Just read on the MSE forum here, which in turn points to a cableforum thread here.

There are rumours of the following price rises in/around June:-

• Line rental going up to £11 from £10.50
  
• Additional line rental going to £11 also (from £7)
  
• All TV packages remaining the same
  
• TU24 and TU going down 50p each
  
• New call plan for weekends, a freebie; could cause problems with TU24 customers
  
• A £10 charge for LOWERING your package
  
• The infamous £32.99 deal is going up to £34.99 due to price increases.

I'm not surprised the line rental is going up to £11 simply because BT have put there's up.

If the above turns out to be true then I guess Telewest won't be that far behind them although I believe TW have recently increased their prices anyhow so those unfortunate TW customers maybe given a reprieve until next year.

Telewest have indeed just advised me of their price changes which are the same as NTL's.  They have admitted to me that it is a direct result of them having been taken over by NTL and "are in line with BT".  So much for competition.

I voiced my complaint and ws told that they have had numerous similar complaints about the withdrawl of  the "unlimited" call plans which means that you now have to redial after 59 minutes to continue to enjoy "free" calls.  

I pointed out that their "Talk Unlimited" package that we currently have will no longer be "unlimited" if this is the case.  The Telewest person I spoke to said he actually agreed with my points but was only telling it how it was.  I got him to confirm that we were actually going to receive a worse service at higher cost.

As now the Telewest package is virtually the same as BT, why bother with competition?  Telewest will struggle for new business as it won't be worth changing over.

I'm going to have to buy a kitchen timer and clock it at 59 minutes.  The problem will be keeping the kids off the phone after 59 minutes.  Watch the phone bill go uo (and Telewest's profits).

Customer Service 0, Corporate Greed 1

I was very surprised at the 60minute rule thing.  Like you said there is now no difference in price between them and BT except Telewest charge a 6p connection fee whereas BT's is 5.5p minimum call charge.  Telewest used to go all out of their way to market their 'unlimited' package comparing it to BT's 60minute equivalent.

They can't hope to keep people or attract new customers if they charge the same as BT!

I've maintained for a while that BT (BT themselves and not via a CPS provider) are in most cases cheaper than Telewest anyhow (even before the very recent price increases) simply because the connection fee they charge instead of a minimum call charge.

The only thing Telewest have going for them is that for brand new installs, BT charge £99 installation fee whereas Telewest/NTL don't charge that much.  If, however, you work out that over the year how much you would be paying Telewest/NTL in call charges, then it is still beneficial to get a BT line simply because of greater consumer choice and based over a year will work out a lot cheaper.  Mostly to do with the free evening & weekend package offered by Primus.

I mentioned this last bit on MSE recently here to a forum member that didn't want to pay the £99 new installation charge for a line.

The possible Telewest price increases are being discussed here on Digital Spy and here on MSE. Also see Telewest Info site here.

Clearly they're putting their prices up to match BT's. If this isn't a good enough reason for Ofcom not to remove the pricing regulation impossed on BT, then I don't know what is!

I had another call from Telewest last night and they confirmed to me that they were "coming into line with BT pricing".  

Is this what could be termed a competitive monopoly?

As we don't have a BT line to switch over (the connection was removed by the previous owner) to we are staying with Telewest as the installation charge would eat up any potential savings.

Perhaps we should go for an 0870 number to bring some money back in!!!!!

mattydj wrote on May 3^rd, 2006 at 8:38am:

As we don't have a BT line to switch over (the connection was removed by the previous owner) to we are staying with Telewest as the installation charge would eat up any potential savings.

If the house has previously had BT then you may still find that BT wont charge for the installation of the line.  We were on TW and paying their expensive rates for ages until we moved to BT.  Although the previous occupiers before us had BT, we went with TW (don't ask me why) and TW saw fit to actually cut BTs cable going into the house (ie just before it entered the house).  The BT guy when he came had to patch this cable up and because the line was physically removed from the exchange and used by another customer (his words) he also spent ages relaying cable between the exchange and the telegraph pole.

For all this, BT didn't charge us at all so like I said you may find that they will do reinstall for free (or at least a free quote).

I believe, depending on your calling pattern, BT is still cheaper even if you had to pay the £99.  For example, with BT you can have a choice of a lot of providers for cheaper calls so you can have FREE evening & weekend package (TW charge £5.50per month), or even have all inclusive geographical calls for about £7 (TW charge £14.50) but sometimes offers come along for cheaper than this but to take advantage you need a BT line.

The latest offer is via Uswitch and Primus and you can have all inclusive geographical calls for £3.49 per month for 12months.  Normally £8.49 but for 12months you will get £5 rebate back paid quarterly which effectively makes it £3.49.

Some of these saving that can be made are in excess of the £99 that BT may charge when comparing the offers available with a BT line and TW normal (and expensive) rates.

If you want more info then let us know.

Well now here's a thing

I'm with NTL - phone and broadband
I have talk unlimited 24 and 2Mb connection costing:
Line rental £9.50/month
Call plan £15.50/month
Broadband £24.99/month

Total NTL bill - excluding Non geographics £49.99/month

So I look at Talk talk - same calling plan and line rental comes to £20.99/month - but broadband is free - well so the advert goes - but in my area it would cost me £10 /month - still a near £20 saving over NTL

As I don't have an active BT line I'd need to have it re-instated

So I call NTL - and you need the retentions department
And suddenly my package price drops to:
[/size]£14.49/month - all in[size=11]

and thats in place for the next 12 months

How do they justify that - how long have I been paying way over the odds -
Do I really care - not at the moment no they've given me talk unlimited 24 and 2Mb broadband for less than £15 a month

Sorry to drag it out but I'm still in shock, but thought it worth passing on

All the best
Mike

mikeyc wrote on May 4^th, 2006 at 11:09pm:

Well now here's a thing I'm with NTL - phone and broadband I have talk unlimited 24 and 2Mb connection costing: Line rental £9.50/month Call plan £15.50/month Broadband £24.99/month Total NTL bill - excluding Non geographics £49.99/month So I look at Talk talk - same calling plan and line rental comes to £20.99/month - but broadband is free - well so the advert goes - but in my area it would cost me £10 /month - still a near £20 saving over NTL As I don't have an active BT line I'd need to have it re-instated So I call NTL - and you need the retentions department And suddenly my package price drops to: [/size]£14.49/month - all in[size=11] and thats in place for the next 12 months How do they justify that - how long have I been paying way over the odds - Do I really care - not at the moment no they've given me talk unlimited 24 and 2Mb broadband for less than £15 a month Sorry to drag it out but I'm still in shock, but thought it worth passing on All the best Mike

Hi,

I was paying £17.99 for AOL and decided to ring AOL up for a code because i was going to move to talktalk AOL dropped my BB to 15.99 plus gave me £35 credit on my account.

I guess most companys are being affected by talktalk and do not want to lose there customers It is best playing them against each other at the end of the day you will be the winner :)

Justin