Home Phone price increase

[#1]

Hi Javert,
I've not got exact numbers, but these are features that have been requested in the past - free calls to support springs to mind as being the one that's been asked for most in the past from both the community and our Usergroup.
Hopefully, after you've weighed up the pros and cons for your particular situation, you'll find that our Home Phone products are still extremely competitively priced for your needs.

[#2]

Quote from: Oldjim

If we are going to say Plusnet line rental is cheaper than BT it should also be noted that the BT line rental includes caller display which is 99p on Plusnet. This makes them less expensive than Plusnet not to mention free 0845 and 0870 calls and cheaper calls to mobiles using Friends and Family mobile (7p per minute anytime) As I don't use the other features and there is no discount for combining phone and broadband there is no incentive to keep my phone with Plusnet. Note that the price for broadband and phone is only on a Market 3 exchange - if you aren't it is £22.94 Now if you could offer a basic phone package with international calls etc. as an extra that would be much better for many users. Just done a quick check and calls to mobiles on Plusnet are 9.3p / 5.6p for the Anytime package but 12.5p/7.5p on the evening and weekend package whereas from the 1st of April the lower rates of 7p apply to all packages with a 12 month contract link

Hi Oldjim
Just to Clarify that Caller Display is not included in the BT Line Rental! It can be had for free if you apply for BT Privacy@Home and will only continue to be free if you make a minimum of chargable calls through BT, but I dont remember what the minimum call duration is though! Sorry
I know this as until I recentley migrated to Plus.Net I was on VirginMedia Bundle One for two years and the FREE Caller display continued to work on my line as long as I made a Chargable call each month using the BT shortcode (1280) before the number. whether this will continue to work after my line rental is moved to Plus.Net I dont know but I will Post back here to let everyone know my findings!

[#3]

It used to be like that but this says different http://www.productsandservices.bt.com/consumerProducts/displayCategory.do?categoryId=CON-HOME-PHN-R1 You need to click on learn more

[#4]

It's still the same, you need to make chargeable calls to get free Caller Display  - click on the + against "Privacy at Home" on this page (under the "Home Phone Security Features" tab).

Quote

Customers who are billed monthly must make at least two chargeable calls with BT in that month, other wise BT reserves the right to charge £2.50 a month for BT Caller Display. Customers who are billed every three months must make at least six chargeable calls within those three months, otherwise BT reserves the right to charge £7.50 a quarter.

[#5]

The caller display part has 2 asterisks and says

Quote

** BT residential customers making some calls on the BT network can opt in to receive Caller Display for free, subject to availability. Analogue lines only. Caller Display equipment required. Numbers will not be registered if the call is from payphones; some switchboards; non-BT networks; or where a caller's number is withheld. Allow 28 days for activation of Telephone Preference Service. Terms and conditions apply.

Although I also think that chargeable calls in the context of the Privacy package must include calls which are only free because they are part of the package otherwise an Anytime user could have major problems.
I suspect that clause in fact refers to one of the older plans where you didn't get free calls (I used to be on one of those).

[#6]

Quote

BT Privacy at Home* gives you more control over incoming calls by registering you for the Telephone Preference Service which helps stop unwanted sales calls. It also includes Caller Display**, which lets you see the number of the person who's calling, so you can decide whether or not you want to take the call. Caller Display cannot disclose the number if the number is withheld or unavailable. To use this service you'll need either a compatible phone or a Caller Display unit. You can sign up now online in Your Account * BT Privacy helps stop unwanted sales calls by registering you with the Telephone Preference Service and giving you BT Caller Display at no extra charge. From 1st October 2006, customers who do not make some chargeable calls with BT will be charged for BT Caller Display. Customers with other call providers can still benefit from BT Caller Display at no extra cost if the following calls are made. Customers who are billed monthly must make at least two chargeable calls with BT in that month, other wise BT reserves the right to charge £2.50 a month for BT Caller Display. Customers who are billed every three months must make at least six chargeable calls within those three months, otherwise BT reserves the right to charge £7.50 a quarter. If you do not currently make calls with BT and would like to start making your calls with us again, please call 0800 121 8088. Alternatively, if you'd like to make one-off calls that are chargeable to your BT bill then simply dial the numbers 1280 before you dial the phone number you wish to call. ** BT residential customers making some calls on the BT network can opt in to receive Caller Display for free, subject to availability. Analogue lines only. Caller Display equipment required. Numbers will not be registered if the call is from payphones; some switchboards; non-BT networks; or where a caller's number is withheld. Allow 28 days for activation of Telephone Preference Service. Terms and conditions apply.

I would rather just make 2 one off Calls each month using 1280 before the number! They don't have to be Long Calls either,  In the past I have Just Dialed MY mobile, answered then ended the call after just a couple of seconds!
Maybe If enough of us do this Plus.Net will make it FREE in the future!
@PlusNet Staff, Maybe a Call Plan that incudes the first Calling feature FREE could be an option then customers could choose between Caller ID or Voice Mail if they wish!
Just an Idea!
Reason for editing: Typo correction

[#7]

@grudkin
I have some bad news for you - if you take line rental from another provider (in this case we are talking PN), then 1280 does not get calls put on a BT bill a) because you are no longer a BT retail customer b) They end up on your PN bill. Whether that includes a handling charge as they do for operator calls I don't know.
With OneTel you'd apparently be charged at BT rates. - That could be interesting if BT was cheaper which is unlikely because it would be at BT Basic rate or whatever they call it which is more expensive for all calls than the 3 standard packages!!
@chrisc (PN)
So what happened to Free Caller Display which we've been asking for, in fact I think I've seen more posts and requests around these forums for that than I've even seen mention of 1571 never mind at what price
Well the answer to that is obvious. Give 1571 for free, then more people may take it. then the more money we and the rest of the cosy Cartel of Telco's rake in for people dialing numbers that are engaged.
Edit: Oh, and when is someone from PN going to answer/confirm/deny this query?
http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,75554.msg604401.html#msg604401

[#8]

Quote from: chrisc

Hi Javert, I've not got exact numbers, but these are features that have been requested in the past - free calls to support springs to mind as being the one that's been asked for most in the past from both the community and our Usergroup. Hopefully, after you've weighed up the pros and cons for your particular situation, you'll find that our Home Phone products are still extremely competitively priced for your needs.

Thanks for the response and your comments.  However, we must not forget, as any accountant worth his salt will tell you, and every MP for that matter – figures can be made to read what you want them to read.  Free International Calls was what the most customers wanted?  There again, how many indicated they wanted something else – was this a competition amongst PN customers to find out what they really, really want? 
One cannot but end up thinking that what PN are actually saying, as has been said by MPs: “We’ve done nothing wrong; we’ve worked within the rules/guidelines.”  Or, to put it another way: “Them’s the rules, we’ve made them, get on with it.” 

[#9]

If everyone took up their free allocation of International Calls each month I wonder how long it would be before Plusnet amended the terms and conditions stating that this proved unsustainable due to heavy demand.

[#10]

Thanks for the continued feedback guys, much of which has been about which new things have been added to the packages.
As I've said above, we have tried to add features that have been requested by customers in the past. Unfortunately, due to the number of Home Phone customers we have it would be impossible for us to have included all the features that everybody wants as the products just wouldn't have been sustainable.
If we'd included free caller ID instead of voicemail for example, we would have had some people posting who 'never use caller ID but do use voicemail' so this wouldn't have helped them out. Likewise, there would be people asking for free calls to support if they hadn't been included.
Contrary to the belief that voicemail has been included for free to generate more money from people getting charged when someone is engaged we've made voicemail free for the simple reason that it's our most popular calling feature.
It's never good news when a price increase is announced and depending on your personal call patterns, call types and calling features you'll be impacted in different ways but we'd hope that for the majority of customers the new features that we've been able to include mean that the product remains extremely competitive and helps offset the price increase. 

[#11]

@Anotherone

Quote from: Anotherone

@grudkin I have some bad news for you - if you take line rental from another provider (in this case we are talking PN), then 1280 does not get calls put on a BT bill a) because you are no longer a BT retail customer b) They end up on your PN bill. Whether that includes a handling charge as they do for operator calls I don't know. With OneTel you'd apparently be charged at BT rates. - That could be interesting if BT was cheaper which is unlikely because it would be at BT Basic rate or whatever they call it which is more expensive for all calls than the 3 standard packages!!

On the other hand, This http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,68709.msg549100.html#msg549100 may sugest diferentley!
@chrisc

Quote from: chrisc

As I've said above, we have tried to add features that have been requested by customers in the past. Unfortunately, due to the number of Home Phone customers we have it would be impossible for us to have included all the features that everybody wants as the products just wouldn't have been sustainable. If we'd included free caller ID instead of voicemail for example, we would have had some people posting who 'never use caller ID but do use voicemail' so this wouldn't have helped them out. Likewise. there would be people asking for free calls to support if they hadn't been included.

Granted, You can never keep ALL the people happy ALL the time,
But if you let the customer decide what is most important to them, giving them the CHOICE of ONE FREE Feature of their own choosing instead of FORCING FREE Voice Mail on them and denying them FREE Caller ID,
Then you would be keeping MOST of the people HAPPY MOST OF THE TIME!

[#12]

How exactly is it still "extremely competitive"?
Calls will cost far more. The rest is just window dressing.
We'll see when the dust settles who remains genuinely competitive.
It's a shame it's not PN anymore.
Stop letting BT make you follow the market instead of leading it.

[#13]

@grudkin

Quote from: grudkin

@Anotherone Quote from: Anotherone @grudkin I have some bad news for you - if you take line rental from another provider (in this case we are talking PN), then 1280 does not get calls put on a BT bill a) because you are no longer a BT retail customer b) They end up on your PN bill. Whether that includes a handling charge as they do for operator calls I don't know. With OneTel you'd apparently be charged at BT rates. - That could be interesting if BT was cheaper which is unlikely because it would be at BT Basic rate or whatever they call it which is more expensive for all calls than the 3 standard packages!! On the other hand, This http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,68709.msg549100.html#msg549100 may sugest diferentley! .....................

Sorry, not only is that link you provided out of context (it's talking about override providers in general), it has nothing to do with 1280. It is referring to 1260 which actually I think is a typo, because I'm sure it's not the access code for PN in any event. I believe it is one of the codes for Opal's network, but I will try and check.
However, I stress if you have line rental from another provider, 1280 will not put the call on a BT bill.
@chrisc
I do think that the suggestion of the first line feature should be free, is the best idea. You can choose Caller Display or 1571 or whatever.

[#14]

Same old PN story, get people in then hike up the price. Some people will notice and leave or can't be bothered others will just not realise how much a change is being made. It took people diging hard on here to find out.
Gets us back to the old PN with the 18 month lockins on the BB products. Watch what other changes happen after they net enough.

[#15]

It's interesting to note on the email notifying Home Phone Users of the imminent price rises, the fourth heading down is “Other changes to your service” and that ends “We’ll also be making some other changes which you can read all about “on our Community site”.  The last four words are the link to that site.  Clicking that opens a page dated Apr 6th, and headed New Home Phone Products; if you scroll down the page you come to a heading “Related articles”.  The third one down is a bit ironic: “Say goodbye to high phone bills” – I realise it links to an old article (Aug 2007) but one cannot help getting the feeling that someone is taking the proverbial!