The UK ISP division of the Post Office has recently revealed that customers of their broadband and phone bundles are set to face another price hike, which will be introduced from 2nd November 2020. The biggest change is that the standard monthly price for home phone line rental will jump by 30.43% from £11.50 to £15.
All of the Post Office’s annual price increases affect their phone and call services, although these will naturally also impact the total price of their broadband bundles. Obviously, this won’t affect the standard monthly price of their bundles for existing customers on their fixed price plans, at least not until they reach the end of their minimum term.
The provider has also made a couple of changes to their terms. Firstly, they’re “updating our rights to suspend and cancel services in the unlikely event of the withdrawal of network services by our suppliers” (it does make us wonder.. why now?) and, secondly, they’re including a cap on premium rate calls: “We may prevent customers from spending more than £240 per month on premium rate calls and more than £40 for any single premium rate call.”
In a brief statement the operator said, “You don’t need to do anything, as these changes will automatically come into effect on the 2nd November 2020. If you’re not happy with these changes, you can leave without incurring any early termination charges, so if you wish to do this or would like to discuss your options, please contact us on 0345 373 0042† within 30 days of receiving this notification.”
As usual, those who get hit by this could try haggling for a better price (Retentions – Tips for Cutting Your Broadband Bill) or they may be able to leave. You can find a full list of their price increases below.
Item | Current Price | New price (2nd Nov) |
---|---|---|
Call charges & features | ||
UK Landlines (per minute) | 15p | 18p |
Standard Voicemail (per month) | £2.00 | £2.75 |
Paper Billing (per bill) | £1.50 | £2.00 |
Item | Current Price | New price (2nd Nov) |
Call Plans | ||
Evening and Weekend (per month) | £5.00 | £6.00 |
Anytime (per month) | £7.00 | £10.00 |
Anytime Plus (per month) | £10.00 | £13.00 |
Item | Current Price | New price (2nd Nov) |
Call plans we no longer sell† | ||
Evening and Weekend (Old) (per month) | £5.00 | £6.00 |
Anytime (Old) (per month) | £10.00 | £13.00 |
Item | Current Price | New price (2nd Nov) |
Home Phone only package we no longer sell^ | ||
Home Phone (per month) | £11.50 | £15.00 |
The following features will also no longer be available from 2nd November 2020:
• Adding/Changing Loved Ones numbers: this feature will no longer be available through My Account and will only be available through our call centre by calling 0345 600 3210 and requesting “Loved Ones” when prompted.
• Check usage and remaining allowance of call plans: this feature will no longer be available through My Account and will only be available through our call centre by calling 0345 600 3210 and requesting “Check Usage” when prompted.
• Viewing unbilled call details (including zero rated calls) made since your last bill: this feature will no longer be available through My Account and will only be available through our call centre by calling 0345 600 3210 and requesting “Unbilled Calls” when prompted.
• Making one-off payments towards your bill: this feature will no longer be available through My Account and will only be available through our call centre by calling 0345 600 3210 and requesting “Pay My Bill” when prompted.
• Managing names or numbers: this feature is being removed and will no longer be available. Any existing customers who have names for numbers defined can continue using this service however will no longer be able to make further changes to numbers.
So, what is actually available in My Account?!
Nothing
Daylight robbery.
So glad we ditched our landline and ported the number to a VOIP provider. No more line rental. No more call plans. Just pay for what we actually use, at 1.1p/min to UK landlines.
Here here to Sipgate
How do you actually go about porting your existing land line to VOIP? I presume you need some kind of special VOIP handsets too?
I’ve had sipgate (and voipfone) for years. No way will I pay copper line call prices.
Wow that’s terrible. Not only upping per use pricing and rental well above any incidental wholesale costs, but removing basic self management features and forcing customers to contact customer services on local rate number to check allowances?
That’s surely grounds for anti customer litigation. What’s the reason behind this? How it can it be legal to make checking allowances a chargeable enquiry? Disgraceful.
I’ve just informed them of my cancellation of contract. No exit penalty. There are cheaper deals out there
So where the heck are OFCOM? I renewed my contract a couple of weeks back and now they pull this stunt! I am feeling deceived and cheated. Bait and switch. Insane and completely unjustifiable levels of increase.
You can exit without penalty they changed the terms after you joined.