I am fed up with BT's excessive call charges. My bill averages £250 per quarter and we are not big phone users. I use their surftime option for internet. Any good suggestions for cheaper providers please?
Lorna

I'm with One Tel .
Lara x

Sorry for laughing Lorna, cos it's not a funny subject, but either there is something wrong with your line/billing or you use the phone more than you think! :D Our BT phone bill is £30-£40 per quarter, with an extra £16 per month for BT Anytime (which adds on £48/qtr). So compared to mine, your phone usage must be HUGE! :D

On a serious note, is it the voice calls that you want cheaper, or do you want a cheaper ISP? Which bit is actually costing you the most?

Lorna - do you pay separately for your Surftime? I was just wondering if your interent usage is accidently going on your phone bill cos £250 seems an awful lot. Did once read in the papers about somebody who accidently put the wrong (ie peak rate) phone number into their computer for there ISP in their haste to get it up and running online and there first phone bill was £400!

My phone bills are about £50 a quarter. Mind you my son is not yet old enough to bother with the phone.

Do you the have "friends and family" set up with BT to save you at least some money?

BFN
Ailsa

Cant you get onto the "anytime" internet usage whereby you pay a fixed fee every month ( about £15 ish) and can use the net as often as you like .
Is that what you meant??

That's a very good point, Ailsa.

Lorna, are you using the correct btopenworld dialler for the package that you are on? Or did you configure Dial-Up Networking yourself, because you could very easily be using the wrong phone number for your internet calls. You can log onto bt and download the dialler software. HTH. :)

Lorna , pick up a TEsco.net ANYTIME CD at TEscosupermarket :) You pay 12.99 per month to be online as much as you like and you have no phone charges other than your actual calls (to friends etc)

We were with them for quite a while before getting broadband :)

Melody :)

We are with AOL (not a personal reccommendation) but we pay £15.99 a onth and that is all and pay for phone calls asper norm .

I'm with AOL too for internet access. It's not the best or the cheapest but I divert my personal calls through One Tel rather than BT.
My phone bill prior to changing was similar to yours Lorna but far from not using the phone a lot. I spend a lot of time ringing internationally. My phone bill now is a shadow of its former self.
Lara x

Thanks for the info. I use Freeserve Hometime which costs me £15.99 per month for off peak internet use. I cannot understand why our phone bill is so huge. We have it itemised, but I must confess, I don't really check it up. I saw an ad for Sainsburys providing phones. My son and daughter have mobiles so use them a lot. I probably only make about one call a day and that usually isn't long. If I want a long chat I call after 6pm when our calls are meant to be much cheaper. I think I might get onto BT and ask whats going on.
Lorna

If you are using Freeserve and have an off peak package , but use the PC online during daytime as well , you will get hammered for connection charges. You can check your phone bill online at BT.com (I think) that will tell you what the charges are for.

Hi Lorna

BT now have various options and if you pay their highest charge (£29 a month?) then all calls to 01 and 02 numbers are included.
You still have to pay for 0345, all mobile etc but if you stick to the 01 and 02 then you should know exactly how much you will need to be paying.

Perhaps your children are calling mobiles from the land-line?

Most insurance companies, banks etc now have call centres and don't use the 01/02 numbers. If you can find a number to call them from, from abroad then it is generally one of the inclusive numbers and you just need to work out the UK version :D

I use BT Anytime £15.99 a month for 150 hours at any time of day or night - I think BT should increase the hours and/or lower the charges for those of use who can't get Broadband (regardless or not as to whether we want it)

Christine

Go to ntl, get cable modem for internet use that way it doesn't tie up your phone line, and idoesn't matter how long you are on the internet.

Not everyone has cable, broadband, channel 5 etc etc etc etc etc :)

Christine

Sorry what do you mean by channel 5?, and broadband is just a quicker internet provider!

Charlie, Christine's point is that Broadband is not available at all in rural areas, and therefore is not necessarily an option...(nor is cable TV, Channel 5 TV, mains gas, often not even mains drainage.)
:)

Oh right, i know that it's not allowed in some areas, i had no idea the person in question was from a rural area!

It's not that it's not allowed, it's just not available because it would be far too expensive to get it out to 'the sticks'!
:)

I don't know why i put not allowed it was just a term of speech. I know where i live it's the biggest housing estate in Europe, i can get ntl, but my dads partner who lives round the corner from me is unable to get it. I do think eventually they will get round to it. Strange old world.