BT overhauls its calling tariffs

8 August 2006 9:55 GMT / By Amber Maitland

BT, perhaps feeling the pressure from VoIP services that offer cheap or free calls to national and international numbers, has reduced calling tariffs.

The new system is supposed to be clarified and simplified, but still offers a range of options from which customers must choose based on their calling habits.

BT says that prices for its Together Option 2, which offers evening and weekend calls for less, and Option 3, which is an anytime package, have both dropped by almost a third.

From 15 August, customers who sign up for BT service for 18 months can elect to receive a year’s free UK evening and weekend calls.

BT’s VoIP offering, Broadband Talk, has also seen a price drop of nearly thirty percent, so that the service costs £4.95 a month.

The outrageously high cost of calling of 0845 and 0870 numbers has now also been reduced; BT claims these calls cost less than half the price for these calls.

The savings continue in other areas as well. All BT customers can save 25 pence a month by receiving their bills online, and BT has simplified calling mobiles by introducing three rates rather than the previous 20.

It’s still expensive to call mobile phones, though: 13p per minute for daytime calls, 8p for evening calls, and 5p on the weekend.

Other updates include charging by the minute for residential customers from October, and a 3p call set-up fee to replace the 5.5p minimum charge.