I also got the price increase email and I have now started the move to a new isp. I only had 5 days left in contract and the move doesn't take place until the 18th Dec so I should be ok.

In reply to a post by mpellatt:

In reply to a post by _Resonance_:

Yes, I always use my mobile. Most landline companies have priced themselves out of the market as far as calls are concerned.

Except if you're in a spot where:
a) There's no mobile coverage
and
b) Broadband speed is so slow that if you want to use VoIP, you better make sure no-one's doing anything else on t'innernet in your house

You have failed to grasp what is being said here. Put simply, calls from a mobile are free because of the generous quota of minutes automatically included with any contract phone. No point in using a landline with its rip off connection fees and high call charges. No mobile coverage areas can be sorted through the use of a sure signal device with Vodafone or your router for EE. Either selection appears to work at pretty low broadband speeds to give a full signal to your mobile.

That leaves the landline predominately for a broadband connection but handy to have if the broadband goes down to maintain a voice connection to the outside world..

As for VoIP, if your broadband speed is particularly slow, voice quality will indeed be poor, even more so if other traffic is using the connection at the time of the call. You can do something about that too by bonding two or more broadband services.. Not a cheap option, but then you will get an un-contended, symmetrical service to give you a faster speed and a superior VoIP service..

VoIP provides all features without paying surcharges. Reasonably priced call bundles are now available giving free calls to landline numbers and mobiles.

So your issues can be sorted without suggesting otherwise.

I had the email on Friday about a £2.50 p m increase fron Jan 7th 2018. When I clicked �act now� keep your broadband the same price they want to offer me the same price I currently pay on an 18 month contract, so £28.99 p m for a up to 80 / 20 Infinity 1 with weekend calls package. I am very tempted as that is a hell of a lot better than the standard price of £49.99 which they have said it would go up to when my currrent contract ends in April 2018, with the £2.50 added on to that from Jan �18 if I don�t renew.

I haven�t checked any other ISP out for comparisons yet?

As I'm pushing 60 for a large part of my life I've used a landline though had a decent mobile for the past few years esp the last two. I recently moved to an ISP that doesn�t do a call package to mobiles & a charges a fiver a month to other land lines, we used to pay extra for landlines & mobile minutes - We decided (which was a big change to me) to try out not to pay for any call package & just use our mobiles, though me & my wife both found it a bit odd but we stuck to the plan. (My 17 year old daughter I don�t think has ever used the landline)

The result is well after month is both me & my wife still have many unused mobile minutes. We also have the option of using WhatsApp & Facetime with friends. Landline phones are still there for emergences & of course people can still phone us - We are fortunate to get a good signal on all mobile providers. Good day landlines costs � Why we didn�t think of doing this before I don�t know, I suppose it�s what you get used to?

Edited by deleted (Sun 03-Dec-17 01:54:48)

So you say that poor voice quality when using VoIP over a slow connection can be fixed by bonding 2 or more lines, whilst admitting that is "not a cheap option".

After accusing me of being the one who "fails to grasp what is being said" when I point out that landline phone providers haven't priced themselves out of the market in areas of non-existent phone coverage and slow broadband speeds ?

Seems to me it's you who doesn't grasp the issue in deeply rural areas.

In reply to a post by Discus:

Having only re- contracted in August, I have had an email today about a price increase

Some of our prices are changing, and we've been making some improvements to your service

Hello,
We're writing to tell you that the price you pay for your BT services will be changing from 7 January 2018. We've put the changes in a simple table below for you.
We've been making improvements to your BT services to offer you more than ever before, and you can see more about these below. We're not stopping there, we've got some exciting new developments in the pipeline for 2018.

Prices are going up by £2.50 per month. Why can't these telcos keep a price for the contract period?

Mark

Also got to pay for all these cheap/free FTTP trials going on. I'm waiting for my ISP to announce this and then i'm gone, Just got the cashback too

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Landline call costs � calls to other landlines (including 0870 & 0845 numbers) will increase from 12p/min to 13p/min; calls to mobiles will increase from 16p/min to 17p/min. The call set-up fee is rising from 21p/call to 22p/call.

Ye gods!

My landline with no call package is £13pm rental + £1pm Caller Display and free 1571. Calls in peak time are 1p per minute charged by the second (not rounded up) and off-peak (overnight) 0.8p per second. There is no call setup charge.

Unlimited landline calls on BT are going up to £9.50pm.

That's 950 minutes on my service. Nearly 16 hours. On top of the 500 minutes my lower rental gets me.

If people on Evening and Weekend make a weekday call it will cost them 22p before they start. That's 22 minutes I have in hand, never mind the 13 minutes I get for every one minute BT customers will get.

BT Consumer is horrendously ripping people off on landline prices, but now there is a whiff of a headwind from Ofcom about the rental costs, (more like a very light breeze), they are having to up this sort of thing. With no justification whatsoever that I can see.

Sky happily following along of course.

It was one of the reasons I miss TTB - £45.54 a month all in with unlimited calls to mobiles too!

In reply to a post by Alnath:

What annoys me is BT appears to not have any fixed prices. What they offer seems to vary in price monthly or even weekly with the prices going up and down like a brides nighty and the onus is on the users to ring up and haggle for a better price, it seems a very off way of doing business.

Given the price of fibre i can seem people taking the odd step of going backwards to ADSL in an effort to lower costs, all these companies seem to have forgot we are a country in austerity.

Some already do -depends on their needs.

Makes me appreciate people like AA who have one price for all - the end.

In reply to a post by idmanager:

My bill will be £57 per month for 80/20 unlimited calls sports lite, for the sky version of sports light the quality is so poor you can�t watch it, so no real loss, and just looking at Plusnet will do 80/20 and unlimited call and mobile calls for £37.99, Talktalk will do £43.50 for same, but I am unsure what service I would get, am I right in saying Plusnet is really BT as I get full speed internet day and night and don�t really want to leave but I just can�t afford to keep paying the extra for good service, is there any ex plusnet users that are with BT now due to issues with speed, or is everybody else just biting the bullet yet again and paying the rise

I went from Infinity 2 to Plusnet (after a short stay at Talk Talk Business) - and wished I haden't

Does that help?

In reply to a post by StormcroW:

I also got the price increase email and I have now started the move to a new isp. I only had 5 days left in contract and the move doesn't take place until the 18th Dec so I should be ok.

As long as you give notice within 30 days after getting the e-mail you are fine, so don't fret. You WILL be ok