Do i have to have a landline call plan?

[dcdick]

My experience doesn't fit with what I've read here tonight.

I have been told even if I cancel the "landline" so I have no tel number I would still have to pay £2 pm as a "service charge"

Yes I do have a discounted rate,  apparently as a long term customer you do get some "perks"

There was no mention of me having to re-contract B.Band if I cancel the phone part of the contract

Too many differing contracts on offer that seemingly depend upon who you speak to & when you phone !

When long standing forum members with an in depth knowledge of the way bt operates can't agree on the way the phone service is charged what hope has the "average customer" got of understanding how it works

D*ck

[-Richie-]

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@dcdickwrote:

My experience doesn't fit with what I've read here tonight.

I have been told even if I cancel the "landline" so I have no tel number I would still have to pay £2 pm as a "service charge"

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No that's incorrect, the only thing it could be is the extra £2 for not paying by direct debit, known as line rental plus.
Whatever cost you pay for the calling plan now is how much you'd save by removing the voice element and having broadband only.

[dcdick]

Richie

I can only repeat what I was told by 4 different bt employees over a period of 14 days

Whether you think it is incorrect or not doesn't change what I have been told

I only wish you were correct as I would have certainly dropped the landline/DV & taken the  discount on the B.Band

Bit surprised no Mod has posted about this

D*ck

ps................   I pay my bt bills by DD.

[ney]

I'm on Pay and go with BT after moving from the old evening and weekend call plan well over 2 years ago and I dont have a monthly fee for pay as you go.

I the last 2 years. I have very rarely used the landline to make calls. 
If I need to phone and thats not very often. I will now use my mobile.As I get unlimited mins, text and 30gb data for £15 a month with o2. 
Also don't use text on mobIle as much as I used to. I use Facebook Messenger and Whats app a little more.

Darren

[dcdick]

Darren

Thanks for the reply

It's looking like bt want you  to have a "calling plan" which on a P.A.Y.G. basis  may or may not incur a charge of up to £5pm.

Surely you should be allowed to cancel the phone service with the standard 30 day notice period without it affecting your broadband contract ?

Confused.com here

May be worth starting another thread as this one is marked as solved but I can't see the accepted solution

D*ck

[Forumcloud]

It is definitely a new policy which has been quietly introduced. I am not paying it on my 2 BT accounts (one Gfast, one FTTC) and I think this is because I recontracted both before an unadvertised cut-off date which must be after November last year. However I am now dealing with a BT account for an estate I’m handling and that account goes out of contract in April. I have been told that I will have to pay the £2/m charge whether I recontract or not. I believe it all comes down to the grey area of what I call ‘BT Definitions’ …. In the same way that ‘BT inflation’ is not the same as ‘inflation’, ‘BT PAYG’ is not the same as ‘PAYG’. BT PAYG means ‘having a line which you might use as a PAYG line AND can receive incoming calls on.’ It is for the latter reason that I need BT PAYG on the estate line.

What I don’t for certain is what happens when I can get FTTP. I never use my BT PAYG on my own lines and won’t have the estate line in a few months when the estate is wrapped up. I will get FTTP when I can and ask to have all BT voice telephony removed. I assume that I then won’t have to pay the £2/m and my copper line will then be redundant.

I just hope that FTTP becomes available at both my properties before I have to renew a copper-based service!

[gg30340]

If you opt for a BT Broadband package WITHOUT a landline ( which means no phone) you do not pay anything for a landline. The Broadband package includes LINE rental which is included in the the broadband package regardless of whether you have ADSL, VDSL or Fibre. It is not billed for separately and can not be done away with.

If you opt for a BT Broadband package and INCLUDE a landline (which means you can use a phone) you will also need to take out a landline (phone) package so that you can make and receive calls. This applies regardless of what type of broadband you have, ADSL, VDSL or Fibre.

All the landline (phone) packages include the line rental in the price. Line rental is not billed separately and can not be done away with.

The Pay As You Go is the default package and costs £5 which is in effect the cost of the line rental and obviously any calls that you make are billed. This £5 is often waived or reduced to £2 if you negotiate when taking out/renewing the BT Broadband and Landline Package. 

The 700 minute plan is £7.70

The Unlimited plan is £16

[licquorice]

There are 2 elements to PAYG, the ability to make calls which you clearly only pay for if the facility is used and the ability to receive calls. It is the ability to receive calls that the charge for a landline (£5 or £2) is raised.

You cannot expect a service provider to provide the latter free of charge.