Dave wrote on Jul 30^th, 2010 at 12:59pm:

If only common sense was used.I fully realise they charge what they can get away but if these 2 options were free more call revenue would be generated,just in my own case they've lost a lot of revenue if I'd actually made the calls using FREE option 3 or 5.

...continued


Changes to home phone prices in October 2010.

Standard Line Rental.


From 1 October 2010 the standard line rental charge will increase from £12.79 to £13.29 per month (£38.37 to £39.87 per quarter). Prices quoted are with payment by Direct Debit. Customers benefiting from the previous e-billing discount will continue to receive a discount of £1.25 per month (£3.75 per quarter) on the above prices. The changes to the standard line rental charge will not apply to customers who take or have already taken Line Rental Saver.


Call set-up fee.

From 1 October 2010, the call set-up fee for non-inclusive calls from landlines and for non-inclusive Broadband Talk calls will increase from 9.9 pence to 10.9 pence per call. Call set-up fees will not apply to:

• Inclusive weekend calls for customers on the Unlimited Weekend Plan.
   
• Inclusive evening and weekend calls for customers on the Unlimited Evening & Weekend Plan or the Broadband Talk Evening & Weekend Plan.
   
• Inclusive anytime calls on the Unlimited Anytime Plan or the Broadband Talk Anytime Plan.
   
• Calls to Freephone services and other inclusive calls not mentioned above.


Daytime UK calls.


From 1 October 2010, the cost of UK landline calls made during the daytime will increase from 5.9 pence per minute to 6.4 pence per minute. The changes to the daytime UK landline call price do not affect inclusive calls to numbers beginning 01, 02 and 03 (excluding the Channel Islands) of up to an hour made with the Unlimited Anytime Plan.

Call Return calling features.

From 1 October 2010 the charge for Call Return calling features (e.g. when you dial 1471 then press 3 or 1571 then press 0 to call someone that had previously called you or left a message for you) will increase from 12.2 pence to 16.5 pence per use.

Prices include VAT at 17.5% which may be subject to change.




Terms and Conditions


1. BT Answer 1571: Opt in required. At least two chargeable or inclusive calls (excludes BT Broadband Talk calls) on the BT analogue network must be made each month to avoid a monthly charge of £1 being added to your bill for the service. Deactivation of the 1571 service and deletion of messages occurs after 90 days' mailbox inactivity. Current Enhanced 1571 customers who pay £1.49 for the service including personalised greeting will have their charge reduced to £0 from 1 October 2010.
 
2. Prices correct July 2010. Comparison based on monthly calling feature rental charges: Sky Voicemail Plus with remote access - £2.50 per month; TalkTalk Voicemail Plus with remote access - £2.50 per month (£2.00 if taking 2+ calling features); Virgin Media Voicemail Plus - £2.00 per month (£1.75 if taking 2+ calling features).
 
3. 0845 and 0870 calls of up to 60 minutes' duration (excluding indirect access numbers and dial-up internet access). Fair Use Policy applies - maximum 1,000 minutes or 150 calls a month. If either of these limits on inclusive calls is exceeded, BT will charge for these calls until further notice. Terms and conditions apply.
 
4. Prices correct July 2010. Comparison based on pence-per-minute rates and set-up fees charged after 8am at the weekend. Competitor monthly line rental costs from £11.99 (Virgin Media) and £11 (Sky). Content of packages varies and prices quoted exclude calling circle discounts, where applicable.
 

Calls to 0871 will cost no more than 10ppm plus 9.9p set-up fee (10.9p from 1 October 2010); calls to 070 no more than 50ppm, with a maximum set-up charge of 50p. See bt.com/personal/pricing

Prices include VAT at 17.5% and are correct July 2010, but may change without notice at any time. Nothing in this email forms any part of a contract. Services and equipment are provided subject to British Telecommunications plc's representative standard conditions of contract.

Bob1942 wrote on Jul 30^th, 2010 at 2:18pm:

It would stand to reason to say that BT has decided to set its price at a level it beliefs that it will generate the greatest return.

Astute subscribers will hang up and dial numbers directly rather than pressing 3 to return the call. But it is important to appreciate that the message does say "There is normally a charge for the service" and therefore doesn't make mention of the level of the charge at the point of use.

As I say, the charges don't necessarily reflect the actual cost and that is a product of the free market.


It's clear that the recordings "To return the call press 3" and "There is normally a charge for the service" are two separate ones joined together, the latter being at higher volume than the former. I'm surprised that it hasn't be re-recorded as it sounds rather amateurish.


Bob1942 wrote on Aug 3^rd, 2010 at 11:37am:

We have yet to find out how these improvements to broadband services are going to be funded.

Following the relaxation of the retail price controls on BT in 2006, many charges have sky-rocketed. Chiefly that of non-inclusive calls. RIP the 5 pence minimum charge for popular types of call (mobiles, 084, 087 and geographic/03 on non-inclusive tariffs).

amusingly enough I had a little argument with Virgin yesterday cause I wanted rid of my line..

"why do you want to disconnect sir?"
Because I want to.
"but what is the reason"
Because I want to.
"Having looked at your account, you used 400 minutes last month"
Because I want to.
"Please hold, I will put you through to retentions."

I mean really, dont they get the because I want to? Eventually they settled on some minuscule little discount, but I refused to take ANY inclusive call packages.

The next step, is if VM increase their line-rental, I disconnect completely, easy. But having read this thread, I do feel sorry for the confused people. I do hope many people move on over to an easier supplier, its not like there isnt much choice these days

sherbert wrote on Sep 20^th, 2010 at 7:04pm:

The basic fact which emerges from the nonsense littering this piece is that call charges for normal calls are becoming a thing of the past. The minority (34% in the case of BT) who pay for calls to landlines are incurring penalty charges. I hope that this article will help more to recognise this so that the percentages can be reduced.

The standard cost of a landline call to a geographic number, to be used when comparing with that for a 0845 or 0844 number, is 0p.

There is much to argue about with regard to the fairness of the cost of telephone service overall and the different deals offered by different providers. The way that mobile telephony is paid for at present is especially contentious. I personally support the removal of call charges for normal calls and this move helps the case that we argue through this forum enormously.

Trenod wrote on Sep 22^nd, 2010 at 11:54pm:

The important point to remember however, especially when making comparisons with the cost of calling revenue sharing numbers, is that the rates charged for normally inclusive calls are PENALTY rates imposed on those who select a call plan to cover one period and then make calls at another time.

We must get away from the idea that these rates are the standard BT call charges - they are not.

If presented as the standard cost of a daytime telephone call, these rates make the rip-off cost of calling a GP on a 0844 number appear cheap. Most of those who contribute to this forum want to fight against this misleading nonsense.

We can argue about the principle of inclusive packages and the prices charged for call plans, however we must accept the reality of the situation as it is.

SilentCallsVictim wrote on Sep 20^th, 2010 at 9:00pm:

Indeed it is.

The same thing exists with mobile tariffs that have finite inclusive minutes. The cost of minutes in excess of those bundled are high and on a par with that for pay as you go tariffs.

The reason is the same. If extra call minutes weren't as expensive, then there would be less incentive to drive subscribers onto more expensive tariffs with greater volumes of inclusive minutes.


Trenod wrote on Sep 22^nd, 2010 at 11:54pm:

I agree with you here, although I don't believe that the cost of payphones will drive people to use mobiles. That suggests that you think that if payphones were cheaper than mobiles, that people would really use them instead of dipping their hand in their pocket for their mobile phone.

At the end of the day, public payphones are undoubtedly a public service that are unprofitable for any private organisation, apart from where BT's competitors have cherry-picked there locations, such as in busy train stations and bustling shopping streets.


Trenod wrote on Sep 22^nd, 2010 at 11:54pm:

But unlike BT, they do charge a premium for calling landlines and don't offer discounts for connecting calls to mobiles on their own networks (for which they don't incur termination charges).


SilentCallsVictim wrote on Sep 23^rd, 2010 at 6:49am:

One reason for the abolition of the BT Standard tariff was because when BT's competitors made comparisons, they did so with it and not BT's main tariffs, set-up to compete in the open market. (BT Standard was essentially the "pre-competition" tariff.)