BT increases call charges but cuts cost of plans

BT has increased the cost of calls, but has made its call plans cheaper.

BT has announced that it is increasing connection charges and per-minute call costs for new customers.

Here's how BT has adjusted its pricing:

1. Call charges

BT is simplifying its tariffs by charging calls at a flat rate, regardless of time of day they are made. Here are the new call rates:

• Day/evening calls to geographical numbers: 9p a minute
• Day/evening calls to mobile numbers: 12p a minute (6p a minute for Unlimited Anytime customers)
• Connection fee: 15p per call

So calls to any UK geographical numbers will now cost 15p setup plus 9p a minute, which comes to 24p for a one-minute call. Frankly, this is a rip-off price to pay for a short call, especially to local numbers!

2. Calling plans

I suspect the reason that BT has increased its per-call charges is to push customers into buying one of its inclusive call packages. To persuade more people to pay a monthly fee in return for inclusive calls, BT has lowered the price of its calling plans, as follows:

• BT has reduced the monthly fee for the Unlimited Evening call plan by £1.30, lowering it to £2. This represents a saving of £15.60 a year.
• BT has reduced the monthly fee for the Unlimited Anytime Plan Plus by £1, lowering it to £7. This represents a saving of £12 a year, and includes half-price pence-per-minute calls to mobile numbers.

From now on, all BT bundles come with Unlimited Weekend calls as standard (except for Faster Unlimited Broadband and Infinity 160 packages). In other words, weekend calls are free for all but a handful of BT customers.

What's more, customers with Anytime call plans can also make inclusive calls at any time on their mobiles by downloading the free SmartTalk app. This enables customers to take advantage of BT's half-price per-minute rates to other mobiles.

3. BT's new bundles

As well as revamping its call plans and call pricing, BT has also tinkered with its broadband bundles. Here are its new deals:

1. Broadband with Unlimited Weekend calls: £6.50 for the first three months, then £13 a month.
2. Infinity 1 (up to 38Mb) plus Unlimited Weekend calls: £9 for the first three months, then £18 a month.
3. Unlimited BT Infinity 2 (up to a blisteringly fast 76Mb) plus Unlimited Weekend calls: £20 for the first three months, then £26 a month.

For all three of these bundles, line rental adds £15.45 to the monthly cost. Therefore, for the most expensive bundle (Unlimited BT Infinity 2 plus Unlimited Weekend calls), the monthly fee will be £41.45, or just short of £500 a year.

Six tips to curb your call costs

1. Avoid making calls during daytime and evenings. For long calls especially, leave these until weekends.
2. If you like to chat at the end of the day and want free evening calls, then BT's Unlimited Evening calls currently costs £2 per month.
3. If you make a lot of daytime calls, then BT's Unlimited Anytime Plan Plus costs £7 a month (£84 a year).
4. With a one-minute call now costing 24p, it may be considerably cheaper to use your mobile to make calls, especially if you have a generous package of inclusive minutes.
5. You can slash the cost of calls (in some case, reducing rates by 90% or more) by using alternative call suppliers, known as override providers. These low-cost call companies include 1899.com (which I've happily used for many years) and 18185.co.uk. These firms offer rates as low as 5p per call with no per-minute charges.
6. Why stick faithfully with BT? Other providers such as Sky and Virgin Media constantly try to lure BT customers away with generous special offers.

Finally, for the latest, greatest deals for phone, broadband and digital TV (including exclusive offers), check out our award-winning partner broadbandchoices.co.uk.

More on phones:

TalkTalk fined £750,000 for nuisance calls

The UK's worst home phone provider

BT6500: new phone that automatically blocks unwanted calls

Sky customers: make too many calls and you may be cut off

Directory enquiries: the true cost of calling 118 numbers

How to call 0845 and 0870 numbers for free!