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[UncleUB]

Hi all,

I'm thinking of switching to O2 Home phone line rental when my BT contract expires in September.

As I'm with O2 LLU broadband,what effect would me moving my line rental over to them..does it affect your BB connection,ie any down time?
What would happen if in the future I wanted to switch my line rental away from O2?Would I also lose my BB with them?

[Oranged]

I don't think there is any effect as it is still in essence a "BT" line, you just pay O2 instead.

As to the future, no you wouldn't lose out on O2 BB. The stipulation is that to have Home Phone you must already have O2 BB.

Also to have O2 BB you must have a "BT" line rather than an unbundled one, like from TalkTalk.

[BritBrat]

I would stay with BT as you can use indirect numbers like 1889 to get cheaper calls.

Yes O2 may allow that as well but they don't have to and TalkTalk, SKY and others have already blocked them.

Also getting the line repaired I would guess would be a lot quicker if only BT were involved.

You could have a read through the O2 Forum and see what others think:
http://forum.o2.co.uk/viewforum.php?f=14

Although there does not seem to be many posts about phone service.

[tuftedduck]

I think also that if you switch your telephony service from BT to another bundled phone/bb provider....and then want in the future to move back to BT for phone only, then you have to pay a hefty "reconnection" fee to BT........£125 if I remember.

[UncleUB]

Its not the call part I mind as I don't make many(not via my BT landline at least)

 My line rental for this month is £11.54 and the calls cost.....16p

As most of you know I am very hard of hearing and use my mobile whenever I can....I have an O2 Simplicity sim which gives me 300 minutes to other mobiles,free unlimited texts and unlimited calls to UK landlines for £10 a month.

The only time I use the landline is to phone the doctors (0845) and similar numbers,so as now BT are putting up my line rental 50p to £12.04 in October I thought the O2 line rental for £9.50 is a better deal,but is it worth the hassle for £2.50 a month,plus with BT as I am disabled I am registered with their priority faults service.

[BritBrat]

Do you use caller display?

Well I think with O2 that is an extra so check it out, I also have small BT phone charges but I don't use a moblie.

I have Primus CPS and bill for that is less than £1 a month and I use 18185 bill around £5 a month then BT line rental with a bill of less that £15 a month.  Sounds complicated and it is but I use a Orchid dialer to do all the hard work.

If anyone has a redundant Orchid dialer I would love a spare one.
http://www.jandmclark.com/2008/07/07/reducing-phone-bills/

It does have other uses, I can block the use of any number I like.

[UncleUB]

Do you use caller display?

Yes, and we have have 1571(voice mail) and 1471(last number to call)which are all included in the line rental at present.

[BritBrat]

Yes, and we have have 1571(voice mail).

Do you have any friends?


You do know that costs them money when you are on a call or don't answer the phone.  It is just a way for BT to make extra money from calls not even forwarded to the person being called.

Please DUMP 1571!

The reason I say that is because, IMHO, 'free' 1571 services are nothing more than a clever con by call provider companies.

That's because, if you call someone who has the 'service' and they happen to be engaged on a call already, you go straight through to the 1571 'machine' (you have no option, the decision is out of your hands), your call is connected and you are charged.

If you don't have an inclusive call package, such a call on a weekday on BT would cost 9.9p connection (10.9p from 1-10-2010) plus a minimum of 5.9p (6.4p from 1-10-2010) - the unavoidable charge for the first minute. So, even if you don't want to leave a message, that call has cost you 15.8p (17.3p from 1-10-2010) and, considering that trying again (and again, and again) might have the same result too, it starts getting very expensive for your callers.

If the person you called didn't have 1571, you'd have heard an engaged tone, would have realised they were busy on a call, would not have been charged anything and probably would have decided to try again after a few minutes.

In any case, an answering machine set to answer after 8 or 9 rings is a far more 'friends and family friendly' device for when you're out. F&F quickly learn that, if you haven't answered by, say, the fifth ring, you're not going to - so they have the option of hanging on until the answering machine kicks in and leaving a message (at their expense) or hanging up (at no expense) and trying later.

DUMP IT. DUMP IT. DUMP IT.


Please don't be taken in by BT's 1st October 2010 'upgrade' of its 1571 service - to include a personaised greeting at no extra cost. Ignoring the paradox that it is not possible to add something "at no exra cost" when there is no cost in the first place, this is clearly just an attempt to make the service more closely resemble a standard answering machine.


I dumped 1571 some time ago and picked up a very nice brand new BT Decor corded phone with built-in answering machine for about £10. This 'campaign' must be working - the prices can be a little higher now!


If you have BT 1571, you can cancel it online - click HERE to avoid spending ages trying to cancel by phone.

 

N.B. This is really an extension/resurrection of Martin's 2005 "Do the 5 ring slam" thread.

SOURCE

[UncleUB]

Do you have any friends? 

Last count 3.......

[UncleUB]

God Give Me Strength

I have just phoned BT to find out why I have been charged for the evening and weekend plan this month...Because my contract expired on the 31st July.I wasn't even informed that my contract was about to expire. (I spoke to a very nice lady from the North East)That is England not India. 
I was told by some Indian numpty last week that my contract expires on the 27th Sept 

Anyway was told that to continue on the evening and weekend plan you now have to sign up for 18 months 

No thanks I said and have now gone on the BT weekend plan which is a no cost option and has no contract.

[tuftedduck]

>>>God Give Me Strength <<<

You spoke, my son ? 

[BritBrat]

God Give Me Strength

No thanks I said and have now gone on the BT weekend plan which is a no cost option and has no contract.

I am on the weekend plan with no contract.

You had better check you are not now on a yearly rolling contract, but it does not matter if you want to stay with BT but keep it in mind should you want to move later.

And make sure you use one paid for call and two free calls each month to retain free caller display and 1571.

Or are you also paying for that when it is nearly free


Sorry it is two 2 chargeable or inclusive (Free) calls:

OK, this isn't a cost reduction item per se (unless you've been paying BT for that service), but it is very handy. Bear in mind though that BT impose a £2.59/month charge for this facility if you don't make at least 2 chargeable or inclusive calls via them per month if you are billed monthly (or 6 per quarter if you are billed quarterly).

[UncleUB]

And make sure you use one paid for call and two free calls each month to retain free caller display and 1571.

I have just been told by the Duchess of Delhi that you have to make 2 chargeable calls a month to qualify for the above

[UncleUB]

>>>God Give Me Strength <<<

You spoke, my son ? 

I did dad,I did........trouble is no one's listening. 

[tuftedduck]