This topic

Pay for Landline with FFTH and PAYG?

TimEdwards1 — Tue, 24 Jan 2023 19:00:55 GMT

Earlier this month I had FFTP installed. I’m satisfied with the product (Full Fibre 100 with Halo3+), it works as it should. As part of that upgrade I was also put on to DV.

Like most folk, I am looking to reduce costs where I can so my question is, do I need to pay £220/yr (about to go up) for the Landline if I opt for PAYG for calls? The reason I ask is because I find BT’s billing and tariffs, combined with their advertising as impossible to fathom and at times contradictory.

When I look online I see adverts directed at new customers offering FullFibre 100 without phone available for £35.99. Full Fibre 100 with PAYG is £40.99. That suggests BT are charging £5 to be able to make phone calls. As far as I can see, there is no mention of any additional charge or requirement to pay £220/yr for a Landline. However, when I look at my offers in MyBT it appears to be charging for Landline for similar packages (£60/m+).

To further muddy the waters, my mate is on Fibre 1 with PAYG. He does not pay monthly for his Landline, and has not paid it annually for nearly two years. His bill states Landline calling plan as PAYG but there is no charge, discount or reference to a charge for LL on his bill under the Broadband Package breakdown, yet it does work, he gets a dialling tone and was actually charged for a call he made a few months ago. Could it be (quite possible) that on one of his many calls to discuss his account and haggle for a discount on BT TV etc he has bamboozled the BT Call Handler at the other end to the point where they have removed the Landline from his bill accidentally?

Re: Pay for Landline with FFTH and PAYG?

iniltous — Tue, 24 Jan 2023 20:16:11 GMT

Where do you get £220 for the landline ?,

If you have broadband, the line rental portion is included, it’s been that way for years , anyone with telephony has to take a calls package the ‘cheapest’ being PAYG , then 700mins then Unlimited .

As you state , stand-alone broadband is available, and the ‘list price’ is £5 cheaper than the same broadband with telephony including PAYG , so arguably the ‘cost’ for telephony is £5 , that’s £60 a year not £220, so dropping the ‘cheapest’ telephony saves £60/ year.

If you have ( for example ) unlimited calls instead of PAYG , that is £11/ month more than PAYG so £132 + £60 = £192per year , still less than £220, but getting close.

Line rental for those BT customers that don’t have broadband, ( but for some reason don’t have the landline only discounts of £7-£11 ) , pay around £23 ( most telephone only will be paying around £13-£15 per month ) but it’s a mistake to think that someone who pays ( for example ) £35 for landline and broadband the breakdown is £23 line rental and £12 broadband, it doesn’t work like that, it’s £35 you don’t subdivide the total .

You don’t state what you actually pay , and what you receive for that payment , if you are paying an ‘out of contract’ price on a legacy package, your price may seem excessive compared to someone who is within a minimum term on a current package, obviously anyone ‘out of contract’ can negotiate a better price by committing to a new minimum term on a current package , or look at alternatives without fear of early termination charges

Re: Pay for Landline with FFTH and PAYG?

TimEdwards1 — Tue, 24 Jan 2023 20:38:55 GMT

Hi iniltous.

The £219.99 (the exact amount iirc) is the annual charge for landline when paid as a one-off at the beginning of the year. £19.99 is then discounted monthly from the full charge of £60.13 leaving £40.14 plus £1.70 for Anytime Calls that I pay monthly for BB. There is a c£20 annual benefit from paying the LL annually.

Re: Pay for Landline with FFTH and PAYG?

-Richie- — Tue, 24 Jan 2023 20:40:52 GMT

You don't pay separately for line rental, you pay for a bundle which included broadband and the line it's delivered down.

Removing the telephony option so you can't make/receive calls will save you the cost of your calling plan, if you have PAYG for £5, you'd save £5.

Re: Pay for Landline with FFTH and PAYG?

TimEdwards1 — Tue, 24 Jan 2023 20:55:41 GMT

Hi Richie,

I appreciate BT now lump the LL in with BB (hence the £19.99 discount I receive off £60.13) though I do actually pay it separately each year.

My query comes about really because BT are advertising the same product (Full Fibre 100 with phone service) at £40.99/m with no mention of a requirement for an additional payment iro the Landline compared to a BB only price of £35.99, but when I go into MyBT and look at offers available to me it says £60.13 for Full Fibre 100 Halo 3+. Added to that, my mate appears to not be paying anything for LL (I have seen his bill and compared it to mine).

Re: Pay for Landline with FFTH and PAYG?

imjolly — Tue, 24 Jan 2023 21:03:55 GMT

You are not comparing like with like as you have halo 3+ which is a significant extra cost

Re: Pay for Landline with FFTH and PAYG?

TimEdwards1 — Tue, 24 Jan 2023 21:04:25 GMT

The advert for new customers

Re: Pay for Landline with FFTH and PAYG?

TimEdwards1 — Tue, 24 Jan 2023 21:23:12 GMT

Hi imjolly,

There are benefits to Halo 3+ but there are no costs attributable to it on my bill. Halo 3 itself apparently can be £1per month, but I do not appear to be paying that.

Re: Pay for Landline with FFTH and PAYG?

iniltous — Tue, 24 Jan 2023 22:21:51 GMT

Any personal ‘deal’ isn’t the only thing on offer, if at a point in time where you have a good negotiating position, (coming to the end of a minimum term ) irrespective of personalised renewal offer you can call the retentions team ( or whatever they are called ) armed with what new BT customers can get , or what a competitor could supply the same product for , and ask for that.

TBH , I thought one of the benefits of ‘Halo’ was a guarantee that you wouldn’t pay more than the current new customer deal.

The website states Halo 3 can be had for as little as £1/month , that’s not the same as saying it is £1/ month , you could always enquire what you would pay if your Halo 3+ was removed from your package, plus any other products that are not included on the website new customer offer , like you have included calls that are not part of the new customer offer , they have to be added

Re: Pay for Landline with FFTH and PAYG?

TimEdwards1 — Tue, 24 Jan 2023 23:16:13 GMT

Hi iniltous,

Yes, part of the Halo deal is that your package won’t be beaten by a new customer deal or words to that effect. However it is quite apparent that if you keep at them they will do deals, which is a bummer for those not confident enough to question their charges.

It is my intention to phone BT’s Retention team and see if there is anything to be had but I thought I would pose the question on here first incase someone has been through the same scenario recently. If new customers need to have a BT LL included in their package at an additional cost of £22/23/m then their advertising is misleading as it makes no mention. You would expect it to say something like “….subject to a BT LL being in place…..”

But who truly, fully, understands BT billing? Going by my own experiences, BT themselves don’t understand it.

Thanks for the info and advice.

Re: Pay for Landline with FFTH and PAYG?

iniltous — Wed, 25 Jan 2023 00:15:55 GMT

All broadband prices include line rental,

Your invoicing is complicated by the fact that you chose to pay what is now somewhat misleadingly called line rental saver, in reality, you pay a lump sum of around £220 in advance and receive something like a £20 discount for doing so, but it makes comparing what you pay in subsequent months compared to someone who doesn’t use this arrangement difficult, your bill will have to incorporate the fact that you loaned BT £200 at the start of the term and they are going to give you £20 back.

The basic point remains , whatever price is shown on the website is the monthly total , you don’t have to add on some monthly line rental payment amount , it’s part of the amount displayed.

If the deal shown broadband and phone service , 6 months half price of £23 then £41 that’s it , unless any extras are purchased, like TV , Sport , 700 mins or unlimited inclusive calls ( if it’s were a broadband only package it would be £5 cheaper ) ….they don’t add line rental on top , irrespective of it being £23 in the first 6 months , or the £41 for the next 18 months , that is the fee for being supplied with service.

If you think that there is LR missing and those prices are misleading because there is £10 or £15 to add onto the £23/£41 for line rental , you are mistaken, £23/£41 is the total price.

TBH , for the sake of £20 per year , I would prefer to have a slightly less confusing invoice, without the arbitrary additions and subtractions, misleading called line rental savings, when line rental is not a separate item when broadband is purchased

Re: Pay for Landline with FFTH and PAYG?

garybs29 — Wed, 25 Jan 2023 00:10:43 GMT

Re tbe price promise it will be related to this new customer halo 3+ price (for example) fact is you're not going to save what you think by removing tbe voice

Re: Pay for Landline with FFTH and PAYG?

TimEdwards1 — Wed, 25 Jan 2023 10:53:38 GMT

Hi iniltous,

Thank you for your considered replies, they are appreciated.

I realise BT now bundle up LL with their BB, making the way I have continued to pay my bill, with £220 annually in advance, seem at odds with their current billing practice. The reason I have been happy to pay in advance is that effectively I have been getting a return of over 8%, compared with the banks until recently of about 0.5%. The subsequent discount is actually quite easy to understand on my bill. (Did I actually say that?). The rest of it, well 🤔🤷🏼‍♂️

My issue with BT is that they appear to be advertising a product to new customers which on the face of it is the same as what I have, though as has been pointed out I also have Halo 3+ which I thought was free or included in my BB package way back in time, but works out significantly cheaper. Am I paying £20/m for just the Halo 3+ benefits? Clearly the only way I’m going to clear it up is by speaking to BT, which I will do when I have a day to spare 🤦‍♂️

Thanks for your help.
Regards,

Tim

Re: Pay for Landline with FFTH and PAYG?

TimEdwards1 — Wed, 25 Jan 2023 10:56:24 GMT

Hi garybs29,

Yes, I suspect you are correct in the long run.

I haven’t seen that particular price on my searches, do you happen to have a direct link?

Thanks,

Tim

Re: Pay for Landline with FFTH and PAYG?

iniltous — Wed, 25 Jan 2023 17:19:29 GMT

If you are getting Anytime calls for £1.70 that’s significantly cheaper than the £11 or £16 list price for Unlimited calls , £16 if you include the fact that telephony with broadband is £5 more that stand alone broadband, and Unlimited calls are £11 more than the ‘free’ PAYG option,

looking at your charges differently, if your bill is around £20 more than the same broadband package with PAYG for ‘new’ customers , if £11 of that difference was made up of the included calls, that reduces the real cost of your Halo 3+ benefits spend to around £9.

As you intend to call and negotiate, the ‘basic’ new customer deal for broadband 150Mb , with PAYG telephone is £41 , with the first 6 months half price , that £22x6 , spread over the 24 months of the term ( instead of £22 in the first 6 months ) is around £5 per month , so a target price I would suggest is around £36 , plus any ‘extra’ you add on need , if for example £11 for Anytime /unlimited calls represents value if you make many chargeable calls ,

I would have thought your Halo guarantee should be all that’s needed to get this sort price , or something close to it,

Re: Pay for Landline with FFTH and PAYG?

TimEdwards1 — Wed, 25 Jan 2023 21:26:12 GMT

Hi iniltous,

Thanks again for your reply.

Yes, the more I look at it, and following communication with a BT bot, I can see what the charges are for. But by Jings, BT don't half make it difficult!!

They bundle the Line Rental in with the BB package, but don't itemise it or mention it, then give me a Line Rental Saver. They also add in the Halo 3+ and come up with an overall package price, then deduct the LRS. A year ago I moved from Fibre Halo 2 to Fibre Halo 3+ which gave me EE Hybrid and Wifi extenders, this was sold to me on the basis that my charges would reduce by £1/m, which they did (though I had to pay £9.99 for postage of the kit). I have just had Full Fibre 100 Halo 3+ installed so I am tied in for 12 months, but come next January I'll be looking to trim my package significantly (ooh err Missus!) and try and simplify it.

A big part of the problem in understanding my bill is that I think I am benefiting from old deals, like My Anytime at £1.70 and the LRS.

Thanks again,

Tim