Escalation of charges sounds 'death knell for cheap home phone calls'
BT is raising its home phone prices for the second time in seven months, with line rental fees increasing by 2% and daytime calls and call set-up fees rocketing by an above-inflation 9% from tomorrow. The move will hit consumers who are at home during the day and rely on their landline to make and receive the majority of their calls.
It takes line rental costs to �13.90 per month, daytime calls to 7.6p per minute and call set-up fees to 12.5p per call and means the cost of making a landline call with BT has risen by 40.7% since 1 April 2010.
Ernest Doku, communications expert at uSwitch.com, blasted BT's move, calling it a "death knell for cheap home phone calls". Doku added: "As if the VAT increase wasn't enough of a blow to customers, this latest round of price rises from BT will really damage consumers' pockets.
"Across the board, consumers have witnessed a double whammy of increases over the last seven months from home phone providers with more set to follow, and, if this pattern continues, they could well be in for more price rise misery in October."
On 1 April 2011, Virgin Media raised its line rental fees by 6% to �12.99 per month, but it did not raise its daytime call rate or its call set-up fees.
TalkTalk, which was recently named the most complained-about provider of landline and broadband services between October 2010 and February 2011 by regulator Ofcom, is due to increase its prices on 1 May 2011. TalkTalk line rental fees will increase by 2% to �12.60 per month, the daytime call rate will rise 16% to 7.6p per minute, and its call set-up fees will go up by 12% to 12.5p per minute.
Sky is due to increase its home phone bills from 20 June 2011, though details have not yet been announced.
Doku said the best advice for consumers looking to keep bill costs down is to analyse when they make the most phone calls and make sure they are on a calling plan that best fits this picture. "It could be well worth moving to a deal that offers free evening and weekend calls, or for those at home all day, moving to a free 'anytime' calls package," he said.
"If you just need line rental, consider moving away from the 'Big 4' to a company such as Primus which offers line rental for �6.79 a month, instantly saving �85 a year against the most expensive provider."
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/apr/27/bt-raises-home-phone-prices
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