BT to increase line rental costs

BT is set to increase the cost of its line rental by £1 a month, from 1 April 2009.

Standard line rental costs will increase from £11.50 a month to £12.50 a month - though BT Broadband customers who sign up for paper-free billing could £1.25 a month by paying all their bills online.

According to BT, 13.5 million of their 14.5 million customers are missing out on the potential savings of paper-free billing.

Customers who don’t take a call package with their BT line will also face an increase on their call costs, with daytime prices rising from 0.59p per minute to 4.5p per minute.

The news comes two weeks after BT announced free calls to 0845 and 0870 numbers for call plan customers at selected times. 0845 and 0870 numbers will be free at the same time as the customer’s inclusive minutes.

However, BT also revealed that it would be increasing its call set-up fee from 6.85p to 8p per chargeable call.

“This will be particularly frustrating for customers who only use BT’s landline for ADSL broadband access," Michael Phillips, BroadbandChoices.co.uk product director.

“When these price increases come into play, BT’s line rental will cost £3.51 a month more than its cheapest competition, Toucan Broadband at £8.99 a month, while some other local loop unbundled (LLU) providers such as Tiscali Broadband or TalkTalk Broadband even offer “free line rental” or “free broadband”, making their packages significantly cheaper.”

Source: Broadband Choices, 26th January, 2009

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