ok, apologies if this is not in the right place but I wasn't exactly sure where it should go...

Bit of an interesting situation - Currently on BT with BT Total BB option 3 (which should be out of contract by now). Got a new house which my wife is moving into at the weekend but i'll still be in the old flat (300 miles away...) for another 5 weeks or so.
We want to get phone and broadband sorted out in the new place but I want to keep what I have in the current flat going until I move out. There shouldn't be any problems with that, should there?

As far as I can see I can add another account to my BT profile to get another landline active.

Now, from what i've seen over the past 2 days, I can get Sky Talk and Sky Broadband Max for £20 a month (if Sky take over the line rental) with no set-up charges even though I'm not taking the TV on, has anyone else seen this as it looks like a no-brainer to me? And I need to set up the line with BT before Sky will take it over?

We can't get any of the good O2 deals as the new place is out of area...

Apologies if this is confusing, it's had me running in circles as it is!

seems o.k apart from, by starting a new line at the new house, you will be in a new 12/18 month contract with BT. With sky then taking over the line rental, BT will charge you for the remainder of the contract with them.

Thanks openreachpeep! Blimey, so I might as well just keep the line rental with BT but take Sky Talk for the free evening calls, which will still save me an extra couple of quid a month...

Sky now bars use of the 1280 prefix so you wouldn't be able to make any calls over BT to qualify for free Caller Display and/or 1571.

BT's Unlimited Evening and Weekend Plan will give you the free evening and weekend calls you want (to UK 01, 02 and 03 numbers, up to 60 minutes per call) for no monthly charge if you agree to a renewable 12 month contract. As you'd have to agree to at least a 12 month contract for the new line rental, you might just as well go for that.

Sorry, but what does the 1280 prefix do?

I thought Sky Talk automatically included 1571 and the caller ID for free anyway. Is that not right?

Sky talk is a CPS(call preference service), basically your line rental is with BT, but the call costs are picked up by SKY and charged on their terms to you. upto about a few months back you could dial 1280 before the phone number and this would route the call charges back through BT. usefull for when calls to a certain number were dearer on SKY than on BT. sky have changed this now, and your no longer able to dial 1280 thus making any savings on calls to other numbers. if you keep your calls with BT(i.e don't take up sky talk) then you can still use any of the CPS's out there(heinz knows more about which are the best ones out there).
though if the only calls your going to make suit the package that sky are offering, then it may suit you.

Right, I understand now, thanks a lot for that info guys!

In case you're unsure about the CPS (Carrier PreSelect) concept, HERE is a plain-language summary I wrote a while ago.

Excellent guides there, Heinz, thanks for those!

You cant have sky BB or Sky talk without having the TV

I thought between BT line, 18185 and Skype I had about the best deal I could get, but I have printed out Heinz's article and will study it this weekend.

My husband spends hours on phone calls to Europe and Canada and my monthly bill for 18185 is normally between £6 and £8, that includes of course all our local and national calls. I consider this excellent value.

Anyhow my main reason for posting is to thank Heinz and also many other people using DS for all the time and effort they put into helping out other people.

This is an excellent site, probably the most comprehensive Forum site.

By the way, where is the best place to buy an Orchid LCR?

If you are making calls to landlines USA, Canada, UK and many other European countries, then instead of Skype (which is one of the dearest VoIP providers out there) you could look at www.vyke.com they charge 4 US Cents per call, with other destinations from 1 US Cent per minute. This is by either using their VoIP Software or using a hardware VoIP phone or ATA.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/....html?t=518161

You can get a 20% discount.

Thanks Katia.

Not quite, first CPS stands for Carrier Pre-Select.

Second SkyTalk don't operate CPS any longer, they signed a deal with BT Wholesale for Wholesale Access Calls, that is why 1280 doesn't work any longer.