Do I need calls package to receive landline calls?

[#1]

Our community group would be grateful for advice regarding landline calls. Some including myself are on Plusnet with weekend or anytime call packages, but have mobile contracts as well which are less than half even the anytime landline package, eg Plusnet anytime £9.15 per month excluding calls to mobile numbers,  Lebara unlimited calls including mobile and international £4.50 per month, 1pMobile £3 per month. Plusnet also charges 25p per minute for calls over one hour, which has caught many of our older members during Covid lockdowns.

The way prices are rising many need to cut back, but what happens if we cancel a landline calls package?

(1) Will the landline still receive incoming calls to our existing number? 

(2) Could outgoing calls still be made albeit at high cost per minute?

(3) Could 999 emergency calls still be made?

[#2]

Yes, yes and yes

[#3]

Hiya @Longliner!

@MisterW beat me to it but yes to all.

Here's the link to the call charges you'd incur for making calls: https://www.plus.net/help/legal/residential-phone-tariffs/

[#4]

That's great, and the answer we were hoping for! Thanks Lauren for the charging info, please could you say if these charges also apply to the "free" numbers beginning 03 or do these remain non-chargeable? Anyone trying to contact a government office knows that mobile batteries must be well charged to withstand some very long waits.

[#5]

@Longliner '03' numbers are charged as local calls, so my understanding is they attract the same costs as 01 & 02 numbers - i.e. they are national rate (not premium).

[#6]

What @jab1 has advised is correct, 03 numbers are charged the same as 01 & 02 numbers  

[#7]

@Longliner  with the 'line only' call plan thevonly non chargeable calls are other Plusnet numbers and  0800 numbers ( and 999 obviously  )

[#8]

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@jab1 wrote:

@Longliner '03' numbers are charged as local calls, so my understanding is they attract the same costs as 01 & 02 numbers - i.e. they are national rate (not premium).

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'Local' and 'National' have had no meaning for several years now.

Calls are either 'Standard' (01, 02, 03), mobile, international, premium, or free.

[#9]

Sorry - I'm showing my age - or I phrased it wrongly. 😁

[#10]

Thank you everyone, I'll pass the word to our next group (or grump)  meeting so we can have something to grump about 🙄

[#11]

It's an age thing, @Longliner 😉

[#12]

Forgive me jumping on this thread, but it is the general info I was after - albeit a wee bit more detail would be good, please.

I've just checked the cost of making landline calls if I were to go for: Unlimited Fibre, 31 - 40Mb estimated download speed, £23.99 a month, ie Fibre and Landline only, with no call package.

It says 'Call set up charge': 26p, and 01,02,03 numbers are 17p per minute. Do I take it that there's a 'set up' charge every single time you make a call? So a standard sub-1-minute call would be 43p, and 17p for each additional minute?

If so, wow...

And thanks for any confirmation 🙂

[#13]

@Dibbles 

Yes, you are correct in your interpretation of the cost of calling. If you think you will make more than a few minutes of calls in a month, a call plan is likely to prove economical.

It is no wonder that many people are moving away from landline calls to mobiles as the call plans on those are much cheaper these days.

[#14]

Thank you, jgb.

Bizarrely, I just checked for fibre/landline deals on MSE, and PlusNet comes out as less than £19 pm for the 36Mbps package, and calls are shown as 16p per minute.

Doing it via PlusNet's own site comes up as around £24pm, 17p per minute, and the 26p call set up charge - HUGELY more in all respects.

What the hell?

[#15]

I suspect that the MSE site has not caught up with the latest prices and is quoting old rates.