That is not the only change, although that is probably the only beneficial one!   Whereas those taking four services (gas, electric, home phone & broadband) got truly free calls in that there was no monthly fee, they have now introduced a £5.50 monthly fee for anytime calls (only evening & weekend are otherwise included) but this fee also includes calls to 0845 & 0870 (they did this previously and then withdrew it).   They have also introduced a download limit of 100GB of data per month - I have absolutely no idea whatsoever what this means or to what usage it equates & have emailed them to ask the implications for me.   (They have also introduced an 02 number for technical advice so it can be called using inclusive minutes from a mobile).  All in all, this is not good for me or others in my position who make nearly all their phone calls during the day and use the internet/SMART TV.

This thread has been split from Utility Warehouse Switch To 0800 From 0844.

The changes referred to in the OP are covered in the Utility Warehouse Frequently Asked Questions under the heading "November Changes".

One question that springs to mind in relation to the new charge for inclusive daytime calls is are you on a legacy package? That is one that is no longer available for new customers and hasn't been so for a while. If you are, then is the £5.50 charge for inclusive daytime calls simply bringing you into line with the current offering?

Irrespective of whether this is the case, £5.50 seems a good price for inclusive daytime calls. I'm not familiar with Utility Warehouse's pricing, but I'll offer conjecture that its free weekday daytime inclusive calls was a loss leader. Comments from someone who knows more will be appreciated.


As for the limit on data download, it only applies where the subscriber is connected to the "extended (BT) network". The limit is 100GB with additional gigabytes, or part thereof, being charged at 25p each.

Where the broadband is provided by Utility Warehouse's LLU partner (which I believe is TalkTalk) then there is no limit. This is obviously governed by TalkTalk having a presence for broadband provision in the subscriber's exchange and it having spare capacity.

LLU means "Local Loop Unbundling", the local loop being the pairs of copper wires that run between subscribers' premises and the local BT exchange building. When there was only BT, all phone lines ran to the local exchange and connected to BT's equipment, which carried calls onwards and into the (BT) network.

Now there are other network providers which are allowed to install their own equipment within BT's exchange buildings, connecting to the local loop, which is operated by BT Openreach. Whilst there are a lot of retail providers out there, there are relatively few network providers (the telcos that run the equipment).

In the case of Utility Warehouse, it purchases (LLU) service from the wholesale arm of TalkTalk. However, TalkTalk doesn't have a presence in every exchange, so where it doesn't Utility Warehouse obtains service from BT Wholesale and it is this service which is subject to the 100GB limit. Thus, "extended (BT) network)" refers to BT Wholesale provision of broadband.

I imagine that the limit could be down to BT Wholesale's charging structure (which I haven't looked into). It stands to reason that Utility Warehouse is only likely to purchase service from BT Wholesale in cases where TalkTalk is unable to supply. Utility Warehouse's retail charge for broadband supplied by BT Wholesale is greater than that supplied by TalkTalk.

One of the bigger bugbears people had was the  membership fee from £1.50p a month upwards. This is being withdrawn from next month and being replaced by an optional Bill Protection Insurance. So some savings if you dont want the bill protection option.

The standard line rental at £14.90 a month is competively priced bearing in mind it includes.

Inclusive 01/02/03 0845/0870 Evening and Weekend Calls.(For 1st 75 minutes).

Inclusive anytime calls to Utility Warehouse landlines and mobiles.

Without any minimum term contract unless you had a new line fitted,or had a free broadband router.

Dave, thanks for the post, you may be right about the legacy package, it dates to when we moved three years ago & could at last take advantage of the four services - gas, electric, phone & broadband.  It wasn't so much the amount of the charge (although any increases these days are not good, particularly when combined with a hike in the energy costs as well), it was that this was included in a very long and complicated three page letter of changes which left me dizzy!    I was obviously not alone as I queued for longer than I have ever done before to get through to them!   The FAQs didn't answer any of my questions as, like most others I expect, I wanted the specifics of how it would affect me.
As I say, your comments about the data limit and extended BT network are very helpful, I did try googling data limits but didn't find anything helpful (far too much maths involved!!)   Someone said they thought fibre optic might be coming this way, don't know what difference that might make.

Anyway, thanks to you & bigjohn for the help.

To give you a idea on data useage Barbara . On the Talk Talk site  they say based on average file sizes - you can get all this for 40GB

10000 Web pages
500 Digital pictures
500 MP3s
20 hours of YouTube
20 trailers of iTunes HD (1080p)
20 hours of iPlayer SD
8 hours of iPlayer SD
30 hours of Spotify Free.

Fibre Broadband will give you the ability to  do more online at the same time and approx 5x faster download speeds.

On the Inclusive Call Front. Depending on the number of services taken, Home Phone users use to be able receive unlimited inclusive calls to UK landline numbers and 10 top international destinations at any time of day.  Free international landline destinations were: Australia, Canada, China, Hong Kong, France, Germany, Italy, Israel, Spain and the USA.

If they didnt have the required number of services then they  use to be able to buy a add on for inclusive calls.

Inclusive call bundle  no longer contains Intl Calls.
You can get  an Intl Saver add on £1.50 a month which gives savings on calls to international numbers, including 50 popular countries at just 1p/minute.