SSE Southern Electric no longer have a freephone number. This used to be 0800 975 1642. They've now changed this to 0345 600 1188. If you try to dial any of their previous freephone numbers you are told to redial the 0345 one. This can be very expensive with certain landline providers. Whilst in a queue waiting to speak to customer service it can take 30 minutes or longer on past experience. My telecom provider charges 12p/min +21p connection charge. So one is looking at least at a £4 phone call to try and sort out a query. Much cheaper to write a letter to them now as trying to deal with them online is a nightmare.

If you are paying 12p per minute (£7.20 per hour) for calls to UK geographic numbers starting 01 and 02, non-geographic numbers starting 03 and UK mobile numbers starting 071-075 and 077-079 then you are quite simply on the wrong call plan for your needs.

Most landline providers offer unlimited anytime calls to those numbers for around £8 per month. As long as each call is less than 60 minutes long, you can make as many calls as you like without incurring any further charges. BT, however, does not (yet!) include calls to mobile numbers.

Yes. That's fine if you use your landline frequently and make a lot of calls. It's not worthwhile my going on a call plan where my particular provider charges £8 pcm for anytime calls +21p connection charge/call

If you use your phone infrequently to ring a utility company to try sort out a problem or error you can often spend 30 minutes or longer just waiting to speak to someone, and then perhaps another 30 minutes solving the problem. And then you probably have to ring them back again a few weeks later because they failed to sort it out the first time.

Like I said it's probably much cheaper to use snail mail than the once quicker and cheaper method of phoning them.

What's this got to do specifically with landlines? Assuming you use a mobile for most of your calls then you should have a call plan that gives you a reasonable number of inclusive minutes or low rate per minute. Calls to 03 numbers cost the same as to 01 and 02 numbers. Always. Whether you're calling from landline or mobile.

As for landline call planes, if you have an inclusive call plan then there are no connection charges for calls within that plan.

bendipa wrote on Jul 12^th, 2017 at 10:57pm:

Yes. That's fine if you use your landline frequently and make a lot of calls. It's not worthwhile my going on a call plan where my particular provider charges £8 pcm for anytime calls +21p connection charge/call If you use your phone infrequently to ring a utility company to try sort out a problem or error you can often spend 30 minutes or longer just waiting to speak to someone, and then perhaps another 30 minutes solving the problem. And then you probably have to ring them back again a few weeks later because they failed to sort it out the first time. Like I said it's probably much cheaper to use snail mail than the once quicker and cheaper method of phoning them.

With an Unlimited Anytime call plan there are no charges for calls to 01, 02 and 03 numbers that are less than 60 minutes long, and certainly no connection fee. These call plans suit anyone who makes more than 15 minutes of calls per week, or more than one hour of calls per month.

If you choose to not have such a plan, then these calls cost 12p per minute plus a connection fee of 21p per call. A one hour call costs £7.41. A second such call costs another £7.41. You have already justified changing to an unlimited anytime call plan costing £8 per month.

I saw sense some months ago when changing to PlusNet for my broadband.  They offered an £8/month plan for all 01, 02, 03 and calls to UK mobiles and I realised using 18185 would be unnecessary except for international calls.

I reckon I've broken even on the deal at the very least already and I've even stopped pricking up my ears when the GL grabs a landline handset.

We are finally seeing the results of a number of Ofcom initiatives and regulation changes.

We have reached the point where landline and mobile providers routinely offer inclusive calls to landline numbers, 03 numbers and mobile numbers. Normal calls are now made at no incremental cost. BT is the only major landline provider to not offer inclusive calls to mobile numbers. This needs to change.

The number plan and phone tariffs are much simplified from a few years ago but there are still a few steps left in the process. These include reducing the termination rate on calls to landline and mobile numbers in the Channel Islands and Isle of Man, migrating the 055 and 056 number ranges, eliminating the 070 and 076 number ranges and enforcing the termination rate cap on ALL UK mobile numbers.

At some point, economic sense will kick in and landline providers will stop offering inclusive calls to 0845 and 0870 numbers. This should fuel even faster abandonment of these numbers. Once the majority usage is scams and junk, Ofcom can proceed to close the 084 and 087 ranges.