BT prices to rise this Saturday

The hikes, which take effect on 3 December, will be the third set of hikes the telecoms giant, which has 11.5 million landline customers, will have implemented in 14 months.

At the same BT is scrapping its paperless billing discount of £1.25 per month, which is available to some customers.

It last raised costs in April this year, following another increase in October 2010.

As well as line rental, certain call costs and some TV and broadband package prices will also rise on 3 December.

BT does however say that following the hikes it will freeze some prices until 2013, including those for its most popular 'anytime' calls plan, standard line rental and the cost of calling other UK landlines.

Meanwhile, BT's Line Rental Saver, which allows you to pay £120 up-front for a year's standard line rental, won't rise in price. Nor will some broadband bundles and calls to mobiles.

BT says if you're in the middle of a contract, it will allow you to switch to its Line Rental Saver without penalty.

Line rental and call price rises

• Line rental is rising from £13.90 to £14.60 a month.

• The set-up fee price per call is rising from 12.5p to 13.1p (for chargeable calls).

• Daytime call costs are rising from 7.6p to 7.95p per minute.

• Evening calls are rising from 1p to 1.05p per minute.

• Its 'Unlimited Anytime Plan' is rising from £4.70 to £4.90 a month (on top of standard line rental).

Broadband monthly price rises

• BT Broadband Option 1 is rising from £17.00 to £17.80.

• BT Broadband Option 2 is rising from £21.50 to £22.50.

• BT Broadband Option 3 is rising from £25.60 to £26.80.

• BT Infinity Option 1 is rising from £20.00 to £21.00.

• BT Infinity Option 2 is rising from £25.60 to £26.80.

BT Vision monthly price rises

• The cost of Sky Sports 1 or Sky Sports 2, when either is bought separately, will rise from £12.30 to £12.90.

• The cost of Sky Sports 1 and Sky Sports 2, when bought together, will rise from £17.40 to £18.20.

John Petter, managing director of BT's consumer division, says: "We are making a series of price updates in December, but are then freezing some of our main prices until 2013. This will provide our customers with greater certainty over their bills."

How to beat landline price hikes

As well as switching to Line Rental Saver, if you're out of contract, you can halve the cost of line rental by switching to a cheaper package (see our Home Phone guide for details).

Also, check whether you can sign up to a no-frills 'override' calls provider, such as 18185, which, when dialled as a prefix, will allow you to cut the cost of daytime calls to landlines and mobiles.