Anyone with some real advice on this? Sky Talk does look tempting, it's cheap and apparently has won awards for customer service etc. But I'd like to listen to some real-world opinions on it if anyone would care to enlighten me

Thanks!

:-Joe

its marginally cheaper for mobiles.

calls to 0870/0845 numbers are slightly more expensive

all your 01/02 numbers are free (up to 59min 59 seconds) but if you hang up and redial you start the free countdown again.

sky talk is basically simple and straightforward.

the added bonus is that you can check your itemised bill online at no extra cost. also calls to sky any time of day are automatically free.

i would say give it a go, try it out. if you like it. keep it. if it isnt working out. go back to BT. as it isnt a contract.

however i must say i love it, mainly for the Sky Talk Unlimited. i can call my friends in the US/New Zealand/Sweden/Australia and Germany free of charge 24 hours a day (to landlines that is) so for me its a god send.

It isn't a contract, but would I have to pay any reconnection charge to BT? Would I be able to keep my number?


How much is that option?

if you have line rental with BT at the moment along with a call package then all you do is tell sky you want their calls only and they will work with BT to do a handover of you calls only to sky. so you pay sky for the calls and BT for line rental. you still keep the same tel no.

likewise if you want to go back to BT you just call them and ask them to take over the calls and sky will work with BT to hand the calls back.

the two packages are the sky talk freetime (cost £0 per month) for evening and weekend free calls to landlines

or

Sky Talk Unlimited, all day calls to landline numbers free of charge. and a list of 20 international countries free of charge. mainly western europe and major western countries. the list will be on sky.com

that costs £5 a month.

ahhhh... So I still have to pay BT for line rental. Then I probably won't bother. I thought if I went to Sky it would be free.

i wouldn't bother with Sky Talk as you will end up paying BT for the 1571 service and caller display.

Plus 0870 and 0845 remain free on BT's network.

BT insist you make two chargeable calls each month to retain free caller display and 1571. Sky have blocked the 1280 override making it impossible to hop back onto bt's network.

DO NOT SIGN UP WITH SKY TALK - YOU ARE BETTER OFF WITH BT!

Sounds like Sky Talk is a bit pointless anyway, unless you are making international calls. I thought it was a completely different system with its own line rental and billing.

You can opt to transfer your line rental to sky though if you are in any form of contract with BT they will likely charge a cancellation charge.

Personally I think BT is the most attractive proposition at the moment simply because of the inclusive 0870/0845

erm thats a bit strong.

i've had BT and i've had Sky Talk and for my personal usage i prefer Sky Talk. i think its a lot better.

However, as i said it doesnt suit everyone. so you cant say one is better than the other. depends on the user.

I have sky talk unlimited with a bt line and its great for me as also i have family in america and holland which dosent cost me any more a month than my £5 on the 1571 from bt i pay them 98p a month for the answer machine thing and just thought id add i stay with sky for my calls as i get my sky 8mb broadband for £5 a month because i have there phone too.

You get the broadband for £5 because you take Sky TV
not because you have their phone service

I bet u a £5 its not

We switched to Sky Talk line rental less than a month ago.

Yesterday the line developed a fault. Incoming calls wouldn't ring, although outgoing calls and broadband were unaffected. This never happened when we were with BT. Coincidence, or not.

However, to give them their due, Sky sent someone out this morning (he works for BT actually) who fixed it. A problem at the exchange, I think, so it won't cost us. We only reported it yesterday evening.

How did you report it? The Sky Talk number that I have is not even ringing and I tried emailing them at the weekend but have had nothing but an automated acknowledgement.

It actually will be the case that they are paying £5 because they take Sky Talk come March because the prices are going up; £10 for Mid if you don't take Sky Talk and haven't joined before November. All the other packages are increasing by £5 as well.

its always BT, BT still own the maintenance of all non-cable lines in the UK, your eport the fault to Sky, who place a fault with BT's Openreach team, who come to fix the fault.

If you were still a direct BT retail customer then you would have had that fault just the same as taking line rental from Sky presently during changeover is an office/admin changeover and not a physical change. The 'BT network' is managed by BT openreach and whether you pay line rental to Sky or BT retail, BT openreach is now a seperate organisation responsible for managing/maintaining and repairing faults etc.

When we first joined Sky's line rental we had an issue crackling on the line after a new telegraph pole was put in and again sky/openreach fixed the fault by the next afternoon.

To get BB from Sky for £5 (mid) you have to have Skytalk...you also have to be a Sky tv subscriber...