BT Changes its Charges

By Julia Kukiewicz Staff Writer Tuesday, 11 March 20082008

Related BT broadband stories See our other recent news about BT broadband: The Temptation of BT Vision's V-box BT has caused a stir within the digital TV market by offering a combination of Freeview, on-demand IPTV and a PVR (personal video recorder) called the V-box to existing broadband subscribers who sign up for the BT Vision service. BT adds ‘Vision’ to Broadband Bundle Packages BT is now offering their Total Broadband customers the option of upgrading their package to include a new digital TV service. BT considers offering 50Mb broadband In a classic example of running before one can walk, BT has announced it is considering investing in fibre-optic infrastructure that will see broadband speeds for all its subscribers reach up to 50Mb

BT has announced new plans which will change the amount we pay for broadband.

Under new changes which will come into affect on April 1st the price of line rental for customers who do not pay by direct debit will increase to £11.75. The price rise will affect any broadband users who pay line rental on top of their monthly bill. The price of evening and weekend calls for customers on BT's option 1 and 2 call plans will also go up.

It’s not all bad news for BT customers, however. On the same date BT’s six most popular chargeable customer support numbers become completely free. This means a whopping 99% of numbers (as opposed to the current 92%) won’t cost a thing. BT anytime customers will also benefit as the ex-option 3 package drops in price from £7.95 to £5.95 a month.

Furthermore, the line rental increase will not affect customers who pay by direct debit. As part of their commitment to environmentally friendly paperless billing service checking your BT phone bill online could now save you £1.25 a month. That's £15 a year plus a clear conscience.

Savings on Support

The changes will have BT customers scratching their heads to find the best deal.

As BT joins broadband providers Be*, O2 and Fasthosts in offering completely free customer support they seem to be climbing up the best broadband provider ladder. At least that’s what BT seem to be hoping.

But the changes to the call plans could have some customers running into the arms of broadband providers such as Virgin Media, TalkTalk and the Post Office who offer broadband deals with vastly reduced line rental and may save people money on their bills.

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