Am I missing something?  I don't have the bad experiences others speak of with Talktalk.  I have their Talk3 international package and for £20.50 a month I get free UK calls anytime, free international calls to most countries anytime (and in particular to all the countries I regularly call), free 8MB/s broadband and effectively no limits on data transfers, free support and, by and large, no hassle.  OK, first line support is a bit dumb, but second line support is at or above average and once you are through to them they know what they are talking about.  I have had a couple of short outages in maybe three years, when I don't recall any with BT, my previous supplier.  The charges for 087x and 084x are a bit steep but this site is a brilliant way of avoiding those.  I use my mobile free minutes to call other mobiles.  So really £20.50 is it in terms of cost.  I was paying £50/month before for phone and broadband.  I also switched because I really do not like BT and its monopolistic arrogance.

But all this talk of cheap calls makes me think I am missing something...  Why is everyone not on free calls?

Were this an advert for TalkTalk, you'd have trouble with the ASA for your use of "free".

They already ruled against talk talk for using that term..here

In any case, if you are paying extra per month over and above the base rental, to get "free" calls, then they are not free, merely inclusive.

I much prefer to shop around for my suppliers, rather than buying everything from one outfit.  That way I can get the best deals for our particular needs.  I'd certainly not pay a hefty premium to get "free" 'phone calls, as our monthly usage is usually low enough that paying for the calls would be cheaper!

As it happens, I don't pay for the calls we make, but I don't pay extra for the priviledge.  And I could get free broadband too, if I were to put up with unreasonable monthly usage alowances. But our net usage is quite high, so I prefer to pay the extra to get an acount that gives us usage in line with our needs, rather than get cut off or be charged extra part way through the month.

I've looked into many bundle deals, on various platforms, over the years, and am yet to find any that are suitable for me.  I suspct the way most companies make money from them is because they really are not  perfect for most people, so the customers end up paying extra.

VirtualOdin wrote on Aug 29^th, 2007 at 6:20am:

... arrogance. But all this talk of cheap calls makes me think I am missing something...  Why is everyone not on free calls?

Perhaps not everyone can justify the £20.50 cost of these free calls

Not everyone has broadband, and if you read some of the threads here, you might notice that some are about making calls from mobiles

Someone who wants to make 100 minutes a month of calls to a foreign European landline, but has no landline access, can do this for from £3 on a pay-as-you-go mobile, or if they have access to a landline, perhaps from a pound or so, perhaps less.

That's cheaper than your version of free

Yet another one that expects things for free..

My friend, talk-talk succeeded in dragging in millions of people like you with their apparent free stuff. But you cant expect beauty without effort. You will get what you pay for, and that indeed will be an unreliable service at some point. May I suggest reading the T&C and anything else related to your account, because believe me, they hide things.

Some packages include 01/02 calls during evening and weekend, so they are, in effect, a step above an all chargeable package, but below an all inclusive one. You have to decide whether you actually make enough calls in the specific time period (i.e. daytime etc) to justify moving up.

Remember, all those calls to answering services like BT 1571, whether or not you leave a message, are chargeable (where charges apply). Thus they will incur a minimum charge.

In the case of Talk Talk Talk1 package, the minimum charge for a 01/02 call during the weekday daytime is 9 pence. That is made up of 6p connection fee plus 3 pence for 1 minute, as they round calls up to the next whole minute for these calls.

Dave wrote on Aug 29^th, 2007 at 1:12pm:

In the case of Talk Talk Talk1 package, the minimum charge for a 01/02 call during the weekday daytime is 9 pence. That is made up of 6p connection fee plus 3 pence for 1 minute, as they round calls up to the next whole minute for these calls.

But that is ¼p cheaper than BT!

OTOH, 1899, 18185 and 18866 would only charge 5p for that call.