Beat the BT, Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin Media price hikes

Sky has already raised prices and Virgin Media is also planning an increase next month. Yet their customers can also save.

Here is a round-up of the rises.

BT

It is raising prices on Saturday, as follows:

• Line rental is rising from £14.60/month to £15.45/month.

• The Unlimited Anytime Plan is rising from £4.90/month to £5.15/month (on top of line rental).

• Call connection fee (per call) is rising from 13.1p to 13.87p for all chargeable calls.

• Daytime calls are rising from 7.95p/min to 8.41p/min.

• Evening calls are rising from 1.05p/min to 1.11p per min.

TalkTalk

The following rises took place on 1 January:

• Line rental jumped from £14.50/month to £14.95/month.

• Call connection fee (per call) went up from 13.1p to 13.87p for all chargeable calls.

• Daytime call costs increased from 7.95p/min to 8.41p/min.

• Calls to mobiles jumped to 11.3p per minute (daytime) and 5.3p per minute (evening).

Sky

It increased line rental by a whopping 18% in December, from £12.25/month to £14.50/month. Call charges also rose, in line with BT's new prices.

Virgin Media

Customers will see their line rental increase from £13.90/month to £14.99/month from 1 February.

Slash your bills

If you're out of contract and willing to switch, you can get line rental with no calls for £6.99/month.

Or, if you want an internet package too, it's £10.24/month for line rental (with no calls) with broadband. See the Cheap Home Phones guide for all the best buys.

If you're still in contract, you may have to pay an exit penalty to switch.

Yet all BT, TalkTalk and Virgin customers can pay standard line rental for a year upfront, which works out much cheaper than paying monthly.

A similar deal is possible with Sky, but it depends on a number of factors. Full information in the Cheap Home Phones guide.