BT introduces new call charges from 1 August

BT recently cut the price of its Option 2 and 3 call packages, sparking a mini price war in the home phone market.

From 1 August, BT will make further changes to the way it charges for calls. This time, however, it is not such good news for customers.

From August, BT is altering the way it charges for calls to mobile phones, 0845 and 0870 numbers. These calls will move from BT’s current daytime, evening and weekend rates to just daytime (06:00 to 18:00) and evening (18:00 to 06:00) rates - which will apply even at weekends.

Calls to mobiles, for example, will change from 13p, 8p or 5p per minute to 12.5p or 7.5p. This means that calls during the day at weekends, which were previously 5p per minute, will leap up to 12.5p per minute - an increase of 150%. The cost of daytime landline calls will also rise from 3p to 3.25p per minute and the ‘set up fee’, charged by BT for connecting certain calls, will double from 3p to 6p.

It is not all bad news though. The cost of evening and weekend calls to UK landlines is set to fall from 5.5p (for up to an hour) to 4.5p. BT claims that these are the times when customers spend longest on calls.

Karen Darby, founder of SimplySwitch.com, the price comparison and switching service, comments: “BT’s earlier price cuts were great news for the customer, but people need to make sure that they’re not gaining on the swings and losing on the roundabouts. BT is making a concerted effort to move customers away from its ‘pay-as-you-go’ Option 1 package onto deals that contain inclusive calls. Part of this effort involved cutting the prices of its inclusive packages. The other part has involved pushing up the prices of certain calls.

“While some calls will become cheaper after 1 August, others are set to rise by an eye-watering amount. Because prices have been restructured, we urge customers to evaluate their calling habits and make sure they’re on the tariff that best suits their needs. Customers on BT Option 1, who regularly make even a small number of calls, are almost certain to benefit by switching to an inclusive package. All of the major providers offer inclusive call packages and, thanks to the fierce competition between suppliers, there are now some excellent deals available.”