Primus has cut the price from £8.49/mth to £5.99/mth. if you sign up for a year via comparison site Broadbandchoices.The link below is their link.

You don't get any inclusive calls with this Primus deal, so it's best for low users. Weekend calls cost 5p/min, evening calls also cost 5p/min and daytime calls cost 7.4p/min. Every call will also incur a one-off 13.4p connection fee.

Depending on how service is delivered you may be able to use 18185 Indirect. But if it is blocked  you would  normally be able to use 18185 via its 0808 Freephone access number.

NOTE !!!   
Over the last few months I have seen a fair few  reports of customer service and billing problems. So, although it's the cheapest package, please bear this in mind.


http://www.primussaver.co.uk/agent/hpc01/line-rental-saver.html?__g=36515rn84g.1ubsj6a.1&__a=243&__c=3xpxaj0dmsbk5viaptdn3v&source=hpc

[edit]This post and the following posts were moved from this thread[/edit]

The MSE site carries a warning about using Primus

"Warning! While the cheapest, we've had a disproportionate number of reports about Primus customer service and serious billing issues"

They no longer recommend them in their e-mails,and their forum carries lots of complaints about them.



Edited by bbbuk:  Moved off-topic replies

Not sure if this has been reported.. but seems the "advanced line rental from Primus is stopping...

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2014/02/uk-isp-primus-saver-joins-sky-broadband-drop-cheap-pre-paid-line-rental.html

bigjohn wrote on Feb 20^th, 2014 at 3:35am:

They no longer recommend them in their e-mails,and their forum carries lots of complaints about them.

I did point that out in my post.

Nonetheless in the first year they are much cheaper than any other form of fixed line phone rental.   You also do not seem to have provided any evidence that Southern Electric are any more reliable in their administration than Primus or indeed TalkTalk (who in my experience are scarcely any better than Primus with making all kinds of billing and administrative errors).

On the whole all the really serious problems with Primus have actually been on the ADSL broadband side of matters because they don't warn customers if they exceed their useage cap and their charges for exceeding the data cap are substantial.

On the phone side of things the only notable errors that have been reported are calls to the speaking clock that customers are adamant they have not made.

CJT-80 wrote on Feb 20^th, 2014 at 11:47am:

Not sure if this has been reported.. but seems the "advanced line rental from Primus is stopping... http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2014/02/uk-isp-primus-saver-joins-sky-broadband-drop-cheap-pre-paid-line-rental.html

It is high time that the wholly useless OfCoN stopped sitting on its big fat overpaid corporate backside and started an Own Initiative Investigation in to the whole repeated saga of massive increases in the cost of fixed phone line rental in tandem with ever increasing call Connection Fees aimed at blackmailing customers in to taking call packages.

Also the failure to launch Naked DSL on BT Openreach controlled lines where the customer only paid to maintain the line for broadband and did not have to pay for a call package (i.e. at least Weekend Calls) they did not want is again OfCon's fault because they agreed not to force the telcos to make it available.

OfCon is also so pathetically weak or completely in bed with the telcos that it has still not passed regulations preventing BT Openreach for charging from any of its network services that prevent customers being subject to caller abuse.  Namely Caller Display, Anonymous Call Rejection and Choose To Refuse.  It is quite outrageous that people subject to unwanted calls are expected to pay extra to the network operator to obtain services that help deal with the problem when those services are already inherently built in to the network and cost the network operator nothing extra to turn on.

Lets get things straight i was only pointing out a cheap service for members as i often do. I didnt expect a stewards enquiry  or to have to offer evidence that the service was more reliable then others.

Going off thread with Primus you get what you pay for cheap prices  = cheap support.

bigjohn wrote on Feb 20^th, 2014 at 5:45pm:

Going off thread with Primus you get what you pay for cheap prices  = cheap support.

bigjohn,

Surely the thread is one about cheap fixed phone line rental based on its Title and is not a thread only about Southern Electric's fixed phone line rental.   When a cheaper monthly fixed line phone rental than £10.75 per month also exists I would suggest that it is very much on topic to bring this in to the discussion about low cost phone line rental.

Also I don't see how you feel in a position to actively condemn the quality of Primus/New Call Telecom's phone line rental product without also offering us some firm evidence that Southern Electric's phone line rental product is of a superior quality.  Primus are clearly no angels but then nor, to be honest, are many of their main rivals like TalkTalk or Sky or indeed BT.

If you start recommending telecoms services to members of the forum you surely also have to be prepared to expect some questions about their reliability and reputation.  As things stand I still haven't been able to find out the real telecoms provider offering what is clearly just a shell rebadge product to Southern Electric customers on which they then take a percentage rakeoff.   This is even though I have come across a recent edition of their phone service code of practice at www.sse.co.uk/uploadedFiles/CoreMarketingSites/Assets/Documents/talkOurPhoneServiceCodeOfPractice.pdf

The only thing you can say in favour of Primus is that at least they are a telecoms provider in their own right rather than simply a rebadged version of one of the other well known high street telecoms brands.

I was not recommending Southern Electric as such merely pointing out that they did cheaper line rental.From what i can make out they use BT Wholesale.

Primus i have a read is a reseller of Talk Talk .

bigjohn wrote on Feb 21^st, 2014 at 5:20am:

Primus i have a read is a reseller of Talk Talk

I would be interested to know where you read that?

For instance unlike TalkTalk they don't block use of Indirect Access at the current time.

Also their corporate history at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primus_Telecom makes no mention of TalkTalk's involvement with Primus but does mention their Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2009 and their emergence from that.

In the UK New Call Telecom clearly hold a franchise for Primus where they provide the customer services and local product wrapper and it is really New Call's attitude to customer service rather than the reliability of Primus's backbone network or call making equipment that seem to be the UK operation's Achilles Heel.

I personally highly doubt they have any connection at all with TalkTalk or otherwise they would have been likely to have blocked use of the Indirect Access service on their phone lines a long time ago.  Instead it seems much more likely that they are using BT Wholesale to provide local telephone line access.

When Primus deliver service by LLU, people have reported  indirect numbers like 1899 are blocked.

bigjohn wrote on Feb 21^st, 2014 at 10:36am:

When Primus deliver service by LLU, people have reported  indirect numbers like 1899 are blocked.

You also reported that this is the case for PostOffice Homephone customers who are on TalkTalk LLU'ed exchanges.  Yet I am with PostOffice HomePhone on a TalkTalk LLU'ed exchange and still use 18185 with no problems whatsoever.

Are you sure that your day job is not perhaps with some part of the British Telecom empire? ;) ::) ;D

NGMsGhost wrote on Feb 21^st, 2014 at 7:20pm:

bigjohn wrote on Feb 21st, 2014 at 10:36am: When Primus deliver service by LLU, people have reported  indirect numbers like 1899 are blocked. You also reported that this is the case for PostOffice Homephone customers who are on TalkTalk LLU'ed exchanges.  Yet I am with PostOffice HomePhone on a TalkTalk LLU'ed exchange and still use 18185 with no problems whatsoever. Are you sure that your day job is not perhaps with some part of the British Telecom empire? ;) ::) ;D

But you have not confirmed whether your line is connected to TalkTalk's equipment or BT's. TalkTalk uses a deeper ringing tone than BT. I wonder if TalkTalk does not provide the 17070 service which is available with BT, and if it does not then its absence may be another an indicator that your line is provided by TalkTalk.

Also, is the voiceover used for 1471 different with TalkTalk as BT? If so, then this may be another indicator.

NGMsGhost

I will treat your comments about me being involved with BT with the contempt they deserve. ;)

1. Evidence Primus use Talk Talk

" Rather than placing their own equipment in telephone exchanges, Primus resells the network of TalkTalk, which has the most exchanges covered of any provider."

http://www.broadband.co.uk/broadband/providers/primus/

2. Evidence they appear to block indirect access

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=4469783

(More threads like this one saying same thing on MSE)

and your notice i gave them a mention here http://www.saynoto0870.com/cgi-bin/forum/YaBB.cgi?num=1382063602/0#0  so i am not biase towards BT Products.

Even without what BJ has just posted, I would have thought that Primus were using LLU provider anyhow simply because I don't think Primus could have offered line rental at £5.99 without making a loss if it was just using BT wholesale/openreach as thanks to Dave here I worked it out to cost around £9 inc of VAT pcm for a line from openreach.

I was with Primus a while ago back when it was possible to have o2 broadband (which no longer exists) without having an o2 landline so I used Primus for line rental and o2 for broadband (via LLU).

The only problems I had with Primus was less than a months notice was given when they increased their line rental for which they sorted for me.

I also had problems when trying to leave my contract a little early.  Ofcom had previously stated that those wishing to leave contract early may do so without paying full line rental charges for any remaining months instead stating it should be a lot less because it no longer costs them once customer moves.  I quoted to Primus what Ofcom had stated and provided them a link to Ofcom's website where the likes of other main providers had agreed to reduce their prices accordingly for those wishing to pay off the remaining months and leave early.

Naturally, Primus said that Ofcom guidelines did not apply to them and only applied to the big providers and refused to enter into further correspondence or allow me to leave without paying FULL line rental for the remaining months.

I complained to the ombudsman and provided them with link to Ofcom website where Ofcom had put they expected other providers to follow suite as the big providers have. The ombudsman agreed in my favour and forced primus to reduce their early termination charges accordingly which they reluctlantly did.

What primus did and their responses I expected to be honest as most other landline providers probably would have tried it on as well.  :)

bbb_uk wrote on Feb 22^nd, 2014 at 10:59am:

thanks to Dave here I worked it out to cost around £9 inc of VAT pcm for a line from openreach.

Do we know what the cost price per month is for a line provided through a TalkTalk LLU though?

Is the amount charged by TalkTalk for WLR to other providers closer to the figures at which Primus is offering its product in the first year?  I would assume Primus have noted that landline line rental customers who move providers only tend to jump ship every five years so hence they expect to make their money in years 2 to 5?..........

Regarding bigjohn's original plug for Southern Electric line rental I think the most important point to note is that Talk Light from Southern Electric does not include any calls at all in the line rental (unlike Primus who include evening and weekend calls in their £6.99 first year deal through MSE), there is a massive call setup fee of 13.8p per call and call prices are a whopping 8.4p per minute in the weekday daytime.  Also the line rental mentioned by bigjohn requires a 12 month minimum contract.  TalkWeekend from Southern Electric, that does not have a 12 month contract, costs £12.99 per month but includes weekend calls and the daytime call rate is a sligtly but not much less whopping 6.75p per minute.  See https://www.southern-electric.co.uk/uploadedFiles/CoreMarketingSites/Assets/Documents/TalkAndBroadbandPriceTableFebruary2013.pdf

bigjohn also does not mention that these packages are also sold at the same prices under the SWALEC, Scottish Hydro Electric and Atlantic Electric and Gas brand names as indicated at www.telecom-tariffs.co.uk/opnotes.htm

A far better bet than the Southern Electric tariff on a little used phone line if you want to commit for 12 months seems to be Post Office Homephone's Line Advance deal.  This costs £120 up front or £10 per month but includes free Weekend Calls, Caller Display, 1571 and Call Barring.  Also based on past history and the marketing position of Post Office Homephone this price is likely to be a sustainable long term one and not just a lure you in for Year 1 deal as the Primus Homephone deal clearly is.   Only bad news re Post Office Homephone is that they no longer include evening landline or weekend calls to mobiles or european fixed line numbers in their basic line rental tariff.

However there is no longer any cashback at www.topcashback.co.uk for joining Post Office Homephone whereas Primus currently offers £31.50 for becoming a Pay Monthly Homephone customer.

I'm probably actually going to get my mother to switch her second line to Post Office Homephone as the Caller Display is useful and I know I'm going to get it completely in the neck from her if Primus start inventing phantom calls etc and its impossible to contact anyone to complain about this.  Whereas in the event of any problem with Post Office Homephone an email to the CEO of the Post Office is likely to do the trick pretty rapidly based on past experience.

At the end of the day line rental is becoming so expensive now it is really better to disconnect a little used phone like this one and replace it with a little used Pay As You Go mobile on Three's 321 or similar or a little used Voip line with landline incoming number from www.sipgate.co.uk or similar.  Unfortunately however this one is connected to my mother's burglar alarm system so there would be a one off £100 or so charge to get it swapped on to her main line.  Really her burglar alarm could do with updating anyway to one that has a dual mobile phone and fixed landline dialler option to overcome the likely eventuality of a sophisticated burglar cutting the phone line before they break in.

NGMsGhost wrote on Feb 22^nd, 2014 at 2:06pm:

bbb_uk wrote on Feb 22nd, 2014 at 10:59am: thanks to Dave here I worked it out to cost around £9 inc of VAT pcm for a line from openreach. Do we know what the cost price per month is for a line provided through a TalkTalk LLU though?

No.  It's a lot more complicated because LLU providers generally have to buy/maintain their own equipment and I've no idea the cost.  However, as a lot have started to do this it must be cheaper (in long run) than paying openreach.

NGMsGhost wrote on Feb 22^nd, 2014 at 2:06pm:

A far better bet than the Southern Electric tariff on a little used phone line if you want to commit for 12 months seems to be Post Office Homephone's Line Advance deal.  This costs £120 up front or £10 per month but includes free Weekend Calls, Caller Display, 1571 and Call Barring.

Its £120 upfront  and £12 a month  soon to be £13 a month.

I notice you conveniently you miss out when it suits you the soon to be massive connection fee of 15p and the new wopping Daytime call charges to national and local numbers which will increase to 8.5p a minute,and the higher costs to mobile, and new disgaceful costs to call 0844/0871. ;D

The fact that it does not have a minimum term might be useful to mention. ;)

The £1.25 a month Inclusive bolt on for  evening and weekend calls   to UK landlines with area codes beginning 01, 02 or 03 and calls to 0845 and
0870 numbers, is very reasonable as it also includes weekend calls to landlines in  Top 40 Countries  and all UK mobile
networks.

If you refer a friend both you and the friend get £10 credit.

bigjohn wrote on Feb 22^nd, 2014 at 5:04pm:

The £1.25 a month Inclusive bolt on for  evening and weekend calls

They express it very badly but the £1.25 per month is actually just for the weekday evening calls add on as weekend calls to 01/02/03 numbers are already included in the basic line rental charge.   See www.postoffice.co.uk/price-changes


Quote:

If you refer a friend both you and the friend get £10 credit.

Only if you recommend them for Post Office Homephone and Broadband and not a phone line alone according to http://www.postoffice.co.uk/sites/default/files/Your_HomePhone_and_Broadband_Sept_13.pdf ; However I am not planning to move my mother to broadband with them on that phone line as its a second line and she already has Plusnet 38Mbps fibre on the other phone line with an 18 month contract period that won't end until August.   Annoyingly the line advance deal on that line was only for 12 months and so one cannot go on getting lower line rental with Plusnet without committing beyond the 18 month Plusnet minimum contract term for the fibre broadband.

Regarding the £10 per month for the friend recommendation  I can't find that mentioned anywhere else on the Homephone website and all those packages appear to be ending on 14th April 2014 when the new packages without inclusive weekend, UK mobile or European landline calls kick in.  P O Homephone broadband is extensively reported historically as being rubbish so I couldn't possibly recommend it to my worst enemy.  If you want cheap copper broadband then Plusnet is a better bet in my opinion.

bigjohn I realise that you were just trying to point out another option with Southern Electric but as they have a 12 month minimum contract period this comes to much the same thing as Line Advance cost wise (even though you don't have to pay the money up front) and the lack of inclusion of Caller Display and weekend calls makes it  a significantly worse deal than P O Homephone's 12 month line advance deal in my opinion.

Primus are increasing their prices from 1/4/2014 .

"Line Rental & Calls
From 1st April 2014 your line rental charge will increase by £1.20 per month. The call set up fee that is applied on all
non-inclusive calls, such as calls to mobile phones, will increase to 14.5p per call. The cost of daytime calls to UK landlines will also increase to 8.4p per minute from 1st April 2014."

" As a result of the price changes indicated above, you may exit your contract with Primus Saver without penalty, so long as you provide us with notice of your intention to terminate your service subscription within 30 days of the date of this notification. "

http://www.primussaver.co.uk/pricing-notifications.html

"Line rental increase excludes customers paying for their line rental in advance and those customers that joined Primus Saver on or after 1st December 2013."

So why are those that joined before 1st December excluded?