New Phone Charges - Dear Me!
 

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.

Re: New Phone Charges - Dear Me!
 

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

Re: New Phone Charges - Dear Me!
 

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.

Re: New Phone Charges - Dear Me!
 

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.

Re: New Phone Charges - Dear Me!
 

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.

Re: New Phone Charges - Dear Me!
 

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

Re: New Phone Charges - Dear Me!
 

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!

Re: New Phone Charges - Dear Me!
 

How much are the competition?

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

Re: New Phone Charges - Dear Me!
 

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.

Re: New Phone Charges - Dear Me!
 

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

Re: New Phone Charges - Dear Me!
 

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.

Re: New Phone Charges - Dear Me!
 

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

Re: New Phone Charges - Dear Me!
 

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/

Re: New Phone Charges - Dear Me!
 

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!.

Re: New Phone Charges - Dear Me!
 

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.

Re: New Phone Charges - Dear Me!
 

Maybe people sometimes underestimate just how expensive 0870 calls can be, sure you can try and get an alternative but it can be a pain and sometimes there is no alternative.

It is very, very expensive to be a VM landline customer on almost all fronts and it can easilly cancel out benefits like HD charges and the likes if you are not careful. It's definitely worth considering.

Re: New Phone Charges - Dear Me!
 

There is a 0845 plan you can go on, I think it's £2pm. Maybe BenMcr knows as not my area. :)

Re: New Phone Charges - Dear Me!
 

Sadly I don' think we can just request it oursleves, you have to be offered it by VM. And of course pay extra too for the priveledge on top of the very high calling plan charges making it even less competitive. I'd be paying £25 a month then, to be frank that is outrageous.

http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/59...customers.html

Re: New Phone Charges - Dear Me!
 

I confirm what mersey70 said in the previous post.

Yes, there are plans Talk 08 for 'review' customers.

For £2 and £5 per month Talk 08 includes 250 free minutes to 0845/0870
and 08 numbers respectively.

I asked in a recent thread '0845 and 0870 calls and Phone Review customers'
in this forum and weesteev responded that a review customer is one
who has been contacted by Customer loyalty and offered this package
specifically.

I don't know what makes a loyalty customer, but somehow I don't think
I would qualify.

Re: New Phone Charges - Dear Me!
 

Tell retentions you're leaving and also what you have posted here (assuming you're out of contract)

You may miraculously find you become a review customer!!

It's still very expensive in my opinion, it's charge after charge to get what other providers include. No wonder they claim they provide HD for 'free', they just get it back on the phone!.

To add this 0845 option to VM and pay £25 a month I could take Sky up on their pay a year's line rental upfront and pay their HD charge and still have 50p change. Even without paying upfront it's £8.75 a month cheaper.

Re: New Phone Charges - Dear Me!
 

Excellent site I nearly always find a 01/02 or freephone alternative number.

Re: New Phone Charges - Dear Me!
 

Shouldn't have to mate. Sky, BT and TalkTalk all include 0870 in their calling plan packages but the real joke is VM's calling plans are about 60% dearer in the first place, they even charge for CLI. I have really had my eyes opened wide this week on this subject, I really have.

It's charge after charge after charge and gaping gaps in inclusive calls. Sky's £10.25 HD charge is nothing compared to the extra we personally pay on the phone but as ever it depends on your usage.

Re: New Phone Charges - Dear Me!
 

You do seem extremely tasked by VM's phone charges - why don't you change suppliers?

Re: New Phone Charges - Dear Me!
 

I am on April 7 but thanks for the advice.