Home Phones
The UK's Cheapest Calls Provider

STOP PRESS 29 April ‘08. Talk Talk Deal discounted until 20 May.
Until 20 May, the TalkTalk package discussed below is available with two months free line rental if you get it via comparison site Uswitch* this link takes you there directly. Over the 18 months that means it costs an average £17/mth including line rental, broadband and free evening and weekend calls.

Isn’t it a shame phones don’t have price tags? Scarily, pick up and dial and you’ve no clue how much the call is costing. Yet by picking the right package you can now get broadband, line rental, unlimited evening & weekend calls and cheap calls to mobiles and still get change from £20 a month, saving you £100s a year.

• Solution in a nutshell
• BEST BUYS: Phone with broadband
• Cut the cost of other calls
• BEST BUYS: Phone alone
• Use override providers
• Size of the Saving
• Discuss/Other Articles

The Ultimate MoneySaving!

What about Voip and with-TV packages? This article focuses on home phones & broadband. If you're willing to talk via the internet you can cut the cost, see Voip: completely free calls. If you want a bundled TV package, we’re currently working on an article.

Pick the cheapest possible provider for normal calls and it’ll invariably be expensive for calling mobiles. Luckily there are specialist dirt cheap providers for calling those, that you can access by dialling a special number, so pick the cheapest main provider then use these on top.

• Cheapest with broadband. TalkTalk* is £18/month including line rental, connection, broadband internet and unlimited evening and weekend calls to UK landlines plus some international destinations. Then use a specialist cheap provider to Call Mobiles at 6p/min. Full details: Cheapest with broadband solution.
  
  STOP PRESS 29 April ‘08. Go via comparison site Uswitch’s Deal* until 20 May and you get it £21 cheaper over the contract (c. £17/mth) as it gives two months free line rental.
  
  
• Already got broadband/don’t want it? Get BT’s line rental but set up Primus's Saver 2 for calls as you get free evening and weekend calls without an additional fee provided you've a BT landline. Then use specialist cheap providers for Calling Mobiles. Full details: Cheapest standalone home phone solution.

Just want one provider?

If you want an easy life, and don’t want to ever dial a special access number, you'll pay quite a bit more. As this site specialises in the ultimate solutions, for a single provider option, with or without broadband, just use one of the comparison services such as Uswitch* or Firsthelpline*. Plus switch through Firsthelpline and it'll pay you an extra £15 on top.

Are you a Virgin Media customer?

The following is for those whose landline is provided by BT (even if it is paid for via another operator); if that’s not you read the Virgin Media Cost Cutting article.

For those who aren't locked into a current broadband contract or are willing/free to switch, TalkTalk's* Talk2 International Calls option is £16.39 a month. This includes line rental, broadband and unmetered (free) calls to UK landlines and some EU, North American and Australasian landlines at evenings and weekends. Price-wise it's unbeatable; remember just basic line rental with BT costs £10.50 a month, and the cheapest standalone broadband also costs a tenner. You'll need to pay £30 connection as well, making it £18/month.

STOP PRESS 29 April ‘08. Go via comparison site Uswitch’s Deal* until 20 May and you get it £21 cheaper over the contract (c. £17/mth) as it gives two months free line rental.

What’s the catch?

In 2006 when TalkTalk first launched a similar, then revolutionary, package, it simply couldn’t cope with the huge demand, and there were 100,000s of angry customers; many of whom still spit at the mention of TalkTalk. Things have greatly improved, yet as with all phone & broadband providers some people will still have bad experiences.

You need to agree to an 18 month contract for this, yet as it's remained the cheapest package since launch, that’s not such a worry. If you want a wireless router (which will allow access to the internet from anywhere in your house) you'll need to pay an extra £30 on top of the connection fee. However it's usually possible to get one for less than this. Any good deals will be in the weekly e-mail.

TalkTalk’s broadband is available for most, but not all, of the UK, so do check you're eligible* first. The broadband speed is officially up to 8 Mbps, which is fast, but this very much depends on your connection, most people will be around 1 to 2 Mbps which is standard. It has a fairly decent download limit making it suitable for all but very heavy users.

Customer service reports for TalkTalk are getting better. The most recent MoneySavers TalkTalk poll showed most people say it's mostly working well now with only a few saying they're unhappy. But of course all providers will suffer bad feedback. If you want the perfect customer service record avoid it and look at the phone without broadband solution or the Tiscali alternative below.

Don’t talk for more than 70 minutes

Like many phone providers the ‘free calls’ are time limited; with TalkTalk if you speak for more than 70 minutes you’ll be charged. Yet it's easy to defeat this, just put the phone down and redial the same number before that.

Cutting the cost of other calls

For the calls that aren’t free, namely daytime calls to landlines, calling mobiles, and calling other international countries (or mobile phones in the included countries) TalkTalk isn’t particularly competitive. Yet it’s easy to slash the costs of this.

This is all about using ‘override providers’. These are specialist operators you access by dialing a phone number such as 0844 205 8020; after that you’re connected to their network and make your call without any further charge. This works because the 0844 number is a special tariff, charged on your TalkTalk bill at a set rate; the override provider gets a cut of this, and as they have no overheads, they can still put your call through and make money this way.

• Calling mobiles. TalkTalk charges 12.5p/min during the day and 7.5p/min in the evening, yet you can call mobiles anytime for 6p/min with the cheapest override provider. For a full explanation read the Cheapest Calls To Mobiles article and use the UK CallChecker to find the current cheapest access number (note: only use those operators where you don’t need an account).
  
  
• Calling other countries and mobiles abroad. An almost identical system applies to making international calls. Read the Cheapest Way To Call Abroad article for more info or use the International CallChecker for the Cheapest Provider For Each Country.
  
  
• Calling landlines during the day. While TalkTalk charges 2.85p/min for daytime calls to landlines, you can do it through an override provider for 0.5p a minute. However pay TalkTalk an extra £4 a month and you get unlimited calls to landlines during the day as well; but this is only worth doing if you make more than 3 hours per week of daytime calls.

It’s also worth noting, those who use cashback sites may be able to get cashback for signing up to TalkTalk through them. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, read the Top Cashback Sites article for details.

For those who don’t want/can’t have TalkTalk

If you're in the 30% of the UK that TalkTalk can't service or if you're worried about its history, Tiscali's* 'free broadband' offering comes a close second. For £17.50/month all in you can get broadband, line rental and free weekend calls included. Use the override information above to cut the cost of other calls.

All top new phone deals go in the free, weekly MoneySaving e-mail

If you're just looking for a stand alone home phone deal; the Primus Saver 2 tariff offers unmetered (free) evening and weekend calls to UK landlines without any monthly fee; most companies charge around £4/month for this. You will need to have a BT basic line rental, which costs £10.50 a month to do this (provided you pay by direct debit and opt for online billing). To sign up to this package you need to call it on 0800 036 0094, you can’t sign up direct online though it bills via e-mail.

It's worth noting BT will charge for caller display and voicemail services unless you make two chargeable calls per month. To do this simply prefix your call with "1280" which will route it through BT instead of Primus.

Like other providers the ‘free calls’ are time limited, here to 90 minutes. Yet this is easy to defeat, just put the phone down and redial the same number before then.

Use override providers for the rest of your calls

Now you've bagged free evening and weekend landline calls, it's time to fill in the gaps; calling mobiles and daytime calls to landlines and international calls. The solution depends on your finickity-ness!

• The Simple Solution. 18185 charges 5p per call to landlines, no matter how long you speak, compared to BT's 4p/min or Primus’ 2.5p/min during the day. To use it with Primus you first dial its ‘18185' prefix number to access its network for free, then dial the number you're calling. You pay for the calls via direct debit. To make it easier, set up the prefix on a programmable button on your phone.
  
  18185 is also dirt cheap for calling mobiles, costing a 5p connection fee plus 6p/min weekdays and 3.5p/min weekends. Compare this to BT's 12.5p/min daytimes and 7.5p/min evenings.
  
  

• The Ultimate Solution. 18185 is beatable for some calls, so instead use the UKCallChecker which daily monitors the cheapest way to make every call type. Most of the providers listed can be instantly accessed without an account, so it's easy to use them. For international calls use the International CallChecker. If you are planning to use this method with many call types, the Orchid Dialler may help.
  
  

Cut the cost of Primus even further

If you’re willing to be a bit fiddly, sign up to Primus Talk 1 via Uswitch*, which is an identical tariff to the Saver 2, but you'll then pay £1.49/month for it. However you then get a £5 quarterly bonus off your bill; meaning you’re 50p a quarter up. It's only available for new customers and you must make at least one call per month outside of the inclusive plan to qualify.

High day time or international caller?

While Primus and 18185 are great value, if you make more than three daytime calls a day Euphony's euTalk+18 works out cheaper, but only if you sign up to an 18 month contract. It costs a pound for the first 6 months and £5.99 thereafter, making it an average of £4.33 over the 18 months. The package also includes free calls to 28 countries at all times but even if you don't need these it still works out the cheapest.

All top new phone deals go in the free, weekly MoneySaving e-mail