance when they recently (by their choice) put up their line rental and call cost. Then a few months later, tried to tell me "Ofcom have allowed them to reduce their costs" what a load of bull. Ofcom never told them to put them up in the first place.

Now we FINALLY have real choice, I was glad to see the back of them, I would have changed for the same price, a saving is a bonus.

Although Sky's rates to UK 01/02 numbers may be slightly cheaper than BT, they're certainly not the best available. In any case, that's certainly no reason to hand over your line rental to Sky - because that will undoubtedly result in a loss of choice with regard to how you can route your calls. Using Sky as a CPS provider and mixing and matching depending upon the numbers you're calling is a far more cost-effective plan.

With regard to mobiles, many of us don't have contract mobiles with inclusive minutes so the option to use 18185 and call for 6p/minute during the week and 3p/minute at weekends is vital.

But other companies have been re-selling BT's WLR for years. LLU (Talk Talk etc.) goes a stage further but, in both cases, the new line providers can (and most do) restrict the use of cheap call providers like 1899 - thereby forcing subscribers to make their calls via them.

Its more than 50p, BT have now started charging me for 1571 and caller id. so my last bill for line rental only was £13.81

That's because you didn't make the 2 required calls with BT, 2 x 4.5p - 9p. It's not like BT didn't warn customers that they now police the requirement.

Is it really worth saving 50p on line rental to then be forced to pay higher for other calls? (OK 41p if you take into account the 9p requirement for CLID and 1571).

That's exactly the sort of customer unfriendly sharp practice that made me hate BT so much.

I have only just "left" them, and I don't recall being warned about that (but was never charged for it either)

Making the system work in your favour is the key.

Have a read HERE.

Don't leave BT - get your own back on them.

I have line rental only with them, and use everyone else for cheap and free calls (18185, Virgin, etc). I make 2 calls per month (the cheapest) via BT to ensure free caller display.
I use direct debit and paper free billing to get the discounts. My bill for BT last month, including £1.75 for call sign (which I will be cancelling shortly) was £11.31.

From what I know of BT's costings, they are losing money every month on providing me with a phone service. Long may that continue.

Do Sky have a free, basic Voicemail service too? Or is this in the other add-ons at £1.75?

yes they have got free voice mail 1571 u can also call sky for free 150

18185.co.uk rates for 11-09-2008

Rates are in pence per minute. Calls are billed per minute rounded to the nearest penny, include 17,5% VAT and are subject to change. Calls are subject to a 4p connection fee or 5p for calls within the UK. For a printable version, click here .

Calls within the UK:
p/min
UK fixed 0.0
UK mobiles (sat/sun) 5.0
UK mobiles (weekdays) 6

Looks like the rates had risen (doubled?) even prior to your post...

18185.co.uk rates for 11-09-2008

Rates are in pence per minute. Calls are billed per minute rounded to the nearest penny, include 17,5% VAT and are subject to change. Calls are subject to a 4p connection fee or 5p for calls within the UK. For a printable version, click here .

Calls within the UK:
p/min
UK fixed 0.0
UK mobiles (sat/sun) 5.0
UK mobiles (weekdays) 6

Looks like the rates had risen even prior to your post...

I don't think Sky allow the use of other phone providers for calls any more.

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/s...d.php?t=868937

Eh? That post of mine you're quoting was a year ago - in September 2007.

However, 18185 has, indeed, recently increased its charges for calling UK mobiles from a BT landline. They're still 5p connection + 6p/minute during the week but the weekend* per minute charge has now been increased to 5p.

* However, it is possible to pay only 6p connection + 4p/minute at weekends by using their freephone gateway number.

Ha! Senility, no doubt - or the smooth (swift) passage of time...................

S.