This topic

Do I need 'Pay as you Go' to retain my landline?

ksp55 — Thu, 12 Feb 2026 16:39:49 GMT

I'm just about to renew my contract with BT. I currently have the 'Fibre 2' Broadband Package and the 'Pay as You Go' landine/home phone package.

When renewing the contract online, I have the option to 'keep the same' as before - this includes the free 'Voicemail Essential with Call Protect' and free 'Caller Display' so naturally I assume selecting this ensures that the landline will stay connected.

Do I also have to go for the 'Pay as You Go' £3 a month option to retain my landline or am I right in thinking that selecting Fibre 2 Broadband and the the free Voicemail Essential and Caller Display will ensure my landline remains connected? When I select these free options, I do not get the warning about not having a phone line anymore which I do get if I select the 'Broadband Only' option.

I very rarely use the landline but wish to retain the phone number.

Many thanks in advance.

Re: Do I need 'Pay as you Go' to retain my landline?

iniltous — Thu, 12 Feb 2026 16:55:34 GMT

It’s not clear what you want to do , to keep the phone number you need to take broadband and landline , features such as caller display and voicemail /call protect are clearly only applicable with telephony , a broadband only customer doesn’t need call protection caller display or a voicemail service as they won’t be getting any incoming calls or be able to make outgoing ones ,so if you want to save the approximate £3 charge for telephony on a PAYG basis that includes caller display and voicemail etc then you give up the telephone number completely and become broadband only customer .

BT telephony needs a call plan , PAYG or Unlimited Minutes , you can’t have telephony without one or the other , £3 is the usual negotiated price for PAYG , but that £3 is for the supply of the telephone service , as calls are charged for on an individual basis,

Re: Do I need 'Pay as you Go' to retain my landline?

licquorice — Thu, 12 Feb 2026 16:52:46 GMT

Just select the same as before, that will be PAYG. No need to select anything else.

Re: Do I need 'Pay as you Go' to retain my landline?

Aljaha — Thu, 12 Feb 2026 17:52:55 GMT

Some time ago I was put on "my anytime calls" and when I renewed I was given the choice of "keep the same" and this is what I am still on.

Re: Do I need 'Pay as you Go' to retain my landline?

ksp55 — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 01:02:59 GMT

Sorry that my question didn't come across too clearly - when I tried to renew my contract (Fibre 2 + Pay as You Go for the landline), there's an option to "Stay on current" but for the rest of the process, no reference is made to be being on Pay as You Go for the new contract - there is only a reference to the free 'Voicemail Essential with Call Protect' and free 'Caller Display'. I naturally assumed that given that these options are included, BT will keep my landline connected - as you say, naturally there would be no need to have those options if the landline was being disconnected.

As you can see from the attached photo below, my Current Calling Plan, 'Pay as You Go' is shown in purple at £3.43 but when I select 'Stay on Current' as the option, this £3.43 is not added to the £26.99 Total Monthly Cost whereas if I select 'Pay as You Go' at £3 (rather than 'Stay on Current') this £3 is added on to the Total Monthly Cost.

I'm just concerned that if I select 'Stay on Current' I'll lose my landline as when I select this option, no further reference is made to the 'Pay as You Go' and I'm not charged for it, as far as I can see.

I'd just greatly appreciate clarification of whether I should go for the 'Stay on Current' option or select the £3 Pay as you Go add on to ensure I keep my landline.

Incidentally, it seems strange that BT's recommendation is Broadband Only with no landline as I've had a landline with them for nearly 30 years.

Finally, I've always paid my BT bills when they arrive but as far as I can tell, now the only option to pay is direct debit. As long as BT only deduct the amount of each bill on the day it arrives I have no issue with direct debit but I just wondered if it is still possible to pay each bill without setting up a direct debit?

Many thanks again for your help.

Re: Do I need 'Pay as you Go' to retain my landline?

borderline — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 08:06:44 GMT

BT needs to clarify this. I'm not renewing my contract but I received an email with the new price increases and although my broadband package includes the line rental, now the increases shows broadband package £3 and Pay as you go £3, total £6 . I think £6 increase is too much. It looks as if they are trying to charge now for a line rental that was already included in a broadband package

Re: Do I need 'Pay as you Go' to retain my landline?

iniltous — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 09:38:42 GMT

Obviously call BT for clarification, but TBH I’m my experience the reps struggle to give any rational explanation , but my take on this is ,

You were a legacy telephone customer with broadband as the secondary service , probably on the Weekends plan , or Evenings and Weekends plan and were moved to a current call plan some time ago , PAYG in your case , when BT removed the old plans from circulation , as there wasn’t an exact match you were put on the closest one , PAYG , but effectively you were given it for free ( because Weekends Calls was a free plan ) , so your bill of £27 is artificially low by around £3 as they gave you PAYG as a gift , given you didn’t chose to move off Evenings or E&WE’s .

Time has now caught up with you and that generosity has ended , to continue to have a telephone service it has to be paid for , same as everyone else on that PAYG plan .

I’d agree it’s not obvious that this is the case (and TBH , it’s only my interpretation which may be wrong ) , but clicking on ‘stay as your are’ may keep the free PAYG nature of your current telephone service or you may lose it , my guess you would lose it , even though it says ‘stay as you are ‘

FYI , £26.99 is a good price from BT just for F2 broadband let alone broadband and telephone, probably unrealistically good , expecting to pay £27.99 for both things is overly optimistic hence why I think you would lose telephone if you click ‘stay as you are’ .

So in your case , £26.99 with the £3 added for PAYG , £29.99 is still a better price than the new BT customer price for F2 with PAYG , which in my area which is £3 more than what you are being asked for , £29.99 broadband F2 plus £3 PAYG so £32.99 in total compared to your price which is presumably £29.99 in total if you select PAYG and not ‘stay as you are’ .

As stated on another similar thread , I think you are looking at this the wrong way , it’s not a £3 increase as such , it’s a removal of a £3 discount you previously had , obviously the outcome is the same , you pay at least £3 more , but the way you get there is different, ultimately although you would be paying for something you previously got for free, (so can feel miffed about it ) , even with that extra £3 , it’s actually still a better deal than the majority of new and existing BT customers

Re: Do I need 'Pay as you Go' to retain my landline?

ksp55 — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 16:19:21 GMT

Many thanks for your help. I will give BT a call although based on previous experience I'm not sure if they'll be able to clarify things. It's not very clear if opting for staying on my current package will ensure I still retain my landline connected on the Pay as You Go service.

I should just add to my previous post that the £26.99 a month only applies until the end of March and then it would be £30.99 from 31st March and then it increases to £34.99 a month after 31st March 2027. If I select Pay as You Go this adds a further £3 to the monthly cost so this offer is not really that cheap. I'm currently paying £45.10 just for broadband and Pay as You Go landline which seems quite a lot. At least with this new contract, I'll be paying £37.99 from April next year, even if I pay the extra £3 for Pay as You Go so while that's still more than a new customer would pay, it's less than I was paying before.

At the end of the day, I don't want to risk losing the landline so I guess my best option is to select the Pay as You Go landline at an extra £3 a month but as I say, they really don't make it very clear if staying on the current option will continue with Pay as You Go without paying the extra £3. I am currently paying £3.43 a month for Pay as You Go.

If I select Pay as You Go and it transpires that I'm then effectively paying for it twice if it's already included, I'm not sure if this will flag up something with the system, probably not!

I've just tried to ask BT via the live messaging service but that just eventually says it can't help. I must admit I preferred the days when contracts weren't renewed every 2 years, I recall the last time I renewed I ended up being on the phone for over an hour and I think I only ended up saving about £3 a month!

Re: Do I need 'Pay as you Go' to retain my landline?

borderline — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 16:31:35 GMT

It’s very confusing.

i opened a thread under billing because I’m confused too .

someone said they were told it was a mistake and the increase it’s just £3 . But yesterday via chat I was told the opposite.
I don’t think we are explained properly and I don’t think customer service in India know much.
I don’t want to pay either a double increase for something that was already included on my broadband package.

Re: Do I need 'Pay as you Go' to retain my landline?

licquorice — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 16:43:53 GMT

Customer services aren't in India.

Re: Do I need 'Pay as you Go' to retain my landline?

borderline — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 16:53:59 GMT

I assume the people on the chat are

Re: Do I need 'Pay as you Go' to retain my landline?

gg30340 — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 17:14:11 GMT

See link

BT completes 100% onshoring of customer service calls to the UK and Ireland to deliver personal and local customer service

Re: Do I need 'Pay as you Go' to retain my landline?

borderline — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 21:31:56 GMT

Maybe calls are located in the UK but it seems the chat still handled in India, The person on the chat had Indian name . In any case he or she didn't;t resolve my query

Re: Do I need 'Pay as you Go' to retain my landline?

gg30340 — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 22:34:15 GMT

Have you considered that it could have been somebody that migrated to the UK?

Re: Do I need 'Pay as you Go' to retain my landline?

gg30340 — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 23:11:41 GMT

@ksp55

In answer to your question. If you want a landline phone you will have to have a calling package with it. BT now only do two calling packages. It is either Pay as You Go or Unlimited Minutes.

Calling Features | Landlines | BT

Voicemail Essentials with Call Protect and Caller Display are only free if you have a Digital Voice calling package such as you do with the Pay As You Go package. You can not have them as a "stand lone option" by virtue of the fact that you need a landline phone to make use of them.

As you are aware the Pay as You Go has a charge for the "landline". It is either £3 or £5 depending on when you took out your landline phone. You stated you are paying £3 and it shows on your bill that you are on Pay as You Go.

Where it states "Stay on Current" that means your present package which going by what you are being billed is BT Broadband with landline on a Pay as you Go Package.

For clarity in this instance landline means the ability to make and receive landline phone calls as against the "free" landline that is incorporated in your broadband package which in that instance means the line that delivers broadband to your property.

If you do mot wish to pay the £3 for the ability to use your landline phone with the Pay as You Go calling package you will need to order a BT Broadband only package which will remove the ability for you to make and receive calls and by extension you will not have Voicemail Essentials with Call Protect and Caller Display.

Re: Do I need 'Pay as you Go' to retain my landline?

ksp55 — Fri, 20 Feb 2026 23:47:24 GMT

Many thanks for your help. I changed over to Digital Voice earlier this year. It definitely sounds as though if I click on the 'Keeping the Current' option, it's highly likely that I'll lose my landline and I wish to keep this for making and receiving calls.

I think my best bet is to opt for Pay as You Go at an extra £3 a month.

Many thanks again.