TalkTalk to hike call costs

It is hiking line rental and charges for UK and international calls in the autumn, in what will be the second round of price jumps in four months (see the Home Phones guide).

It means a 60-minute call during the day to a UK landline will cost £3.94 instead of £3.57. Those who make an hour-long daytime call every working day will pay around £100 more a year in increased call and rental charges.

These follow price rises in June (see the TalkTalk and Sky price jumps MSE News story).

BT announced last month it is increasing line rental for those who do not sign-up to a long-term contract and call costs in October (see the BT hikes MSE News story). Talk Talk tends to up its prices in line with BT.

Here is a summary of TalkTalk's increases, to come into force on 1 October:

• Line rental is rising from £11.49 to £12.04 per month.

• Chargeable daytime call costs are rising from 5.8p to 6.4p per minute.

• Set up costs for each chargeable call will rise from 9.9p to 10.9p.

• Standard international rates will rise. For example, a daytime call to Spain will increase from 18.39p per minute to 24.5p.

• The late payment charge will rise from up to £7.50 to £10.

• The fee to move home (and taking the service with you) will rise from £29.99 to £49.99.

• Customers who subscribe to 'Mobile Extra' to cut mobile call costs will pay £1.46 a month instead of 45p.

How can you beat the call cost hikes?

If you make daytime calls, international calls or calls at any time to mobiles outside your inclusive minutes on your mobile, you can slash costs by dialling a prefix to re-route your call to a cheaper provider.

Use the Callchecker or International Callchecker service to find out the cheapest 'override provider', as it can vary depending on the type of call made.

Some regular international callers save hundreds of pounds a year.

How can you cut line costs?

You can get Primus Home Saver line rental including evening and weekend calls for £8.99 per month if you sign up for a year via a comparison site (direct, it's £9.99/month). You must pay by direct debit (full details in the Home Phones guide).

Even if you're locked into an existing contract, new rules from communications regulator Ofcom mean it will cost significantly less to exit early.

Instead of paying the standard line rental cost for every month remaining, you'll pay from £2 per unused month on BT, from £3 on TalkTalk and from £4 on Virgin Media.

TalkTalk introduced new charges on 1 June (except for its Tiscali brand, where they'll change on 1 November). Virgin Media and BT will introduce the new pricing in October.

Further reading/Key links

Slash call costs: Home Phones, Cheap Mobiles