Home Talk Plus newbie - fed up with BT!

I'm looking at moving my phone (not broadband) to Zen's Home Talk Plus package.

BT's January 2014 price rises have made me look around and I've been disappointed they've been unwilling to make any effort to keep me as a long term (30 years this year) loyal customer!

I'm currently using their Anytime package.
So in Jan this would cost £15.99 (line) + £7 (calls) and £1.75 for caller id.
(I've just bought an answer machine to avoid the 1571 Answer £1.75 fees)
Total: £24.74

Looking at Zen's package £17.35 (line + 5000 minutes) and 90p for caller id.
Total £18.25

All looks good, can anyone say if I've missed anything?

Does anyone know if Zen are just about to increase their prices for 2014?
Also is it guaranteed that moving my phone provider to Zen won't break my existing broadband which uses a different ISP? (via normal BTw line)

Thanks for any advice.

Edited by b4dger (Mon 16-Dec-13 17:23:27)

2 years ago, I migrated to Zen's ADSL, and also took the same phone package too.
I also asked Zen to arrange a new master socket to be fitted, and it was cheaper than if we'd ordered it through BT.

The phone package with 5000 minutes is a very good saving over BT, and far from BT doing anything to save a very long term customer, they merely sent us a dire warning that if we didn't pay our final bill, we'd be in trouble!
Can't recall the exact wording, but it could have been quite alarming to some people.
We always paid our bills online and on time, so they'd have no reason to think we'd do any other when we left them.

I've certainly heard nothing about price increases for phone packages with Zen.

In reply to a post by b4dger:

£1.75 for caller id.

It needn't! You can sign up for free BT Privacy + Caller Display (which you presumably had before or you wouldn't have had free Caller Display) for 1 year.

As you have been with BT a long time, why are you not paying £5.15 pm or less for legacy Anytime Calls? The £7 pm is for new custs joining in the last year.

I fancy that where BT goes today others will follow within weeks.

Edited by XRaySpeX (Tue 17-Dec-13 00:14:43)

I have the same 5,000 minute package at not much more than BT line rental. Faultless. No contract tie in and any chargeable calls such as Mobile calls, no call connection fee and per second billing. Top award winning UK customer service. No brainer, especially with Freeola.

Edited by professor973 (Tue 17-Dec-13 00:18:42)

Thanks TrishaH and prof for the replies - sounds good

In reply to a post by XRaySpeX:

In reply to a post by b4dger:

£1.75 for caller id.

It needn't! You can sign up for free BT Privacy + Caller Display (which you presumably had before or you wouldn't have had free Caller Display) for 1 year.

Check again - ALL BT CALLER ID SERVICES will be charged at £1.75 there is no free caller ID service any longer. BT realised that too many people where using the privacy option rather than paying the full CLID service so they got rid of it. As of Jan 2014 you will have to pay for caller ID and 1571 answer.

You check again, m8!

In reference to www.productsandservices.bt.com/consumerProducts/displayTopic.do?top...:

BT Privacy with Caller Display will cost £1.75 a month from 4 January 2014, but existing customers of the service can pre-register to continue getting it free for 12 months°. Find out more and register at bt.com/freecallerdisplay. BT Privacy with Caller Display will remain free for BT Basic customers.

And in my Calling Features options:

o BT Privacy with Caller Display free for 12 months ............................................... £0.00
Includes the option to register for the Telephone Preference Scheme (TPS) to help prevent unwanted sales calls. A new 12 month line rental contract applies

If BT really got rid of it, as you allege but provide no evidence for, they would need to write to me withdrawing their offer.

BT are running an offer where if you sign up to a new 12 month contract they'll give you 'caller id' for free.
You would still have to pay another £1.75 if you wanted to keep 'Answer 1571'.

Existing customers will be given 12 mths 'free' caller ID if they claim it before next month. Snag is that the claim ties you into a 12-mth contract. In fact any extra service eg upgrading from 10Gb to Unlimited also ties you in for further 12 mths. I'm happy with BT service but given current price rises I wonder how many of us are planning to move on as our contracts run out?

In reply to a post by Malwaremike:

if they claim it before next month.

How do you know that? Where's it insist on that? Won't the 12 m start from whenever you take up that offer and you'll pay £1.75 pm for the months before you do so? What's to stop me selecting that option in my Calling Features after the 4th. Jan?

Are you confusing it with the deadline, 6 Dec, for pre-registering for it, which turned out to be a non-event (& the promised email acceptance never materialised) as the 'free for 12m' option turned up on our Calling Features anyway.

Just curious, as I intend to select it on about 1st Jan in order to the longest period free.

Email from BT 21/10/2013

If you have BT Privacy with Caller Display it will cost you £1.75 a month from 4 January 2014. But you can sign up and get BT Privacy with Caller Display free for a year (a new 12-month line rental contract applies).

Could be taken either way, my interpretation was that one must sign up by Jan 4. However it makes no odds to me as I'm off when my contract and yr's line rental finishes in July.

Hi,

If you send me your details ill ask someone to give you a call to discuss Zen phone lines.

Thanks.
I've just had confirmation from BT that I'm not in a contract, so look good to leave.
I've ordered an answer machine (which hasn't arrived yet) so I can drop 'Answer 1571'.

I'll get Xmas etc. out of the way and sort myself out in January.

Please feel free to comment here on my earlier queries in the meantime

My biggest worry is that a new phone provider will 'break' my existing ADSL connection which isn't moving. If you could reassure me on this that would be good.

In reply to a post by b4dger:

My biggest worry is that a new phone provider will 'break' my existing ADSL connection which isn't moving. If you could reassure me on this that would be good.

I can reassure you about that as I recently moved my BT phone contract to Zen. Apart from any paperwork, emails etc you won't notice any change at all.

Thanks

I keep one of my lines on WLR and do the chase the cheap WLR deals with it and have switched phone rental provider a couple of times with no effect on the broadband.

The offer line I flip around between the full LLU providers to keep an eye on how well that side of things works too.

With BT's latest moves I think lots of people will be looking around very soon!
Unless they also have their broadband with them (BT) which limits their options - but does often give them a more competitive package.

Who are you with atm? Any experience with Zen phone?

Not used Zen phone, but currently Sky and IDNet - the later because need the IPv6 for development purposes

Switching to Zen phone line should not touch your Broadband. As a phone provider, it would take a lot for me to leave them, untouchable for price and service. This 'Grumpy old devil' has had nothing to complain about since switching to Zen and Freeola.

Hi prof,
I've only just realised you are with Zen(phone) and Freeola(ISP) - I think I'll be joining you very soon.

In reply to a post by b4dger:

Looking at Zen's package £17.35 (line + 5000 minutes) and 90p for caller id.
Total £18.25

My phone cost with Zen is £19.13 + VAT (£22.96) for line, unlimited calls and caller display

Thanks for the reply.
I've been looking at: www.zen.co.uk/home-office/voice/phone-services.aspx

Price say "includes VAT".

Are you paying more for "unlimited calls" rather than 5000 minutes?
I haven't found a package for unlimited with Zen - if you can find a link please let me know.

I have Line Rental Plus, but there doesn't seem to be anything on the website about it. I have fibre unlimited as well, so maybe they charge extra if you have a package.

Strange? You would think a package would be a better price.
Hopefully the Zen rep. will explain things...

@prof how much are you paying?

You need to check when people signed up, there will be people on a mixture of tariffs depending on when they joined Zen or regarded various elements of the service.

Check again....

http://www.productsandservices.bt.com/consumerProduc...

"BT Privacy with Caller Display will cost £1.75 a month from 4 January 2014, but existing customers of the service can pre-register to continue getting it free for 12 months°. Find out more and register at bt.com/freecallerdisplay. BT Privacy with Caller Display will remain free for BT Basic customers."

Then click on "The legal stuff"

"BT Privacy with Caller Display Free for 12 months � Pre-register before 6th December 2013 at bt.com/freecallerdisplay. Pre-registration available only to existing BT Privacy with Caller Display customers � excludes customers with other varieties of Caller Display (such as Caller Display as part of a Calling Features Pack). Provides BT Privacy with Caller Display free for 12 months from date of provision. A new 12-month Line Rental contract applies. Visit bt.com/freecallerdisplay for more information."

Key part here is "A new 12-month Line Rental contract applies"

http://home.bt.com/news/btlife/get-bt-privacy-with-c...

Choice is a NEW 12 MONTH contract with BT to get free caller ID, or pay £1.75/month
Also check back to your BT calling package page post price change and you will find it has a price against it. 1571 shows free at the moment, it will change to show as a charged for service come Jan 4th.

No need to! Already covered!

In reply to a post by IamQ:

Key part here is''A new 12-month Line Rental contract applies''

I never said it didn't! Indeed I quoted that very condition in my original post.

I was just disputing your blanket false emphasied statement:

In reply to a post by IamQ:

ALL BT CALLER ID SERVICES will be charged at £1.75 there is no free caller ID service any longer.

Not 'ALL'; not those who accept that 12m line rental contract. It's misleading to use the sweeping 'all' when you really mean 'some'.

True - the wording is very bad.

Either way I shall be moving my services to Zen in the coming months I think. I don't use 1571 but I do use CLI

Do Zen use BT for dial tone anyway? and can anyone confirm that they progress calls to 020 0 & 020 1 correctly?

If they don't use BT for dial tone who do they use, and is the CLI standard v.23 FSK?

Edited by IamQ (Fri 20-Dec-13 23:09:06)

I am not aware of an unlimited Zen package.. Prices have not increased. £17.35 for the 5,000 minute package, all prices include V.A.T. and no 60 minute limit to calls.
http://imageshack.com/a/img833/7632/0e1q.jpg

Edited by professor973 (Sat 21-Dec-13 01:36:27)

Try http://www.zen.co.uk/home-office/broadband/fibre-opt...

I realise that within Fora there is always someone that knows better, but why would I want to look at a page regarding Fibre, especially when I have stated ADSL2+ copper. The fact that Fibre packages are a premium price over copper has already been discussed here.

In reply to a post by professor973:

I realise that within Fora there is always someone that knows better,

Not specifically knows better, but has seen the information you were asking about and is trying to show where it is

but why would I want to look at a page regarding Fibre

Because you asked where there was anything quoting an unlimited phone package.

And you should be aware I was talking ADSL2+ Copper, but as I said, there is always someone that knows better.

Hi,

To answer a couple of your questions.

We have no issues with 02 numbers and these are included in any call inclusive packages.

We do offer an unlimited phone line service but this is only applicable when taken with one of our fibre packages as a bundle, standalone phone lines are either with line rental only (you pay for all your calls) or the Plus package which comes with 5,000 inclusive anytime minutes to 01, 02, 03, 0845 & 0870 numbers.

If ive missed any questions please don't hesitate to let me know.

Thanks Mick. Yes, I was aware that the unlimited calls option only applied to fibre, but you know what Fora are like. A;ways someone that will nitpick. No fibre option here yet and see no need for it personally with a 16mbps connection.

My phone is going over to Zen on 13th Jan. I had the email from BT which was badly worded, as mentioned by others. It felt as though the cost of Caller Display was going to go from zero to £1.75(?) but it certainly wasn't clear. But between then and now my phone line died. No problem, these things happen, ring, get it fixed. So I rang. It's a voice recognition system. It eventually understood that my line was faulty whereupon the robot told me I was not a BT customer and put the phone down on me!

I moved my broadband connection to Zen some years ago due to the appalling service from BT. On the rare occasions I have needed to contact them they have been professional and extremely helpful, going out of their way to help. I shan't save much but I will get an exemplary service. Bye bye BT, hello Zen.

John

Mick,

Thinking about changing my line rental to Home Talk +, but have a couple of questions.

Will I still be able to text with my line land if I change and if so is there a cost (free with BT at the moment)?

May be a stupid question but do you have to dial a prefix number before the phone number these days? (may be showing my age now )

Hi Pete,

In reference to the text question ill need to ask our product manager but he is off until the 6th Jan (Lucky him ) so ill come back to you on that one.

In reference to the prefix, the only one should need is an area code or country code if dialling outside your area or the UK.

In reply to a post by Scottish_Pete:

do you have to dial a prefix number before the phone number these days?

To do what? To release No. Withheld? Yes, 1470. To force No. Withheld? Yes, 141. Something else?

In reply to a post by XRaySpeX:

To do what? To release No. Withheld? Yes, 1470. To force No. Withheld? Yes, 141. Something else?

I seem to remember "when I was a lad" that you would put a 09 or something similar in front of the actual number you where calling so it wouldn't be charged by the GPO, in them days, but the communication company you where using.

May be talking a load of rubbish, but can always blame that on getting old.

OIC! You said "have to" when you meant "choose to". Yes, you can still choose to use a prefix provider, like 18866, with BT. Dunno about Zen; their rep should find out if it is permitted.

Edited by XRaySpeX (Tue 31-Dec-13 20:17:31)

Zen have said elsewhere in this forum that you cannot use prefixes like 18866 without being charged

I know exactly what you mean Pete.

When Mercury first offered their services alongside BT in the early 90's you had to dial a 5(?) prior to the desired phone no. in order to get routed over the Mercury network. Otherwise the call was routed via BT by default. National trunk route calls tended to be cheaper on the Mercury network in those days compared to BT.

I would suspect that, in the case of the ZEN service, the basic call routing and charging is totally managed by ZEN whereby no prefix routing code is necessary as the choice of call routing via Zen or BT is not on offer to the end user.

Other prefixes for 141, etc. are as detailed by Zen in their terms and conditions.

In reply to a post by ToneDeaf:

When Mercury first offered their services alongside BT in the early 90's you had to dial a 5(?) prior to the desired phone no. in order to get routed over the Mercury network. Otherwise the call was routed via BT by default. National trunk route calls tended to be cheaper on the Mercury network in those days compared to BT.

Thanks ToneDeaf that is what I was on about, so I am not losing my marbles yet

In reply to a post by Scottish_Pete:

Thanks ToneDeaf that is what I was on about, so I am not losing my marbles yet

Just after the Mercury prefix, was then the Mercury button handset, which had the code in a blue button, and then 10 years after that we got dialler boxes that you plugged into the phone socket before the phone cable.

These were then replaced by something called "Carrier Pre Selection" where essentially the prefix code was dialled for you - so line rental went to BT retail, and calls went to your chosen provider.

Now other companies (e.g. O2 and BE) can offer Wholesale Line Rental where they are paid direct for the whole line cost, and manage the billing, but the line is still operated by BT retail using BT owned hardware at the exchange.

Then of course you have the full unbundle (e.g. Sky, TalkTalk) where the line is only plugged into that telco's equipment, and that telco pays Openreach a fee to maintain the copper wires.

Same difference!

In reply to a post by mickbzen:

Hi Pete,

In reference to the text question ill need to ask our product manager but he is off until the 6th Jan (Lucky him ) so ill come back to you on that one.

Mike,

Any info back on the text question? Cheers

Hi,

Sorry for the delay in coming back to you. We do support this and there is no charge for receiving speech texts.

Thanks Mike for the reply.

I take it is the same as BT you require to have Caller Display to receive a text message to your handset, otherwise you get a speech text and it is free to send text?

In reply to a post by Scottish_Pete:

I take it is the same as BT you require to have Caller Display to receive a text message to your handset

No, you don't need Caller Display, altho' most suitable handsets have it. What you need is an SMS-enabled handset to receive true texts; otherwise if it is not SMS-enabled you will receive the text in spoken form.

Duuno why Mick replied just on 'speech' texts, when your Q was on texts in general.

After cancelling my Caller Display with BT, I discovered I could no longer view text messages on my handset and was getting called from BT SMS Messaging with Speech Text instead.

After delving around the BT website I found the following on the BT Help section.

I've got a text enabled phone. Why am I receiving spoken text messages?



If you have a text enabled phone and BT's Caller Display service, your phone will let you know when you have received a text message. You can then read your text message on your phone screen.

You will receive your text messages as voice messages if:
�You aren't registered with BT Text
�You don't have BT's Caller Display service

First of all, please check that you have registered for BT Text. To do this, either text a friend and you'll automatically be registered or text 'register' to 00000.

Please also check that you subscribe to BT's Caller Display service.

So Caller Display is back on and texting is working as it should.

Ah, Interesting.

In reply to a post by b4dger:

Also is it guaranteed that moving my phone provider to Zen won't break my existing broadband which uses a different ISP? (via normal BTw line)

Got my act together at last!

Phoned Zen sales and they have confirmed that my current broadband won't be affected - just a billing change no LLU based phone solution etc.

So I've placed my order to move from BT after 30 years!

FAO Zen.
I mentioned this to your staff on the phone but thought I'd mention if here.
This Home Phone document I came across via Google is out of date and would be worth removing:
http://www.zen.co.uk/userfiles/documents/shared/voic...
Only mentions 1000 minutes and no 0845/0870 for Home Talk Plus on pages 8 & 9.

Also when switched to your billing section to setup the Direct Debit etc. the line had a constant background buzz on it - ironic as I was paying for a new phone service
It must be something internal as the sales line was fine so might be worth sorting out.

In reply to a post by b4dger:

FAO Zen.
I mentioned this to your staff on the phone but thought I'd mention if here.
This Home Phone document I came across via Google is out of date and would be worth removing:
http://www.zen.co.uk/userfiles/documents/shared/voic...
Only mentions 1000 minutes and no 0845/0870 for Home Talk Plus on pages 8 & 9.

Our Marketing team have been informed and are looking at this.

In reply to a post by b4dger:

Also when switched to your billing section to setup the Direct Debit etc. the line had a constant background buzz on it - ironic as I was paying for a new phone service
It must be something internal as the sales line was fine so might be worth sorting out.

Thanks to your response to my PM we've traced this to a faulty headset. That's been replaced and problem solved. Thanks for the help!

kind regards,
Phil.

Thanks Phil.

Glad you've nailed the noisy headset.

I see the out of date PDF has also been removed.
Perhaps you/Zen should look at putting a proper 404 page in place as I see missing website pages/files currently just return "server error 404" ?

It's nice to be speaking to real people after dealing with BT...

In reply to a post by IamQ:

Do Zen use BT for dial tone anyway?

Calling 17070 from a Zen Home Talk service gives "BT Line Test Facilities" so it would seem so.

The Phone services are provided on a 'Base level' from BT OpenReach and hence the switching Kit in the exchange says 'BT'.

Good news then! Looks like Zen may get another voice customer then once I get my finger out...

In reply to a post by IamQ:

Good news then! Looks like Zen may get another voice customer then once I get my finger out...

i was thinking same until we had problems with a fiber connection. [censored] useless service and quite frankly i'd rather be dealing with a person in an indian call center.

Zen now i see why your locking people into 12-18 month contracts, your just as rubbish as the big boys. at least they are not charging a premium price.

Edited by deleted (Wed 29-Jan-14 23:29:02)

Good Morning,

Please can you PM me your account details and ill have this looked into.

Fiber is not an option for me anyway at the moment so its just the voice side to get away from BT's price hikes.

Once my cab is built and running I will look at it again - I won't however be interested in anything other than a self install with CP hardware. I'm not keen on a 12 month contract unless (by then) it defaults to monthly after. Long as I get more than the 8mbit sync I get now things will be an improvement.

no need for pm 21029.


fed up with you lot too.

Edited by deleted (Fri 31-Jan-14 20:13:22)

In reply to a post by bigbadpirate:

no need for pm 21029.

fed up with you lot too.

Don't understand your problem, you whinge about an unspecified issue and then scribble on other people's threads. Why don't you simply articulate your specific problem in a new thread of your own?

Good Morning,

I can see that this has now been picked up by a team leader in our technical support team.

I will leave the issue with them for now, however please feel free to message me if you need my assistance.

BT are a tad devious!
When I queried some items on my bill a few days ago, no mention was made about the "free" caller display - even though that charge was part of the query.
Just checked online, and signed up (opted in!) for another 12 months phone - which I have no problem with. I then rang BT, and spoke to a pleasant woman called Alice, who confirmed that I did in fact have the display free for 12 months, and that would continue FOC, for each consecutive year...
I suppose it depends on who you speak to, as to whether you get helpful service - or just the barest minimum acceptable: this is how it seemed to me the other day, when I first queried the bill.
C'est la vie. Cheers, Les.

Just to update this thread.

My phone service switched from BT to Zen successfully this morning.
My existing ADSL has remained intact as promised

So after 30 years with BT I'm happy to have left them after being disappointed with their new pricing and lack of return loyalty!

In reply to a post by lelboy:

spoke to a pleasant woman called Alice, who confirmed that I did in fact have the display free for 12 months, and that would continue FOC, for each consecutive year...

How definitive is 1 CS person's word over the phone? We won't know till next year when our current deal expires.

Switched my Phone to Zen (from Plusnet) just about a month ago - the only significant difference has been the noticeable reduction in the cost of chargeable calls.