Dave wrote on Oct 30^th, 2017 at 3:59pm:

Thank you Dave; I was incorrect.

Penalty Charge call durations, unlike those for calls to 084/087/09/118 numbers, are indeed rounded up to the next minute.

Apologies for the factual error, although my point stands - it is actually strengthened a little. Any call of over 6 minutes dead costs more than £1. To avoid spending more than £1 you have to hang up on or before 6 minutes.

Unlimited call packagea are close to being the new normal on landlines. They are also commonplace on mobile deals where the main distinguishing feature is amount of data allowance, alongside large or unlimited phone & text allowances. Presumably reflecting how a lot of people use their mobiles mainly for data.

If I look back to what I was paying for landline telephony in the 1990s and early 2000s it's a lot less now than then. Unlimited call deals certainly gave me a large reduction in bills.

bazzerfewi wrote on Oct 31^st, 2017 at 1:09pm:

Such low users – which includes those who tend to make calls from their mobiles when at home – would be better off with providers that have low call charges. Such operators may not offer inclusive plans, and instead utilise the model of billing calls on incidental basis. That way, should a subscriber make a call it won't cost as much.

Dave wrote on Oct 27^th, 2017 at 11:14am:

Well, stop the press! Unlimited Anytime Calls will be going up from £8.99 to £9.50 on 7 January 2018.

I find that landline phone providers usually seem to under-sell their anytime inclusive call plans. They advertise inclusive weekend calls as the default package. This exposes callers to rates of around £8 per hour for weekday calls and it is this that fuels the perception that "landlines are expensive".

I suspect there are a significant number of people paying a large amount for weekday calls at high per-minute rates on their landline who could benefit from swapping to an unlimited anytime call plan on their landline.

I would also contend there are many people who could save money by taking an unlimited anytime deal on their landline and cutting the deal on their mobile phone down so that it covers only the calls they will make while away from home.

Landline providers offer unlimited anytime calls for around :£9 per month. Those deals include calls to UK geographic numbers starting 01 and 02, non-geographic numbers starting 03 and, usually, UK mobile numbers starting 071 to 075 and 077 to 079.

Ian01 wrote on Nov 4^th, 2017 at 6:04pm:

Perhaps. But at the side of the monthly subscription for their mobile service, the handset offered may be an attractive carrot plus call bundles aren't that expensive plus people don't tend to make voice calls any more, preferring to communicate with friends via social media. So would it really make a difference? And then set it at the side of the fact that people prefer to make calls when they want and not tend to be restricted when at home.

When the landline-only BT line rental reduction comes into effect in April 2018, the rate will be set at £11.99 per month with increases limited to inflation. Using a working estimate of 2.5%, we may expect £12.30 in April 2019 and £12.60 in April 2020. (BT price increases are generally well ahead of inflation, but this is capped for three years.)

Those affected will have to choose between paying for just that and the option of paying for Home Phone Saver 2020. (I am assuming, for now, that there will be no Home Phone Saver 2021.)

Home Phone Saver 2020 costs £21.99 per month, but offers the following array of additional benefits – with its price guaranteed as fixed until 1 January 2020, with the possibility of it extending beyond that date (as other similar offers have).

All of the following, in addition to line rental are included in Home Phone Saver 2020. Prices are shown as at 7 Jan 2018, or as projected if the new price is not yet known (*). These prices may be expected to increase further before January 2020.

• Unlimited calls, at any time, to UK landlines and 0845 and 0870 numbers, for up to an hour (£9.50 per month).
  Projected cost at January 2019: £9.75 per month (although the inflation cap does not apply to this).
• BT Privacy with Caller Display (£1.85 per month, although inclusive on some deals).
• Anonymous Call Reject (£6.50 per month *).
• Free 1471 / 1571 Call Return (30p per use).
• 1000 free minutes to BT Mobiles, excluding BT Business Mobile (not available as an item).
• Call Minder with Enhanced BT Call Protect (£5.00 per month).
• Any or all of the following calling features - Call Waiting, Call Diversion, Call Sign, Call Barring, Three-way Calling, Ring Back, Reminder Call (1 feature: £5.00, 2-4 features: £9.25, 5+ features: £12.25, all per month).

If we consider Unlimited Anytime Calls to be the only worthwhile benefit, Home Phone Saver 2020 is 50p more expensive in April 2018, but 6p cheaper than the projected charge in April 2019.

All those features listed (with per month rates) total £35.10, giving a potential clear saving of up to £25.10 per month in April 2018, by subscribing to Home Phone Saver 2020, rather each of the features separately. There are also the additional benefits of inclusive calls to BT Mobiles and unlimited use of Call Return.

I think it fair to say that use of any one of the many features listed would tip the balance in favour of Home Phone Saver 2020, after the threshold of call usage to justify Unlimited Anytime had been crossed.


There then opens up the complex matrix of combinations of valued features and call usage to justify subscription to Home Phone Saver, in the event of very low call usage.

Noting recent contributions to this thread, I think we can say that those who get very little benefit from very little use of their landline should simply rip it out and get a mobile! We can then stop wasting our time talking about them in this thread and perhaps open another to discuss mobiles.