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Payphone for Holiday let advice needed

John1969 — Sun, 24 Jan 2021 15:09:25 GMT

I run a Holiday Let in Wales and have a BT landline phone for guests to use. I'm always out of pocket as guests are advised of costs and to leave money in a trust box which never covers costs of calls made. I want to buy a lockable coin operated payphone so guests have to pay for all calls they make. Wifi in the house isn't super fast Broadband and is slow as live in a rural village. I've heard buying one of these payphones and installing it could affect my BT broadband so guests could complain as already state how slow the Wifi is. I just want to buy a payphone that works well and doesn't interfere with my Broadband. There's no mobile phone reception at the holiday let as located in a hilly area, if relevant. Any suggestions. thanks, John

Re: Payphone for Holiday let advice needed

NigelB72 — Sun, 24 Jan 2021 15:29:16 GMT

Why not just levy a £5 charge at booking which is refundable if the landline isn't used for chargeable calls or take a call package from BT and alter your booking fees to incorporate the additional cost? £35.20 per month including line rental will give you unlimited calls to UK landlines and mobiles.

Re: Payphone for Holiday let advice needed

Keith_Beddoe — Sun, 24 Jan 2021 15:29:56 GMT

@John1969

Provided its connected via a microfilter, it should not affect your broadband.

Re: Payphone for Holiday let advice needed

gg30340 — Sun, 24 Jan 2021 15:48:12 GMT

If you do an Internet search for "buy a payphone" you will find a few different payphones that you could buy.

You will need to consider the location of the actual phone wall socket because unlikely as it may be, your guests could just unplug the payphone and plug in a "normal" phone and make un paid for calls.

Using a phone that uses your phone landline rather than an Internet phone will not effect your broadband speeds.

Re: Payphone for Holiday let advice needed

Keith_Beddoe — Sun, 24 Jan 2021 16:05:56 GMT

It would also have to be programmed to block premium, International calls, and operator assisted calls. That can also be done on your BT account using call barring, for a small monthly cost.

It may be simpler to install a normal phone and have an unlimited phone package. You would still need to block some types of calls that are not included in the package.

Re: Payphone for Holiday let advice needed

John1969 — Mon, 25 Jan 2021 12:24:14 GMT

I have installed normal landline push button telephone and have a BT package for unlimited calls to mobiles and landlines in UK and pay for barring to International calls, premium numbers and calls to 084,087,09,118 calls. I found out when I checked a bill that it was over £30.00 than my usual monthly direct debit. This has happened several times. I couldn't fathom out the bill and why it was extra but think it was calls were over an hour quite often.

Re: Payphone for Holiday let advice needed

John1969 — Mon, 25 Jan 2021 12:28:01 GMT

I was thinking about that issue too, if they sell them, to buy a lockable telephone wall socket so telephone cable is locked into the socket.
That's good to know. Didn't realise some landline phones work off the internet. Thanks

Re: Payphone for Holiday let advice needed

Keith_Beddoe — Mon, 25 Jan 2021 12:33:02 GMT

@John1969 wrote:
II couldn't fathom out the bill and why it was extra but think it was calls were over an hour quite often.

I understand that the new anytime package, does not have the one hour limit.

Re: Payphone for Holiday let advice needed

CJT80 — Mon, 25 Jan 2021 13:59:07 GMT

@John1969

You may want to look at Payphone services | VoIP payphone | BT Business if you are after a payphone.

I haven't seen a lockable adaptor to block calls in years, most are now done via Network blocking.

BTW the user guide for the Contour 100 says you can set the call rates...