Landline and Broadband costs are about to increase significantly. Sky is increasing costs by an average of 8.1%, Virgin by 13.8% and BT by a staggering 20%, which means if you are paying £35 per month your monthly payment will rise to £40 or more.
But what should you be paying? If you have been with the same company for years, you are almost certainly paying too much, and you may also be paying for services you no longer need or didn’t need in the first place.
So, what are you paying for? Phone line, Broadband, Anytime call package, TV services?
If you don’t have Broadband, then currently, BT are the only company that provides landline only. This is currently £23.05 for new customers (rising to £26.35 in April), plus whatever call packages you may have, it may be more if you are an existing BT customer. However, you can still save money, read on as there are some cheaper deals currently that give you Broadband too and you could consider using a mobile phone for calls if you have one.
If you are paying for Broadband, what speed are you paying for? Standard (around 10mbps), Fast – (35mbps), Superfast (65mbps) or Fibre – (100mbps)? And more importantly, what speed do you need and what speed are you getting?
What do you use your Broadband for?
- Browsing the Internet, sending and receiving emails?
- Playing simple games?
- Perhaps Catchup TV, Netflix or Amazon Prime using a Smart TV, tablet, or laptop?
- Listening to the Radio on a Smart Speaker over the Internet?
- Camera, such as a ring Doorbell?
Unless you have multiple people living in the house using the Internet at the same time, generally speaking you need no more than the standard speed. Even with a standard speed Internet connection you can do all the things listed above.
However, there may be a reason you don’t get 10mbps. See our other post for extra information about “How to Check your Internet Speed”. This also includes tips on increasing your speed around the house.
You are probably paying somewhere between £30 and £40 per month at today’s prices for a Landline and Broadband and don’t forget, those prices are rising. But by switching to another supplier, you can probably save around £10 per month, maybe more.
However, you may also be paying for a call package, perhaps another £10 per month for an “Anytime call plan”. BUT do you have a mobile phone? If you do, you probably have unlimited calls included in your mobile contract. If you don’t have a mobile phone, you can, for example, nip down to Tesco and for £7.50/month get a basic smartphone with UNLIMITED calls to UK numbers. Or, nip down to Asda, get a basic mobile phone (not a smartphone) for £18 and unlimited calls and text for £4 per month. See our other post for deltails about Mobile Costs.
How easy is it to switch supplier and what do you need to know?
Unfortunately, most great deals are available online only, so if this is a problem, see if you can get someone to do it for you, but once you have an online account, managing is easy.
The first thing you need to check is whether you are still in contract. If you are in contract, there will probably be penalties to switch now. Unless you are with Virgin, in which case, when Virgin notify you, they are increasing their costs, you have 30 days to switch to another supplier with no exit fees.
If you have an email address linked to your service supplier, for example you have a TalkTalk, Plus.net, Virgin etc email address, then when you switch you may lose access to your email, or at best, will have to pay to keep it. You may have a grace period, but every supplier is different, so it’s worth checking. Consider moving to an email address like Gmail, Hotmail, Outlook, Yahoo etc. These are all free and not linked to a service supplier. I’ll agree, it’s not a simple process, but it does free you up to switch when you want.
If you have Virgin and are considering switching, you may lose any extensions you have in the house and may need to pay a £60 connection fee to have a new line installed. Extensions can be re-wired to work off your new phone line, but there would be a small cost to this. Most other phone and broadband suppliers use a standard Openreach socket, so your extensions will continue to work after your switch.
You may have, and rely on, services like BT’s Caller Protect, TalkTalk’s Callsafe or Sky’s Talk Shield. You will lose these if you switch and there aren’t many alternatives, apart from installing a device for around £110 (Truecall).
So, if you have got to this point and are thinking about taking the plunge and switching, how easy is it? Well, it’s very easy. Go to your favourite comparison site, for example moneysavingexpert.com, comparethemarket.com, uswitch.com, moneysupermarket.com or gocompare.com and look for the best deal, click the link and get started. Beware, comparisson sites don’t all have the same deals, so it’s worth checking more than one.
If you have a standard BT (OpenReach) socket, then stick to a supplier that delivers its service by the same OpenReach socket, for instance Plusnet, Shell Energy, Now, BT, Vodafone. Stear clear of Virgin, unless you really need SUPER fast speeds.
A lot of comparison sites will offer some form of incentive to switch, usually cashback. But check how this is paid. Sometimes the cashback will be credited to your account after a period of time, some will offer Amazon vouchers. Some, it is up to you to claim that cashback after a period of time.
Your new supplier will do everything for you.
- They’ll contact your current provider; tell them you are moving and cancel your contract.
- They will arrange to port your number if you want.
- They will send you a letter and tell you exactly what date you will switch.
- They will send you a new router in time for your switch date.
When the switch date arrives, all you will have to do is:
- Plug in the new router.
- Connect to the new router on any devices you have.
- Return your old router. (All suppliers now have a duty to recycle old equipment and will send you a postage paid return package)
Be prepared to have your old supplier call you and try and persuade you to stay, but if you do decide to stay, it will be your responsibility to cancel your new contract, but this should be fairly simple. Your old supplier will probably try and match your new supplier’s price or get as close to it as possible.
However, if you have read this and decided that switching is not for you, then call your current provider when your contract finishes, tell them you are switching and haggle with them to see if you can get a better deal. Most suppliers will haggle, so it’s definitely worth doing.
If you are on certain benefits, for example Disability Allowance, Pension Credit, Personal Independence Payments etc, then most supplier’s offer Social Tariffs, but check the supplier to see which benefits entitle you to a social tariff. Some suppliers are more generous than others.
