Home Phone Billing and Call Charges Guide

Paying for Home Phone

1. How and when do I pay for the service?

Your line rental, call plan and call charges will be taken at the same time as your broadband subscription via the same payment method. Our Account Admin FAQ explains which payment methods we accept.

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2. Do I still have to pay line rental to BT?

No. You pay us for your line rental and call plan.

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3. Why is the first payment different to my normal monthly amount?

The first payment is a pro-rata payment to cover the time between your line transfer completing and your next broadband billing date.

After this you'll be billed the normal amount each month at the same time as your broadband.

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4. How do I check my bill?

Use the Home Phone Control Panel. You'll be able to see charges for:

• Line rental
• Call plan
• Calls you've made
• Call features

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5. What happens if I miss a payment?

If you miss a payment, your calls (apart from emergency and operator) will be redirected to our Support Team so you can arrange to pay the outstanding bill.

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6. What Call Features are available and how much do they cost?

Please see our separate Call Features Guide, it'll answer all your questions.

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Call Charges

7. How are calls charges calculated?

See our Home Phone Tariff to confirm call costs and setup fees.

Chargeable Calls

• Calls are charged for minimum length of 1 minute and are rounded up to the next minute
• The setup fee is added
• The total is rounded up to the nearest penny

Inclusive Calls

• Inclusive calls are free for the first 60 minutes (30 minutes for international calls)
• After this, you'll be charged the standard rate for the remainder of the call, rounded up to the next minute
• If there's a charge it'll be rounded up to the nearest penny

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8. Which calls are inclusive?

• UK numbers starting with 01, 02 or 03
• 0845/0870 numbers (with exceptions)
• The Top 20 International Destinations (and US and Canada mobiles) for 300 minutes each month
• Calls to our Support Team
• Calls to other Plusnet landline customers

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9. When can I make inclusive calls?

It depends on your call plan:

Call plan	Inclusive calls available:
Talk Evenings & Weekends	Evenings: 18:00-06:00 Mon-Fri Weekends: Anytime on Saturday or Sunday
Talk Anytime	All day every day

Calls to other Plusnet landline customers and our Support Team are inclusive at all times on all call plans.

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10. How can I query premium rate call charges?

Firstly you should check the equipment connected to your telephone line (other than your telephone handset). One or more of these may be dialling out to premium rate numbers without you knowing.

• Fax dial-up modem (not your broadband router) - You should disconnect this from your telephone line and run a virus check on your PC. A virus may be dialling out to premium rate numbers when you switch your PC on.
• Security and fire alarm systems - Many of these connect to a telephone line. (This is because if a break in or fire happens an alert can be raised, as well as to ensure that the alarm is still connected to the alarm company). You should contact the alarm company and ask under what circumstances the alarm system automatically dials them.

You can find out more about who provides any premium rate number at the Phonepay Plus (the premium rate services regulator) website. This won't always show you the company, but will let you find out the operator (e.g. BT operate '09' numbers for other companies).

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Credit Limits

11. What's the credit limit on my call plan?

• Talk Evenings & Weekends has a £55 credit limit
• Talk Anytime has a £75 credit limit

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12. How do credit limits work?

Once a day your Itemised Bill will be updated as the calls you make are processed.

The charge for each call will be deducted from your credit limit, up to the maximum allowed for your product (like an 'overdraft' for call charges).

At the end of the month you'll be charged the amount that's been deducted from your credit limit at that point (this will be reduced if you've topped up during the month). Your credit limit will then reset for the next month.

For example:

1. If you make £10 worth of chargeable calls during your billing month you'll be billed £10 on your next billing date
2. If you make £10 worth of chargeable calls during your billing month but top-up by £5, you'll be billed £5 on your next billing date

If you top-up and don't use this within the billing month the extra credit will be carried over.

Sometimes it takes a while for a call to be confirmed. If a call is not confirmed before your next billing date, the cost will be added to your next invoice but the call will appear on the bill for the month it was made in. Have a look at your Recent Calls to see unconfirmed calls on your account.

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13. What if I use my credit before the end of the month?

If you reach your credit limit, all calls (apart from emergency 999/112 and operator) will be barred and a charge of £5.76 will be added to your next bill.

Before this happens, we'll email you as you reach £15, £10 and £5 available credit.

You'll need to top-up and have at least £5 credit available before we allow calls on your line again.

You can prevent this by topping up your credit through the month using the Home Phone Control Panel.

You can top-up by £5, £10, £25, £50, £75 or £100.

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This page last updated 24th March 2010