Standard call charges

[#1]

I only use my landline pretty infrequently these days, but I happened to look at my bill after making a short, local call of just under 5 minutes and couldn't believe it had cost me £1.03!

Now, I'm not saying this in incorrect, or blaming Plusnet (they actually look to be a bit cheaper than others such as BT).

My query is when, and why have landline calls become so expensive in general?

With all the technology we have these days, and most mobile phone contracts give unlimited calls for as little as around £5 per month.

I'd expect a traditional landline to landline call to be cheaper to provide than mobile calls, but maybe it's a supply and demand issue these days and as fewer people are using the landline, those that are are subsidising the profits?

[#2]

@mrmitch85 

Regular users pay for a package, for example it’s £9 per month for unlimited calls for up till an hour to both landline and mobile numbers.

[#3]

Thanks, yes I know that's an option but not really worth it for infrequent use / the odd call here and there.

I just don't remember standard call rates being this much back in the day when landlines were the only option, and unlimited packages weren't a thing.

Maybe it's just inflation, etc.

[#4]

@mrmitch85 

Here is a link to Plusnet's call charges.

https://www.plus.net/help/legal/residential-phone-tariffs/

Despite what the blue banner says, I think that the charges detailed under the Residential Phone Tariff Information are  the current prices. In any case you can see how the charge for a relatively short call to a landline soon mounts up with a set up fee of over 24p and then a charge per minute (rounded up to the next full minute) of over 15p. Even more for call to. mobiles. It is no wonder that consumers are tending to use their mobiles more and more.