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Page 3: Living: Telephones.

Please read on.

Keep Control of Costs.

Money Surgery believes that telephones are a luxury not a necessity. We can easily run up bills of £100 per quarter "just chatting". When in survival mode, fighting against the debts that threaten to overwhelm us, we should see the telephone as an emergency link, not as a plaything. "Friends and Family" type packages act to ENCOURAGE THEIR USE when what we need is to be DISCOURAGED. Telephone usage, mobile or fixed, can be so difficult to control because we can get sucked into the habit of calling people or through Internet usage. We understand and sympathise if you find it hard to avoid those big bills every month/quarter.

We endorse BT's "Light User Scheme" which, updated on August 2006, rebates 11.2 pence for every 10p that your call charges are under £25.89, if your total call charges are under £12.95 per quarter. Total just a pound in call charges and your bill will be about £10.00 in total each quarter, inclusive of £36 line rental, VAT, everything. If you exceed £12.95 in call charges on your bill, but do not exceed £21.82 then you'll still get a rebate of £11.97, making your quarterly bill approximately £26 plus the cost of call charges. Exceed £21.82 in quarterly call charges and there will be no rebate. They've also changed their call charging so that there is now a 3p call connection charge, down from 5p, but calls are now rounded up to the nearest minute.
Remember that with the BT Light User Scheme, there is an incentive to avoid using the telephone because less usage means more savings. This is unique among the available line rental packages and can easily be used by Patients to significantly cut their telephone bills.

Please read on.

How can we reduce our 'phone usage?

We can let others do the calling. It can seem harsh, but let them ring you. Ask yourself who can least afford to pay for "chat-time". If they are reasonable, they should understand your situation and your need to watch the bills. Be aware of the peak rates and when they begin and end. Be succinct and to the point when you HAVE to call: Plan your conversation.

Please read on.

The Best Deal was the Free Phone.

Back in the late '90s, there were some excellent mobile deals. The best one we saw, from a well known high street retailer:

  • Free mobile 'phone: Choice from 6 quality models.
  • No connection charge, minimum 1 years contract.
  • 200 free minutes per month, off-peak and weekend only.
  • Best of all, the line rental. At £12.99 per month by Direct Debit, totalling £156 per year, it was FULLY REFUNDABLE after three months with cheques from the telephone operator and the retailer.

Please read on.

What's the Best Deal Now?

If you have to get a mobile, we suggest getting a cheap pay-as-you-go type or converting your pay-monthly to pay-as-you-go. SIM cards can now be bought for £10, including £5 worth of calls with call charges as low as 2p per minute at weekends and 5p off-peak. If you use the phone at weekends for 200 minutes a month you only pay £4 per month. This kind of deal might just be the best option right now, especially as mobiles are increasingly being perceived as ESSENTIAL items.

Some mobile phone operators might be so keen to hold on to existing customers that they offer cut price "verbal" deals. Customers with good payment records at the end of their contract term might receive tempting "Golden Shackles" offers from companies but only if the customer threatens to end the contract.

Please read on.

Combining BT's Light-User Scheme with a good Pay-As-You-Go package can keep quarterly telephone bills down to around £30, or less, and still have a reasonable amount of talk time. Having a mobile available at any time can be a vital piece of kit in an emergency, particularly for women. We believe that this combination provides excellent flexibility and cost reduction at this time. Don't forget to shop around, read the small print, use the phones sparingly and at times that are most cost-effective. Keep mobiles fully charged and topped up for emergencies.

Please read on.


Broadband Now Under £10 a Month

(20:30 Tuesday 12th April 2005 news story)

UK Online has just announced the UK's first broadband deal for less than a tenner a month, offering 512K speed for £9.99 per month and unlimited usage.

In addition it's also got another first, with Britain's fastest home broadband service at a massive 8Mb for £29.99 each month. Competition among broadband providers has finally taken hold since BT was forced to allow access to its exchanges for rival companies.

Isn't it nice when things get cheaper?

Directory Enquiries Confusion

(Friday 29th August 2003 news story)

You may have heard that the 192 Directory Enquiries telephone number disappeared last weekend, replaced by an array of competing numbers. Unfortunately, it has led to confusion over the actual cost of the call. What are the costs? See the table, below, showing all the new numbers with the cheapest at the top and the most expensive towards the bottom:

New Directory Enquiries Numbers

Company:Number:Connection Cost: Cost Per Minute:
Dir. Enqs. UK118800Nil 19p
11 88 88118888Nil20p
One118811Nil30p
Telco 118877 30p 35p
One.Tel 118111 Nil 35p
Orange 118000 Nil 49p
Yellow Pages 118247 Nil 40p
Telewest 118180 25p 55p
192.com 118119 25p 55p
BT 118500 25p 55p
11 88 66 118866 49p 58p
The Number 11811849p 58p

Note: The One.Tel number is free for One.Tel customers until the end of 2003.

Remember that if you allow the directory service operator to connect you, the cost will increase considerably, because the operator will continue to charge you for the call duration at their "per minute" rate. Plus you won't necessarily get told the number that you asked for in the first place. If you get put through to a freephone number by Yellow Pages for an hour, you'll get billed £24 for the privilege! Better to hang-up and dial it yourself.

Money Surgery says why not use the phone book, or, as you're on the Internet right now, try using a search engine, like Google to look-up the company, or try BT's Free Online Directory Service which allows up to 10 searches per day. It's surprising how habit-forming these directory enquiries calls can be and how much they can mount-up on your phone bill.

"Got your number" they shout in their adverts. Now you've got their number.

Shop Around for Mobile Bargains.

(2001 news story)

BT Cellnet offers 15 months continued connection to MyTime Net200 tarriff for £69.99, after cancellation requests from the customer. Some mobile phone operators might be so keen to hold on to existing customers that they offer cut price "verbal" deals like this one from BT Cellnet. Customers with good payment records at the end of their contract term might receive tempting "Golden Shackles" offers from companies but only if the customer threatens to end the contract. This £69.99 offer from BT Cellnet continues the 200 minutes free off-peak deal for the equivalent of £4.66 per month which is comparative to the costs of swapping to a cheap Pay-As-You-Go deal.

If you have to get a mobile we suggest getting a cheap pay-as-you-go type or converting your pay-monthly to pay-as-you-go. SIM cards can now be bought for £20, including £5 worth of calls with call charges as low as 2p per minute at weekends and 5p off-peak. If you use the phone at weekends for 200 minutes a month you only pay £4 per month. This kind of deal might just be the best option right now, especially as mobiles are increasingly being perceived as ESSENTIAL items. Whichever deal you might be tempted by, don't forget to shop around, read the small print, use the phones sparingly and at times that are most cost-effective. Keep mobiles fully charged and topped up for emergencies.

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