After talking to a CSR from Sky, she tlked me into getting Sky Talk. Is it any good? and is it as good to be true as she makes it out to be?

£10.00 line rental
£5.00 unlimited package

free calls upto an hour days , eves, weekends

compared to option 2 free calls up to an hour eves and weekends and £12.95 line rental

It's is fine for most people (my daughter with 3 teenage girls at home is on it) BUT:

(1). Do not hand your line rental over to Sky as well. Leave your line rental with BT and ensure you're on BT's lowest option - Unlimited Weekend Plan, pay by DD and opt for paper-free billing to get the monthly cost down to £10.50 and just use Sky Talk Unlimited as your CPS [Carrier PreSelect] calls provider. It's only 50p/month dearer but it 'leaves all your options open' for using other calls providers for calls for which they are cheaper. For example, after Sky's recent dramatic price hikes for calls to all non-Sky 0845 and 0870 numbers, BT (1280 prefix) and 18185 are far cheaper.

(2). Remember 'free' calls (you've paid £5 for them up front so they're inclusive rather than free really) are ONLY to UK 01, 02 and 03 numbers and to landlines in the countries on Sky's list (+ to mobiles in Canada and USA).

(3) Only use Sky for inclusive calls - all others (calls to mobiles, calls to non-Sky 084/087 numbers) can be made more cheaply on BT or using www.18185.co.uk).

why leave it with bt, that mean im not benefitting because ill be paying bt line rental and skys package.

The total difference would be 50p/month (the difference between Sky's £10 line rental and BT's £10.50) BUT, as explained abnove, by leaving line rental with BT, you'll be able to route your calls more cost-effectively.

If you hand over your line rental too, you'll be at the mercy of Sky's price increases - like their recent outrageous hikes to the cost of 0845 and 0870 calls.

Using Sky Talk Unlimited only as your CPS provider means your calls would normally go out via Sky (use that only for the 'free' calls) but, when there's a cheaper way (see the link above re 0845/0870 calls), using a prefix to bypass the CPS programming of your exchange would save money.

Never wise to move line rental away from BT.

Yes, go for Sky's call package, but whatever you do don't go with their line rental, keep it with BT.

Otherwise you'll be stuck with their Sky High call costs to 0845, 0870 etc and not then able to route them back over BT (1280).

You'll likely find eventually access to the likes of 18185 and 1899 blocked, so no access to cheap calls to mobiles etc.

For 50p saving on line rental it's not worth it on the higher cost of calls when forced to make them all via Sky completely wiping out the 50p saving.

Plus if you leave Sky or decide that Sky talk is no longer the option for you, you'll then be faced with a connection fee to go back to BT for line rental.

It is just not worth the hassle of moving line rental away - it will be regretted at some point.

Remember that Sky's evening and weekend call package is free. I moved the line rental away from BT to get the full benefit of unlimited eve and weekend landline calls, caller display, line rental, 1571 answer service and broadband (with a 2GB download limit on it, but ok for light use) all for £10 a month. I actually have Tiscali broadband purely because i'm in a contract with them and I don't think that 2GB would be enough for me, but i'll definately use Sky for that when i'm able to.

Pay another £5 and you get unlimited landline daytime calls bunged in, AND calls the international landlines in many countries (not that all that many people take advantage of that I imagine)

I dont often phone 0845, 0870 numbers because there's usually an alternative landline number via http://www.saynoto0870.co.uk plus most other carriers that give access to cheaper calls to mobiles etc are available via 0800 or normal landline numbers, so it doesn't matter if you can't dial the shorter code because you don't use BT.
There you go, that's just my opinion of it.

And if you do regret moving line rental to Sky (and I can't see why anyone would) - just move it back, there's no minimum term contract.

You don't have to have Sky Line Rental to get the 'free' option of inclusive evening and weekend calls from Sky - you can keep that with BT - plus you can get 'free' Caller Display and 1571 (SPIT) from BT (subject to a couple of calls per month via BT).

For the £5 Sky calls package, you don't have to have line rental with Sky, it can remain with BT.

It is wise to keep with BT as Sky have some Sky high calling rates to some destinations and you're stuck with using Sky for them, at least with BT line rental you can bypass Sky Talk by prefixing the call with 1280 and the call goes out via BT and at the much lower than Sky rate.

If you do move line rental away from BT and you find you don't like being ripped off for certain calls or you no longer want the TV, then you may find you have to pay up to £125 to get the line back with BT. Sky are stupid, they know you are stuffed, this is why they increased the rates they knew you are a captive customer.

Never a wise move at all moving line rental away from BT - never wise.