"Changes to our prices in April 2011

Standard Line Rental
From 28 April 2011, our standard line rental charge will increase from £13.60 to £13.90 a month (£40.80 to £41.70 a quarter). If you already get the online billing discount, you'll still receive a discount of £1.25 a month (£3.75 a quarter) on the above prices (this discount is no longer available to new customers). These changes to our standard line rental charge won't affect you if you're on BT Basic, or if you have BT Line Rental Saver.

Call set-up fee
From 28 April 2011, the call set-up fee for calls from landlines not included in your Calling Plan will increase from 11.5p to 12.5p per call. BT Broadband Talk calls not included in your Calling Plan will also increase by the same amount.
Call set-up fees don't apply to:

•Weekend calls included in the Unlimited Weekend Plan
•Evening and weekend calls included in the Unlimited Evening & Weekend Plan or the BT Broadband Talk Evening & Weekend Plan
•Anytime calls included in the Unlimited Anytime Plan or the BT Broadband Talk Anytime Plan
•Calls to Freephone services or other inclusive calls not mentioned above

Daytime UK Calls
From 28 April 2011, the cost of UK landline calls made during the daytime will increase from 7.0p a minute to 7.6p a minute. These changes won't affect calls of up to an hour made with the Unlimited Anytime Calling Plan, or if you're on BT Basic or the Light User Scheme.

Calling Features
From 28 April 2011, the subscription charge for the Call Minder Calling Feature will increase from £2.60 to £3.00 a month (£7.80 to £9.00 a quarter) and the subscription charge for all other individual Calling Features will increase from £2.70 to £3.00 a month (£8.10 to £9.00 a quarter). The subscription charges for packs of 2-4 Calling Features will increase from £5.40 to £6.00 a month (£16.20 to £18.00 a quarter) and for packs of 5 or more Calling Features, from £7.30 to £8.00 a month (£21.90 to £24.00 a quarter). The per-use charges for Calling Features without subscription won't change.

Standard BT Total Broadband Option 1
From 28 April 2011, the Standard BT Total Broadband Option 1 charge will increase from £16.40 to £17.00 a month. If you're currently charged a lower price due to an offer/discount, you'll remain on the agreed price until the discount ends.

After that, the price will increase to £17.00 a month. This change won't apply to customers taking BT Total Broadband Option 1 as part of a package of services including phone and/or TV. To check which BT Total Broadband option you are on, check your BT bill or log in to My BT

All prices include VAT at 20%."




Source : http://www.calls.bt.com/pricechanges/?s_intcid=con_intban_YA_PCYA_Price

One significant effect of these price changes is seen in the change to the point at which it becomes worthwhile to subscribe to "Unlimited Anytime", for which the price (including VAT) has increased by only 1p per month over the period covered (excluding VAT it has therefore reduced).

The minimum number of 5 minute daytime calls per month to a 01/02/03 number to make it worthwhile to subscribe to "Unlimited Anytime"  works out as follows:

September 2010: 13 (@ 40p = £5.20)
November 2010: 12 (@ 43p = £5.16)
January 2011: 11 (@ 47p = £5.17)
May 2011: 10 (@ 51p = £5.10)

Note: A "5-minute" call means any call lasting more than 4 minutes!

There are obviously many other factors to consider as nobody is quite so regular in their pattern of telephone usage. This does however provide a possibly useful indication of what is going on.

Am I alone in considering the setup fee to be obscene?

I pay no rental to Asda for my pay as you go mobile service yet they charge me no setup fee. Their per minute charges are a tad dearer for land line calls but I do have to stay on a long time before it becomes more expensive to use a mobile.

I pay for electricity and gas by the kilowatt hour. I don't get charged each time I put a light on or every time the boiler lights up.

Why do phone suppliers think they can charge overpriced rental and then each time we connect?

FordPrefect wrote on Feb 5^th, 2011 at 7:07pm:

Am I alone in considering the setup fee to be obscene? I pay no rental to Asda for my pay as you go mobile service yet they charge me no setup fee. Their per minute charges are a tad dearer for land line calls but I do have to stay on a long time before it becomes more expensive to use a mobile. I pay for electricity and gas by the kilowatt hour. I don't get charged each time I put a light on or every time the boiler lights up. Why do phone suppliers think they can charge overpriced rental and then each time we connect?

Because sadly no one so far has challanged it!

It's another reason for me NOT to dial 084 or 087 numbers as I otherwise have a very good inclusive call plan with BT!

SilentCallsVictim wrote on Feb 4^th, 2011 at 11:05pm:

One significant effect of these price changes is seen in the change to the point at which it becomes worthwhile to subscribe to "Unlimited Anytime" ... This does ... provide a possibly useful indication of what is going on.

Indeed, BT is pushing the anytime 'plan' hard:

Quote:

You'll be pleased to know that we're reducing the price of the Unlimited Anytime Plan. If you currently pay £5.00, as of the 28th April [2011] you will only pay £4.70 a month. With the Unlimited Anytime Plan you get unlimited calls to UK landlines and 0845/0870 numbers at any time of the day. You can avoid the price increase to set up fee and daytime pence per minute charge by signing up to this plan. This is because the set up fee and daytime pence per minute increase will only affect calls that are not part of your calling plan.

nicholas43 wrote on Feb 5^th, 2011 at 11:22pm:

Indeed, BT is pushing the anytime 'plan' hard: Quote: You'll be pleased to know that we're reducing the price of the Unlimited Anytime Plan. If you currently pay £5.00, as of the 28th April [2011] you will only pay £4.70 a month. ...

Well spotted. This means that the total (rental plus call plan) cost will be unchanged for Unlimited Anytime subscribers, as this reduction offsets the 30p increase in the rental. It is however a bonus for those of us who are still benefiting from the Rental Saver deal.

Happily (for me) this does change the break even point given in the table in this posting, which still stands as correct. Had I spotted the reduction I would have commented on it.

One may always argue that BT and other telcos are too profitable and the cost of using the telephone is too high, however I have no fundamental problem with the concept of call inclusive packages. I believe that BT Unlimited Anytime and the equivalents from its competitors are pitched at roughly the right level for all those who regularly use the telephone during the day, with reference to general telephone charges. I comment further in this posting, where I relate this matter to our campaigning objectives.

Whilst it suits BT to have a regular and predictable flow of income, it also suits many consumers to be spared surprises when the telephone bill arrives. Although one has to watch out for the 60 minute limit, there is something very positive in being able to chat without having to think about a meter ticking and in being able to call someone available during the day without having to think about waiting for the evening cheap rate. Those of us who call during the day generally save money by subscribing to Unlimited Anytime (largely due to the terrific inflation rate of penalty charges), however I would be inclined to subscribe even if my regular pattern left me a little short of the break even point.

:

Quote:

You'll be pleased to know that we're reducing the price of the Unlimited Anytime Plan. If you currently pay £5.00, as of the 28th April [2011] you will only pay £4.70 a month.

So, I guess from that, this 'offer' is for only for those who are already on this plan. Not for those who who want to upgrade?

sherbert wrote on Feb 6^th, 2011 at 2:11pm:

: Quote: You'll be pleased to know that we're reducing the price of the Unlimited Anytime Plan. If you currently pay £5.00, as of the 28th April [2011] you will only pay £4.70 a month. So, I guess from that, this 'offer' is for only for those who are already on this plan. Not for those who who want to upgrade?

My guess is different. I understand it as follows.

Those who upgrade pay the current price, which will be £4.70 from 28 April. If however they sign up to the plan for twelve months, they get the first three for free. Those who do so between now and 28 April will not be paying £4.70 from 28 April, they will be paying nothing until their three months expires, after which they will pay £4.70.

I guess that this is why they chose to refer to "if you currently pay £5.00". BT does not tend to offer existing customers better terms than those who are new or who upgrade.

Mmmm, you may well be right SCV. As usual BT's T & Cs are ambiguous and confusing.

sherbert wrote on Feb 6^th, 2011 at 3:05pm:

... As usual BT's T & Cs are ambiguous and confusing.

I totally agree, we are reduced to guessing most of the time. That is not however to say that any other telco is any better. What is worst is that they are inconsistent. Sometimes full and well explained information is published well ahead of the event, on other occasions vague and contradictory information emerges after changes have been implemented. That is sadly an almost inevitable effect of a competitive market. The greater the competition, the more odd and unusual ruses players engage in.

sherbert wrote on Feb 6^th, 2011 at 3:05pm:

Mmmm, you may well be right SCV. As usual BT's T & Cs are ambiguous and confusing.

Having a look at that comment, I may give BT a call this week, as we took out a "Broadband/Anytime Calls" deal with them, but the calls were @ £5.00 per month, for 12 months. Might be worth asking them.

Thanks,

FordPrefect wrote on Feb 5^th, 2011 at 7:07pm:

Am I alone in considering the setup fee to be obscene?

I totally agree. It's a result of this private free market.

Call set-up fees were started by the main cable operators, ntl and Telewest, which have now morphed into Virgin Media.

More recently, BT jumped onto the bandwagon, and at the same time introduced whole minute metering. Now if we still had clockwork exchanges, then I would accept this, but in this day and age they do it because they are allowed to by the regulator.

What would happen if a butcher were to sell meat and round it up to the nearest 500g? Trading Standards would be having words, that's what!



FordPrefect wrote on Feb 5^th, 2011 at 7:07pm:

I pay no rental to Asda for my pay as you go mobile service yet they charge me no setup fee. Their per minute charges are a tad dearer for land line calls but I do have to stay on a long time before it becomes more expensive to use a mobile.

It's swings and roundabouts to a certain degree. With mobiles, incoming inter-operator charges are much higher than with landline calls. Indeed, there are similarities between calling a mobile and calling a 0844 number in that respect.



FordPrefect wrote on Feb 5^th, 2011 at 7:07pm:

I pay for electricity and gas by the kilowatt hour. I don't get charged each time I put a light on or every time the boiler lights up. Why do phone suppliers think they can charge overpriced rental and then each time we connect?

It is the way usage is metered. Clearly it would be impractical (and probably self-defeating) for electricity providers to install meters on each individual appliance rather than a single meter for each premise at the point of entry.

It's making the use of mobiles more appealing depending on type of numbers mostly rung.

I pay £10pcm for unlimited texts, o2 to o2 calls, and 300 xnet mins.  Now BT line rental will be £13.90 and that doesn't include any calls made or tariff plans like BT's Anytime plan.

There is competition in the mobile market but yet in the landline market, they all basically follow suite.  During the next few months, Virgin, TalkTalk, Sky, etc will announce their price increases albeit some landline providers may not increase as much as BT but will be pretty close.

I agree with Dave in that if this was something that falls under trading standards remit, then something would happen but Ofcom just sits by.

Ever since Ofcom relaxed restrictions on BT's line rental charges, etc has everything just increases and not even one increase per year - some providers are increasing their prices a couple of times a year - most just copying BT.

bbb_uk wrote on Feb 9^th, 2011 at 1:09pm:

I  Now BT line rental will be £13.90 and that doesn't include any calls made .

I think you will find that it includes week end calls up to 60 minutes, unless I have mis read it.

sherbert wrote on Feb 9^th, 2011 at 1:59pm:

I think you will find that it includes week end calls up to 60 minutes, unless I have mis read it.

You are correct, my bad lol.

The point I was trying to make is that they are pricing themselves that high that those that don't need a landline will stick with a mobile.

bbb_uk wrote on Feb 9^th, 2011 at 6:17pm:

You are correct, my bad lol. The point I was trying to make is that they are pricing themselves that high that those that don't need a landline will stick with a mobile.

In which case my post regarding NGN's over on the Ofcom Consultation page is even MORE valid,

If more and more users switch to Mobiles to avoid landline rental costs, they will end up paying higher costs to call 084/087 numbers!

:(

CJT-80 wrote on Feb 9^th, 2011 at 6:21pm:

bbb_uk wrote on Feb 9th, 2011 at 6:17pm: You are correct, my bad lol. The point I was trying to make is that they are pricing themselves that high that those that don't need a landline will stick with a mobile. In which case my post regarding NGN's over on the Ofcom Consultation page is even MORE valid, If more and more users switch to Mobiles to avoid landline rental costs, they will end up paying higher costs to call 084/087 numbers! :(

At the end of the day, the increasing numbers of mobile only subscribers is doing to others what businesses do with 084/087* numbers.

The termination charges on mobile phones are about 4.7 pence per minute, which is roughly the same as that of 0844 g6 numbers (the highest type of 0844 numbers). These are the inter-operator connection charges, imposed at point [X] in my diagram:

Caller ----- <Caller's telco> [X] <Receiver's telco> ----- Receiver

Thus, the movement towards mobile phones is increasing the cost of telephony in general.


* I accept that no subsidy is paid on 0870 calls, but in practice, 0870 calls are generally more expensive than geographic and 03 ones, so feel it's worth mentioning here.

Dave wrote on Feb 9^th, 2011 at 7:19pm:

...Thus, the movement towards mobile phones is increasing the cost of telephony in general

I see how this may be true but this doesn't excuse landline providers from actually increasing all their costs so much that it may force those that can get away with just using mobile to ditch the landline altogether and use mobile.

For those that wish to have broadband and don't live in a VirginMedia area are forced to get a landline which I personally believe is unfair.  Landline providers obviously use this to their advantage.

wrote on Feb 4^th, 2011 at 5:24pm:

"Changes to our prices in April 2011 Daytime UK Calls From 28 April 2011, the cost of UK landline calls made during the daytime will increase from 7.0p a minute to 7.6p a minute. These changes won't affect calls of up to an hour made with the Unlimited Anytime Calling Plan, or if you're on BT Basic or the Light User Scheme."

Extortionate!!! From 28th April a half-hour daytime call on BT will cost £2.41 (30 x 7.6p = 228p + 12.5p connection fee = 240.5p). That's half a penny (or in real terms, a whole penny) MORE than the same call on ASDA Mobile, Tesco Lite or giffgaff! Having a landline now seems a lot less attractive or even necessary...


wrote on Feb 4^th, 2011 at 5:24pm:

"These changes won't affect calls of up to an hour made with the Unlimited Anytime Calling Plan"...

No, of course not. That's why they're doing it - to increase customer migration to the Anytime Calling Plan.

How sneaky that these latest price increases are inaccessible when browsing the BT website... The aforementioned link (www.calls.bt.com/pricechanges) appears to be a completely 'standalone' page. I would never have seen it were it not for this thread.

Their last increase (not counting the obligatory VAT one in January) was only a few months ago (1st October, to be precise). Goodness knows why another is needed so soon.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12800177      >:(


20 March 2011 Last updated at 16:06


BT to increase call charges by 9%

Telecoms giant BT has said it will raise call charges by 9% and increase its monthly standard line rental charge by 30 pence from 28 April.

The cost of UK landline calls will go up from 7p a minute to 7.6p a minute.

Customers are being informed of the changes by letter, although some with specific packages will not be subject to the price increases.

BT increased its call charges by 10% and its line rental by 50p in October last year.

'Never welcome'

Customers on BT Basic or Line Rental Saver contracts will not have to pay the higher line rental charge, while those on BT Basic and the Light User Scheme will not be subject to higher call charges.

The company is also increasing the cost of its Call Minder service from £2.60 to £3 a month.

BT said the impact of the rise in call charges would be "minimal".

It added that it was happy to discuss plans with customers to save them money.

"Millions of people have signed up to our Unlimited Anytime Plan in the last year and 75% of UK landline calls on our network are now free," it said.

In the letter to customers, BT said it "appreciated that price rises are never welcome", and so was reducing the price of some products and services.

For example, it said, BT Vision would now cost £12.50 a month.

sherbert wrote on Mar 20^th, 2011 at 9:16pm:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12800177      >:( For example, it said, BT Vision would now cost £12.50 a month.

Big deal. I know *nobody* who has BT Vision. It beats me why anyone would pay for such a lousy choice of channels, plus the same catch-up stuff which is available online for free (BBC, ITV and C4), plus pay-per-view films that can usually be bought in ASDA for a fiver (and watched as many times as you like for nothing!). "As of November 2010, BT Vision has a total of only 520,000 customers, compared to over 10 million customers that receive satellite services from British Sky Broadcasting" (Wikipedia). BT would do well to admit that Vision has been an embarrassing flop and axe it to save money, allowing it to concentrate once more on what it does best: telephone and internet.

There reasons why you should stay withy them  :).

"Why should I stay with BT if you keep on increasing prices?

There are many reasons why you should stay with BT. If you sign up to our Line Rental Saver you will pay cheaper line rental than Virgin and Talk Talk. By signing up to the Unlimited Anytime Plan you can also avoid some of the price increases, plus we're reducing the price in April which means you're getting an even better deal. Our new price of £4.70 is the cheapest amongst our major competitors: Sky charge £5.00 a month, Talk Talk £6.21 a month and Virgin Media £8.00 a month.

We are always looking for ways to give you more value - for example we were the first company to offer inclusive calls to 0845 and 0870 numbers, and our Friends & Family discount schemes offer discounts of over 46% on mobile calls and up to 88% on international calls compared to BT standard rates. You are very unlikely to find better rates with our competitors.

And did you know we were the first company to give you free weekend calls? You can also get free voicemail with BT 1571 and can record a free personal greeting as well. You also get free caller identification with 1471, free calls to customer service and you can manage your account online at www.bt.com/mybt - for free!

We care about what you think, so we listen to your concerns and feedback, that's why we're including more free calls and more great discounts in our plans. We are confident that you are getting excellent value for money. "


http://www.calls.bt.com/pricechanges/?s_intcid=con_intban_YA_PCYA_Price

Trenod wrote on Mar 20^th, 2011 at 6:47pm:

From 28th April a half-hour daytime call on BT will cost £2.41 (30 x 7.6p = 228p + 12.5p connection fee = 240.5p).

I'm on BT's Unlimited Weekend calls plan and that call would cost me 5p (via 18185).

Heinz wrote on Mar 21^st, 2011 at 8:33pm:

I'm on BT's Unlimited Weekend calls plan and that call would cost me 5p (via 18185).

I was put right off joining 18185 when I read the following in its Terms and Conditions:

Use of Personal Information
Information you provide or we hold about you may be used by us and/or our partners to
i. contact you by any means (including mail, telephone, email or text messages) about improved or any other services and products, provided by us, or our partners, now or in the near future;
ii. carry out marketing analysis and customer profiling and create statistical and testing information;
iii. help us to prevent and detect fraud or loss.

We may disclose information we hold about you to third parties for the purpose of providing services you have requested, as part of the process of sale of one or more of our businesses, or where legitimately requested for legal or regulatory purposes, as part of legal proceedings or prospective legal proceedings. From time to time, these third parties may be located outside the EEA in countries which do not have the same standards of protection for personal data as the UK.

If you provide false or inaccurate information and we suspect fraud, we will record this. We, and other credit organisations, may use technology to detect and prevent fraud.

And their Privacy Policy states:

We do not sell, rent, loan, trade, lease or otherwise transfer any personal information collected through our software or service to any third party outside our network.

Information you provide or we hold about you may be used by us to contact you by any means (including mail, telephone, email or text messages) about improved or any other services and products, provided by us, now or in the near future.

[The underlined parts are my emphasis.]

In other words, only join them if you don't mind being spammed via phone, post or email - by 18185 and its network partners - apparently with no opportunity to opt out or even dodge some of it by giving a fake postal or email address. Even if Heinz and others have never received any such communications since joining 18185, I'm still not prepared to take the risk. The sayings "There's no such thing as a free dinner" and "There's always a catch" spring to mind!

In the ten years that I have used 18185/18866 I have received zero in the way of communications from them other notification of an invoice.
If you regard their terms and conditions as suspect you are quite  right not to use them.  As these are pretty standard terms I assume that you don't subscribe to any on line services, i.e shopping, banking, on-line forums like this one etc.?

Everybody moans about BT but............


http://news.sky.com/skynews/Article/201009115990327


BT Snaps Up New Customer Every 30 Seconds

 

10:44am UK, Thursday May 12, 2011

BT Group has posted a big rise in profits, mainly thanks to its roll out of 'super-fast' broadband services which picks up a new customer every 30 seconds.

BT posted a big rise in profits

BT has added 144,000 customers to its super-fast broadband service

The telecommunications provider made £1.7bn in reported pre-tax profits in the year to March 31 - up 71% on the year before.

Revenues fell 3% but savings of £1.1bn were made.

The success is partly due to BT's roll-out of broadband services; it added 1.1m homes to its network over the year, the equivalent of a new connection every 30 seconds.

BT's Global Services division saw its orders up 10% at £7.3bn and it also turned cash-flow positive a year ahead of plan.


BT has halved down its pension deficit to £3.2bn

In the three months to March 31, revenue fell 6% to £5bn though pre-tax profit rose 21% to £610m.

BT has made big strides in tackling a major concern for investors and staff alike: the size of the group's pension deficit.

Last year, it announced a 17-year scheme to fund its £9bn deficit but said at the time that the pensions regulator had "substantial concerns."

The services provider has now halved it down to £3.2bn, and a review into its deficit repayment scheme by the pension regulator has been put on hold.