Last December my ordering a "free" halo extender resulted in my line being converted to digital line on a new contract.

There are some advantages with this, but annoyingly BT now level a "pay as you go" charge just to make calls: -

"Pay As You Go: £2.28/month
£2.28
Each call costs a set amount per minute, whether it's to a UK landline number or a UK mobile, day or night."

I have free calls on my mobile and can also route calls on my landline number out via Voipfone for about 5% of the cost and no connection charge.

When I phoned to query this and whether I could give up the P&G and not be able to make chargeable outgoing calls the tele-tubbie said this would mean no incoming calls either, but hey I am paying rental for that.

Is it possible to ditch just the outgoing component?

On Tuesday, 2 May 2023 at 12:00:40 UTC+1, notya...@gmail.com wrote:
> Last December my ordering a "free" halo extender resulted in my line being converted to digital line on a new contract.
>
> There are some advantages with this, but annoyingly BT now level a "pay as you go" charge just to make calls: -
>
> "Pay As You Go: £2.28/month
> £2.28
> Each call costs a set amount per minute, whether it's to a UK landline number or a UK mobile, day or night."
>
> I have free calls on my mobile and can also route calls on my landline number out via Voipfone for about 5% of the cost and no connection charge.
>
> When I phoned to query this and whether I could give up the P&G and not be able to make chargeable outgoing calls the tele-tubbie said this would mean no incoming calls either, but hey I am paying rental for that.
>
> Is it possible to ditch just the outgoing component?

BT landlines!

notya...@gmail.com wrote:
> On Tuesday, 2 May 2023 at 12:00:40 UTC+1, notya...@gmail.com wrote:
>> Last December my ordering a "free" halo extender resulted in my line being converted to digital line on a new contract.
>>
>> There are some advantages with this, but annoyingly BT now level a "pay as you go" charge just to make calls: -
>>
>> "Pay As You Go: £2.28/month
>> £2.28
>> Each call costs a set amount per minute, whether it's to a UK landline number or a UK mobile, day or night."
>>
>> I have free calls on my mobile and can also route calls on my landline number out via Voipfone for about 5% of the cost and no connection charge.
>>
>> When I phoned to query this and whether I could give up the P&G and not be able to make chargeable outgoing calls the tele-tubbie said this would mean no incoming calls either, but hey I am paying rental for that.
>>
>> Is it possible to ditch just the outgoing component?
>
> BT landlines!

Get SOGEA from an alternative supplier. Use Voipfone or equivalent VoIP
provider for your voice calls.

Don't use your ISP for WiFi technology, buy your own kit.

--
Graham J

Graham J <nobody@nowhere.co.uk> wrote:
> notya...@gmail.com wrote:
>> On Tuesday, 2 May 2023 at 12:00:40 UTC+1, notya...@gmail.com wrote:
>>> Last December my ordering a "free" halo extender resulted in my line
>>> being converted to digital line on a new contract.
>>>
>>> There are some advantages with this, but annoyingly BT now level a "pay
>>> as you go" charge just to make calls: -
>>>
>>> "Pay As You Go: £2.28/month
>>> £2.28
>>> Each call costs a set amount per minute, whether it's to a UK landline
>>> number or a UK mobile, day or night."
>>>
>>> I have free calls on my mobile and can also route calls on my landline
>>> number out via Voipfone for about 5% of the cost and no connection charge.
>>>
>>> When I phoned to query this and whether I could give up the P&G and not
>>> be able to make chargeable outgoing calls the tele-tubbie said this
>>> would mean no incoming calls either, but hey I am paying rental for that.
>>>
>>> Is it possible to ditch just the outgoing component?
>>
>> BT landlines!
>
> Get SOGEA from an alternative supplier. Use Voipfone or equivalent VoIP
> provider for your voice calls.
>
> Don't use your ISP for WiFi technology, buy your own kit.
>
>

I’ve side stepped the whole “digital line” thing. I was about to ditch the
landline completely, as all my calls go via my mobile. But I’ve had the
landline number for very many years and thought it might just be useful.
For around £3/month I’ve ported the number to Andrews and Arnold. Included
in that amount is a dedicated SIM card. I’ve put that into a GSM desk phone
that I purchased from Amazon for £40. The SIM card uses O2. So an inbound
call goes to Andrews and Arnold who then send it to the SIM and the phone
rings. The phone is wall wart powered, but has a lithium battery that is
supposed to last 24 hours. Outbound calls are chargeable, but only at very
cheap rates and no silly call setup fees. Mind you, apart from my test
calls, the phone hasn’t had any inbound calls yet…

The phone is this
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00LMC4EX4

On Tuesday, 2 May 2023 at 13:11:16 UTC+1, Graham J wrote:
> notya...@gmail.com wrote:
> > On Tuesday, 2 May 2023 at 12:00:40 UTC+1, notya...@gmail.com wrote:
> >> Last December my ordering a "free" halo extender resulted in my line being converted to digital line on a new contract.
> >>
> >> There are some advantages with this, but annoyingly BT now level a "pay as you go" charge just to make calls: -
> >>
> >> "Pay As You Go: £2.28/month
> >> £2.28
> >> Each call costs a set amount per minute, whether it's to a UK landline number or a UK mobile, day or night."
> >>
> >> I have free calls on my mobile and can also route calls on my landline number out via Voipfone for about 5% of the cost and no connection charge.
> >>
> >> When I phoned to query this and whether I could give up the P&G and not be able to make chargeable outgoing calls the tele-tubbie said this would mean no incoming calls either, but hey I am paying rental for that.
> >>
> >> Is it possible to ditch just the outgoing component?
> >
> > BT landlines!
> Get SOGEA from an alternative supplier. Use Voipfone or equivalent VoIP
> provider for your voice calls.

I will look into this but my real email address is well known and on btinternet, and BT charge ££ just to keep it on and no guarantee of continuance,

Already use Voipfone for voice, indeed two numbers (one fax now abandoned) were ported to Voipfone after **** ups on previous BT migrations.

>
> Don't use your ISP for WiFi technology, buy your own kit.

I did, but this was free, just for renewing the contract, however BT took the opportunity to upgrade my hub (already Smart hub) to Smart Hub 2 and switch me to digital line, As this was going to be happening relatively soon I was not too worried about that.
>
>
> --
> Graham J

notya...@gmail.com wrote:

[snip

>
> I will look into this but my real email address is well known and on btinternet,

Bite the bullet and change it. Buy a domain name and email service from
a reputable supplier - you know it makes sense.

Then you can get your broadband service from anybody you like.

It is true that for many of us the infrastructure is provided and
maintained by Openreach, but at least if you buy from a reputable
supplier (A&A, Zen Interent, etc) you get to talk to a real person and
they generally fix things pretty quickly if anything goes wrong.

--
Graham J

notya...@gmail.com <notyalckram@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Tuesday, 2 May 2023 at 13:11:16 UTC+1, Graham J wrote:
>
> I will look into this but my real email address is well known and on btinternet, and BT charge ££ just to keep it on and no guarantee of continuance,
>
> Already use Voipfone for voice, indeed two numbers (one fax now abandoned) were ported to Voipfone after **** ups on previous BT migrations.
>
> >
> > Don't use your ISP for WiFi technology, buy your own kit.
>
> I did, but this was free, just for renewing the contract, however BT took the opportunity to upgrade my hub (already Smart hub) to Smart Hub 2 and switch me to digital line, As this was going to be happening relatively soon I was not too worried about that.

If you're going 'digital voice' there's not much reason to stick with using
your ISP for voice, especially one who price gouges as much as BT.

However I suppose you're in a new contract now, so you may have to terminate
the contract to port your number out. That won't come cheap.

Perhaps use your remaining contract term to transfer your email to a new
provider (and suffer the PAYG landline fee) and then ditch BT by porting out
the number at the end?

Theo