UK Phone Call Options

Savings on Phone Calls, UK Local National International

Updated for BT rates from 1st April 2008.

Cheap phone calls giving savings on your phone bill are now available, you never need to pay expensive rates on your phone line, whether BT, cable or mobile.

BT do offer good value on some services. For the majority, alternative telecom suppliers offer valuable savings. See BT Together Option Comparisons and BT Together Options Explained for help with deciding whether these BT services offer you and your calling pattern best value. For the majority of customers, BT Option 1 is more than adequate and works out cheaper than the 'old' Low User Scheme for anyone who makes daytime calls.

Access numbers, Free phone calls or Discount package?

For savings, you have a wide choice.

Access numbers which give calls at phone card prices without buying a phonecard. All calls are charged to your phone bill at the access number's rate.

SMS text messages work like a phone card and give a convenient access number service for mobile phones. The difference being that you send a text to the service provider who sends you back premium response texts which are charged to your mobile phone account giving you the flexibility to 'buy' your phone card whenever you need to, even when the shops are shut. Once you have your call credit, access numbers which are usually within your included minutes allowance are used to make the call.

Alternative suppliers provide a short code/number to connect to their service. These can be prepaid, cheque or direct debit on monthly accounts or credit card payment. These services give you the widest choice of price and can be UK based, Europe based or anywhere else in the world. This group covers the majority of suppliers, many being resellers for one of the major companies.

CPS - carrier preselection - for direct access through your exchange to the carrier of your choice without having to dial any access numbers. Available only to customers with a BT or Kingston telephone line. There are restrictions to these services. Some do not work on a phone line connected to an alarm system (Redcare, etc.) while others may interfere with a pulsed signal (electronic top-ups, charge cards, etc.). Even BT has a 49% holding in Eescape Ltd (supplier of Quip and Woolwich/Barclays alternate telecoms) which supplies CPS and dial in access, such is the attractiveness of this service to both supplier and consumer.

Once you have chosen a supplier, remember to read the small print. Some give excellent daytime UK savings, and then charge the same rate during evenings and weekends - more than BT. Solution, use an alternate supplier for peak UK calls and dial 1280 after 6pm and before 6am weekdays and all weekend to divert the call through BT.

Why pay 1p or 2p per minute for a UK weekend call when BT offer a whole hour free before charges of 4p per minute are incurred. Anyone paying line rental to BT can route calls through to BT simply by dialling 1280 and full area code before the call.

"FREE" UK Phone Calls

Now comes the tricky question. So often people say 'I am getting free calls evenings and weekend'. Are you really getting free calls? Click here for free calls

Free evening calls?

From 1st April 2008, BT is withdrawing the BT together Option 1 plan which gave evening and weeked calls for only 4.5p for up to an hour. Evening calls will now be charged at 1.5p per minute plus a 6p connection charge. Weekend calls are free with a 4p per minute charge if you go over the hour limit. If you don't want to be tied into a 12 month contract, this is the only option for you.

BT charges an additional £2.70 a month for the 'Unlimited Evening & Weekend Plan' for these free calls. Compared with the 6p connection charge and 1.5p per minute on evening calls, that means that unless you chat during evenings for about 3 hours a month you are actually paying more for these 'free calls' than you would if paying on a call by call basis. This makes this package attractive for those who use the phone in the evening.

From 1st April 2008 anyone who was on the BT Together Option 2 plan will be automatically signed up for this new Evening & Weekend package for the minimum 12 month term which automatically renews for an additional 12 month term if you do not cancel before the end of any 12 month period. Cancelling during the term will cost you a termination fee equivalent to line rental and plan cost for the remaining period. Transfers when moving home are free as long as you remain a BT customer.

BT charges an additional £5.95 a month for free UK calls at any time of day. With daytime calls charges increasing to 4p per minute if you use the phone during the day for more than two and a half hours a month you will be in pocket.

The above explanation uses BT's charges because they are the best known. There are many companies offering similar savings packages, many cheaper than BT.

Some offer free calls between customers on a standard package. These really are free calls. How does this option compare against BT's charge of £5.95 (£4.95 with a 12-month contract) to phone your friends and family every day?

Are you really savings on the BT packages? Since BT introduced these packages, their profits have increased. That means: someone is paying more.
Is it you?

Savings on your phone calls

Telecom suppliers who offer savings and good quality calls are available. Links to many of their web sites are included in the right hand column.