BT and TalkTalk hike phone prices – again

The UK's biggest telecoms firm BT is today hiking the price of its line rental by 30p to £13.90 a month, which is 20% higher than the cost just 18 months ago, while its chargeable daytime calls and call connection costs are also going up.

TalkTalk will also increase its line rental on Sunday by 30p to £12.60 a month, which is 12% more than 14 months ago. Its chargeable daytime calls and call connection costs are also rising.

Sky Talk customers are also facing price hikes in June with call charges set to rise, while line rental will also jump for some customers, though the company has yet to release new prices.

In contrast, Primus and Virgin Media say they have no plans to raise charges.

BT rises today

Here's how much more you'll pay:

• Line rental. Up by 30p to £13.90 a month. However, the 'ulimited anytime plan' will cost an extra £4.70 a month on top, rather than the previous £5 additional figure.

• Chargeable daytime call costs. Up from 7p to 7.6p per minute.

• Call connection fees. Up 1p to 12.5p.

TalkTalk rises on Sunday

Here's how much more you'll pay:

• Line rental. Up by 30p to £12.60 a month.

• Chargeable daytime calls costs. Up to 7.6p from 6.5p.

• Call connection fees. Up from 11.14p to 12.5p.

How to beat price hikes

You can halve the cost of line rental, unless you've a cable or Kingston communications line, by getting Primus's Line Rental Saver, which is currently £6.79 per month for a year without calls.

Alternatively, Primus's Home Phone Saver is £7.99 including landline, evening and weekend calls. Daytime calls are also cheaper than BT too.

If you prefer to stick with BT you can get reduced line rental by paying £120 up-front for a year on its BT Line Rental Saver, which includes free weekend calls. This works out at £10 a month. which is a significant saving on the standard price.

Also, check whether you can sign up to no-frills calls provider 18185, which, when dialled as a prefix, will allow you to cut the cost of daytime calls to landlines to 5p per call rather than the current 7.6p per minute from BT.