[themelon]

BTs price rises are a disgrace and a shot in the foot for Indirect or CPS Services. A minimum £10.50 line rental and stealth increases in:

BT Call Minder (Voicemail)
Current: £6/quarter
Will cost £7.50/quarter from May 1st

BT Answer 1571 - Personal Greeting
£3.00/quarter
Will cost £4.50/quarter from May 1st

From 1st August 2004, BT are introducing a "Charge Per Activation" if you use 1471 and then press "3" to automatically dial the last number called. -

Cost? 6p per go.

BT increases directory inquiries charges.

Calls to BT's 118 500 service will now have a 40p set up charge against 25p before - although the price per minute rate halves to 15p.

BT previously claimed their average call duration was only 28 seconds. Based on this, users will now pay around 47p a call under the new tariff instead of 40p as before.

From 1st August 2004, the cost of using ringback (press 5 on engaged tone) is going up from 10p to 15p.

Calls to Timeline (Speaking Clock, 123 ) are increasing from 10p to 20p per call.

I look forward to the opening of BT local loops so other providers can have value for money line rental.

Comapanies such as ntl can say simply....we have cheaper line rental in their new adverts, a bonus for those who use Indirect companies such as onetel, or low usage customer who mainly only use the phone for incoming calls. BT had 9 million customers on the Standard Plan, so that £9 million extra each month in the hands of the monopoly.

Ntl seriously need to look at scrapping the connection charge then they would be back in a strong position.