This topic

Home Phone Saver 2020

Clarkatron — Thu, 18 Jul 2024 16:19:17 GMT

Hi I have had Home Phone Saver 2020 since late 2017 and it's always been the same £21.99 pm all this time. Now this year it's gone to £22.86pm.

I'm aware of the March increase but this has never been applied in the 6 years or so I've been on this plan. And had no notification of this.

Any thoughts?

Re: Home Phone Saver 2020

VeteranISPUser — Thu, 18 Jul 2024 17:21:21 GMT

Hi @Clarkatron Are you trying to catch up on 6 years of increases not applied to your account?

Re: Home Phone Saver 2020

iniltous — Thu, 18 Jul 2024 17:29:44 GMT

Re: Home Phone Saver 2020

Clarkatron — Thu, 18 Jul 2024 18:32:56 GMT

Err.....no. BT never increased this package. It was inflation proof. They told me that themselves. It was the same for everyone. My question is for other users of this. Have they also suddenly had a price increase. The increase equates to approx 4% so that doesn't tie in with cpi +3.9% increases in March.

Re: Home Phone Saver 2020

Clarkatron — Thu, 18 Jul 2024 18:02:07 GMT

What?

Re: Home Phone Saver 2020

Tim123 — Mon, 22 Jul 2024 18:47:48 GMT

@Clarkatron - Sorry for the late reply, I've only just seen your question in my thread.

Yes, I'm afraid my Home Phone Saver Plan went up to £22.86 per month (on 31st March). Before that it had always been £21.99 per month, since my first bill in April 2019. However, unlike you, I did receive a letter from BT about a month before the change, informing me of the price increase. Are you set up for email communications from BT? If so, it might have gone into your Junk folder.

I see that BT's (well-hidden) Home Phone Saver Plan page still gives the price at £21.99. However, the Tariff Guide gives the new price, as does the Landline Deals page (at the bottom, under Important information > BT Home Phone).

There have been a few different versions of Home Phone Saver since its launch in August 2014. The original iteration (withdrawn from sale on 6th June 2015) was called 'Home Phone Saver 2017', was priced at £19.99 per month (guaranteed until 2017) and had fewer features than the current one. My parents are still on that original plan and their price had remained constant at £19.99 per month, until 31st March this year (they, like me, received a letter notifying them of a price increase - to £20.78 in their case).

The current Home Phone Saver was launched in April 2017, priced at £21.99 per month, and was originally called 'Home Phone Saver 2020' - this guaranteed that the price would remain the same until 2020. After 2020 came and went, the price stayed the same at £21.99 and the package was renamed 'Home Phone Saver Plan'. I never thought it was guaranteed to stay at £21.99 forever; however, my understanding was that it was essentially an inflation-proof plan, excluded from BT's automatic annual price increases (which are calculated via CPI rate of inflation - currently 4% - plus an additional 3.9%). In the case of Home Phone Saver only the CPI rate of 4% has been applied with this increase (and rounded down to the nearest penny), so I guess we must be thankful for that. However, the timing of the rise is no coincidence and it looks like it will go up every March from now on.

The following link explains it and I think is similar to the letter I received in late February/early March:
BT Annual Price Change | Consumer Price Index (CPI) | BT

I guess it could be argued that we've been getting a great deal for several years and it's time for us to pay a little more. But it seems a bit unfair when you consider that Home Phone Saver is now the only BT plan on sale that doesn't include calls to UK mobile phone numbers (except BT Mobiles), and also that charged calls still carry a 'call set-up fee' (abolished on other plans). It does, however, have no monthly minutes cap - unlike most of BT's current calling plans (just a per call limit of 60 minutes, which I prefer as it's much easier to keep track of individual call lengths than monthly minutes).

Home Phone Saver was introduced to give some value to phone-only customers, who have been receiving poor value for money in recent years, compared to those who bundle with Broadband, TV or Sport. But with Asda Mobile now offering a monthly 'Talk and Text' bundle for just £4 per month, nearly £23 for 'voice only' landline still seems high.

Most of the (normally expensive) calling features that come free with Home Phone Saver will cease to exist upon migration to Digital Voice (and most of those that remain will be free on DV anyway - the exception being Call Barring), so I predict that one of two things will happen: either Home Phone Saver customers will be offered inclusive calls to UK mobiles, in line with BT's other plans, or Home Phone Saver will be discontinued and its customers migrated to Line Rental with Line Rental Plus and Line Only Discount, plus a Calling Plan (customers with such a set-up have always paid more each year, due to the automatic increase on Line Rental and Calling Plan prices). I'll be sorry to see Home Phone Saver go, not least because its single monthly price is so much easier to understand than the complicated set-up of individual components stated above. Losing the benefits of landline telephone, such as reliable sound quality (on a corded phone), constant power and useful calling features, will make the service no better than mobile in my opinion, so I may just ditch it altogether once Digital Voice comes in for me.

Re: Home Phone Saver 2020

Clarkatron — Thu, 25 Jul 2024 21:50:55 GMT

Hi Tim and thank you so much for this detailed response. You're a man after my own heart! Between me posting the original message and your response I did cobble together most of the info you have provided me with. So you obviously delved into a lot of detail like me! Mine was set up in 2017 and last year I rung BT on the back of an email I'd had which said I was out of contract and giving a couple of options. One of which was to keep the Home Phone Saver. I believe the contract runs for 18 months but up until that point I'd always just let it run. So thinking I should 'renew' I rung up and that's what they did. So obviously when this price rise occurred I thought it was possibly down to me renewing and if I'd left it alone I'd still be on 21.99! But thanks to your further investigation it seems that the increase has been a blanket increase across all versions of this package. I like you found BT still quoting 21.99 but then their latest tariff guide which I think is July quotes the higher price. But in retrospect I've had the same price for 7 years! It will be interesting if they increase it again in March. Obviously they can't link it to inflation as that's just been outlawed. I myself don't have an internet connection but from what I've read we won't need one as BT will provide a plug in adapter? I've had no indication when this will be so I'm assuming not until at least next year? I could go on but I'll leave it here for the moment. Michael.

Re: Home Phone Saver 2020

Clarkatron — Thu, 01 Aug 2024 03:57:02 GMT

Hi Tim

Have you seen my response to your message?

Re: Home Phone Saver 2020

Clarkatron — Wed, 25 Mar 2026 18:28:06 GMT

Hi Tim have your parents still got the Home Phone Saver?

Re: Home Phone Saver 2020

Tim123 — Wed, 08 Apr 2026 16:38:10 GMT

Hello @Clarkatron. Yes, my parents are still on the original version of Home Phone Saver (originally £19.99, then it went up to £20.78 in March 2024). There was no increase last year, but this year it's gone up by £1.00 and will, it seems, go up by £1.00 each year hereafter. Mine was originally £21.99, went up to £22.86 in 2024, no increase in 2025, now up to £23.86. The new 'pounds and pence' terms are easier to understand but it's still quite a wrench, as Home Phone Saver was originally supposed to be immune from increases and is now the only BT phone plan that doesn't include calls to UK mobiles. Also, most of the inclusive calling features that it boasts will cease to exist on Digital Voice.

Unfortunately, there aren't many other options to my mind. BT's pricing for its other plans is highly confusing. Their longstanding total inability to quote the same price on their website as in the tariff guide never ceases to amaze me!
For example:
'Unlimited Minutes' plan on the website is £49.20 (including line rental).
In the tariff guide it's £22.47 for the plan, plus £31.20 line rental = £53.67! 😭

Re: Home Phone Saver 2020

Clarkatron — Wed, 08 Apr 2026 17:00:50 GMT

Great to hear from you Tim! My situation mirrored yours until mid February. Then BT did whatever they do to put me on to this new digital thing? I don't have broadband and they did the change remotely. Since then I can't access any details online or the app apart from bills. They've put me on standard line rental less voice discount which brings it down to the previous £22.89 price. And it's still on that now. I wasted an hour in the phone to BT who hadn't a clue what had happened and just said the price increase on Home Phone Saver was incorrect and I would stay on the same price. Which of course I am. But Home Phone Saver has disappeared ! I Can't access any of the call protect features on line, or anything which tells me what plan I'm now on! I have a pending order still showing since February as well. Any thoughts?

Re: Home Phone Saver 2020

Tim123 — Wed, 08 Apr 2026 19:07:18 GMT

If, as you say, you can still access your bills online and in the app, they should confirm the current name of your plan. If not, call BT and ask for a paper bill (free with Home Phone Saver).

I was switched to Digital Voice in January and my bill for that month refers to Home Phone Saver as my "old plan" and my "new" one as 'Home Phone Standard'. I can find no mention of the latter on the website or in the tariff guide, but the price is aligned to that of Home Phone Saver. When I called BT to query the name change, they told me I'm on the same plan as before and that 'Home Phone Standard' is actually the customer-facing name for the underlying technology of digital from the exchange (officially called 'SOTAP for Analogue'). All very confusing!

The monthly price is now shown on my bills as £30.20 (same price as line rental, recently increased to £31.20), minus "voice discount" of £7.34. Why they have to show it like that, I've no idea. Home Phone Saver never made mention of line rental and the 'discount' was in the neatly bundled package itself! They're just complicating matters by making these pointless changes, which I believe have had a detrimental effect on my billing. Because, since being switched to digital, I've actually been charged for some standard geographic calls (that should be inclusive) and had to call BT to complain. They've always been quick to apply a credit refund, but no one ever says "sorry" for the mistakes! My theory is that, due to the aforesaid plan name change and introduction of a 'component breakdown' on the bills, some of my calls are now being randomly routed via 'Pay as You Go' (i.e. standard line rental, without a plan) - meaning that the billing 'system' is ignoring the fact that I do, in fact, have a calling plan. The 'system' probably doesn't consistently recognise Home Phone Standard as a plan (and, technically, it doesn't appear to exist as such).

Are you sure the £1.00 increase hasn't been applied to you? It only came into effect on 31st March. I haven't yet had my first bill since that change, but received an advance letter telling me about it (as did my parents).

Also, can you still access Call Protect by calling 1572?

Re: Home Phone Saver 2020

Clarkatron — Wed, 08 Apr 2026 19:42:24 GMT

Hi Tim. So you're paying £22.86 same as me. You'll find it won't change. You can access your next bill estimate online. It sounds like you have the same wording as me re charges. Can you access everything on the app ? I can access Call Protect via keypad but it's not comprehensive like the control you have online. For instance I can't specify DND times. It's either on or off via 1572. Can't access last 20 calls received as that was online. All my blocked numbers disappeared on the changeover, and although I can add the last number received via 1572 I can't remove any numbers once I get to 100. So that's just an example. The BT guy I spoke to just said that's the way it is now! You can't access anything but bills online! It does sound like you have the same as me. I also wondered about inclusive calls but the fee I have made have been free. So I can only guess we have inclusive minutes?

Re: Home Phone Saver 2020

Tim123 — Wed, 08 Apr 2026 22:23:31 GMT

I don't have the 'My BT' app so I can't help you there, I'm afraid. Dialling 1572 shows that Call Protect is active on my line (it wasn't on PSTN), but I don't use that either. However, I do know that 1572 allows you to add the last number that called to your 'blocked' list. It's strange that customers on 'SOTAP for Analogue' are unable to use the app for anything other than viewing bills, perhaps BT think that such customers are unlikely to want to 'self-serve' online.

Re: Home Phone Saver 2020

Clarkatron — Wed, 08 Apr 2026 23:32:40 GMT

Thanks. Do you not look at your account online then? You just get a paper bill in the post? I will be interested to know if you stay on the same monthly price. Interestingly I could still get this price down by going for a monthly line rental for those without an internet connection plus 700 minutes inclusive calls. But the saving wasn't great so I left it. I find it strange that when I rung BT they themselves hadn't a clue what had happened. My next bill is due 24th of this month so let's see what the line rental is as they bill that in advance and theoretically it should increase by £1?