New Phone Charges - Dear Me!

mersey70 · 02-02-2011, 13:32

Until quite recently I have used a carrier service for calls but it became unreliable so before christmas upgraded to XL phone.

I have never took that much notice of the phone charges but having read a few other posts on DS it has just dawned on me that i'm paying £23 a month for line rental, unlimited landline calls and caller id.

That is an absolutely staggering amount by any stretch of the imagination. That must easily be by far the most expensive deal out there.

Jeez I haven't been paying enough attention to the phone and too busy comparing TV.

weesteev · 02-02-2011, 13:35

That may be the price on its own but dont you haven the service bundled in a package with your TV and Broadband?

mersey70 · 02-02-2011, 13:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by weesteev

That may be the price on its own but dont you haven the service bundled in a package with your TV and Broadband?

I pay full price on line rental, XL calls and caller id, you do get discounts on the TV and BB. Even as a bundle though it's looking very expensive. I honestly didn't realise it was £23 a month, ouch.

weesteev · 02-02-2011, 14:04

You will probably find that your discount applies to all 3 services, i.e. you cancel your phone and you loose your discount as its a pre-requisite.

mersey70 · 02-02-2011, 14:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by weesteev

You will probably find that your discount applies to all 3 services, i.e. you cancel your phone and you loose your discount as its a pre-requisite.

I wouldn't just cancel the phone, i'd be more inclined to cancel all three and find a cheaper provider!

I'm bowled over at how dear it is, the discount is hardly worth anything as the phone is so expensive and no 0845 calls either.

Hopefully I can strike a decent deal when the contract is up as i'd prefer to stay with VM but that is seriously expensive.

Stephen · 02-02-2011, 14:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by mersey70

Until quite recently I have used a carrier service for calls but it became unreliable so before christmas upgraded to XL phone.

I have never took that much notice of the phone charges but having read a few other posts on DS it has just dawned on me that i'm paying £23 a month for line rental, unlimited landline calls and caller id.

That is an absolutely staggering amount by any stretch of the imagination. That must easily be by far the most expensive deal out there.

Jeez I haven't been paying enough attention to the phone and too busy comparing TV.

Thats £23 for unltd land line calls, which is very handy and will save you loads on calls.

mersey70 · 02-02-2011, 14:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stephen

Thats £23 for unltd land line calls, which is very handy and will save you loads on calls.

But my point is it is way more expensive than the competition though and no 0845 calls either. Almost £7 a month more than Sky.

Very pricey!

Stephen · 02-02-2011, 14:18

How much are the competition?

Whats your total per month for all three services you have?

mersey70 · 02-02-2011, 14:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stephen

How much are the competition?

Whats your total per month for all three services you have?

It's £16.25 with Sky, line, all day calls, caller id and 0870 numbers included.

With caller id and a average amount of 0845 or in my case mostly 0870 calls I reckon I pay VM around £60-£65 a month. It isn't bad but I think the phone is very expensive.

Mind you I suppose they could always hike their prices too.

Stephen · 02-02-2011, 15:57

Whats the total costs per month for your VM, compare that with the equivilant Sky package?

nodrogd · 02-02-2011, 16:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by mersey70

It's £16.25 with Sky, line, all day calls, caller id and 0870 numbers included.

This the price for Sky talk unlimited and landline only, and according to the small print you have to pay 12 months line rental in advance for this offer.

moiraf100 · 02-02-2011, 18:59

I use this site - saves me a fortune
http://www.saynoto0870.com/

mersey70 · 03-02-2011, 01:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by nodrogd

This the price for Sky talk unlimited and landline only, and according to the small print you have to pay 12 months line rental in advance for this offer.

I think that's wrong but i'm really glad you mentioned it as I hadn't noticed that offer, it say's if you pay for the line rental in advance it is £9.25 a month plus £5 for unlimited calls so it's even cheaper, £14.25 a month. - £8.75 a month cheaper than VM. And there's international calls included, handy as my brother lives in Germany so I could can using the not always reliable Skype.

£16.25 is the monthly amount for unlimited calls and line rental on a monthly basis.

And I have just read the VM line rental is going up again to £13.74 in April. That'll be getting on for around a tenner a month dearer than Sky if you pay upfront which I don't mind doing at all, I suppose that saving would almost pay the HD charge.

I have always said it that Sky and VM charge us one way or another, VM's phone service is now ludicrously expensive. Overall as packages they are similar prices but you have to way up what's offered on a whole I suppose. On the other hand I'd really miss catch up though, I could take or leave TVC. Certainly food for thought.

http://www.sky.com/shop/broadband-talk/talk-linerental/

mersey70 · 03-02-2011, 10:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by mersey70

I think that's wrong but i'm really glad you mentioned it as I hadn't noticed that offer, it say's if you pay for the line rental in advance it is £9.25 a month plus £5 for unlimited calls so it's even cheaper, £14.25 a month. - £8.75 a month cheaper than VM. And there's international calls included, handy as my brother lives in Germany so I could can using the not always reliable Skype.

£16.25 is the monthly amount for unlimited calls and line rental on a monthly basis.

And I have just read the VM line rental is going up again to £13.74 in April. That'll be getting on for around a tenner a month dearer than Sky if you pay upfront which I don't mind doing at all, I suppose that saving would almost pay the HD charge.

I have always said it that Sky and VM charge us one way or another, VM's phone service is now ludicrously expensive. Overall as packages they are similar prices but you have to way up what's offered on a whole I suppose. On the other hand I'd really miss catch up though, I could take or leave TVC. Certainly food for thought.

http://www.sky.com/shop/broadband-talk/talk-linerental/

I'm 75p out on prices from April for VM, the new line rental price will be £12.99 not £13.74 which is better. It's still a lot more expensive overall if you take a competitors deal. Then again Sky charge for all HD. You cannot win!.

resander · 03-02-2011, 10:40

We have VM 10meg broadband, XL TV+SkySports and M phone
for £72.24 per month. We would like to reduce the monthly
outgoings by:

Alternative 1:
cancelling our BT unlimited-anytime phone and upgrading
to VM phone XL (£8 extra). Then the monthly cost would be
£80.24 + cost of 0845 and 0870 calls.

OR

Alternative 2:
cancelling the VM M phone (reduces the monthly Virgin bill by £5
(checked this with Virgin)) and keeping the BT unlimited-anytime
subscription which is £15/month if paid 12 months in advance
(which we would do) or £18.60 month if not paid in advance.
The BT unlimited-anytime plan includes free 0845 and 0870 calls.
Monthly cost 67.24+15 = £83.24.

Most local councils, job centres, government bodies and banks
use 0845 numbers. There is often a long waiting time to get
through and there is no way the caller can control that.
In our case the monthly phone bill for 0845 and 0870 calls would
vary from £5 to £20 per month if paying the VM XL phone rate of
10.22p per minute.

For us alternative 2 would work out much cheaper.