This guide answers the most common questions about Home Phone.
There are separate guides for Billing & Call Charges and Call Features.
General Information
- Who are your Home Phone packages available to?
- What deals are available and how much are they?
- What's the minimum contract period?
- Do I still have to pay anything to BT?
Transferring to Home Phone
- Will I keep my number?
- My line isn't with BT. Can I transfer to your service?
- How long does a transfer take and how much does it cost?
- Will my line be available during the transfer?
- Will transferring affect my directory status?
- Would transferring my line affect my broadband?
Who can I call?
- Are inclusive minutes available?
- Can I call mobiles and international numbers?
- Can I make 999 and Operator calls?
If there are problems
- How do I report a problem with my line?
- Do you offer compensation for service issues?
- What can I claim compensation for?
- How do I make a claim?
General Information
1. Who are your Home Phone packages available to?
Our packages are available to all new and existing Plusnet broadband customers. If you're a business customer wanting a phone package with us, you'll need to sign up for Business Phone.
[Top]2. What deals are available and how much are they?
Line rental is £11.25 per month and you'll need to choose a call plan:
| Call plan | Cost | Inclusive calls available |
|---|---|---|
| Talk Anytime | £5 per month | All day every day |
| Talk Evenings & Weekends | Free | Evenings: 18:00-06:00 Mon-Fri |
- See our Home Phone Tariff for call rates
- Find out about inclusive calls in our Billing and Call Charges Guide
- All call plans get 1471, 1571 and Conference Calling for free, other Call Features cost extra, see our Call Features Guide for more information
3. What's the minimum contract period?
Our phone packages have a minimum 1 month contract.
Signing up for a special offer or package may mean a longer term.
[Top]4. Do I still have to pay anything to BT?
No. You pay us for your line rental and call plan.
Transferring to Home Phone
5. If I transfer my line to Plusnet, will I keep my number?
Yes.
In some extreme cases this might not be possible. In the event of this, we'll contact you to discuss your options before starting the transfer.
[Top]6. My line isn't with BT. Can I transfer to your service?
Yes, we can transfer and install new lines in most areas.
We can't provide service to areas served by Kingston Communications (Hull).
[Top]7. How long does a transfer take and how much does it cost?
It's free to transfer a phone line from most providers. If you want to transfer from a cable provider then there may be a charge. To find out call our Sales Team.
The amount of time it takes to transfer a phone line depends on where it's being transferred from. More time is needed to transfer an LLU or cable service than a phone line that's already with BT. This is because we've got to ask for authorisation to transfer an LLU or cable service back to the BT network, before we send the order for the phone service. Authorisation can take up to 3 days.
If you need a new phone line installing, the time taken to activate the service depends on the availability of engineer appointment times.
| Moving from | Keeping current number? | Time to transfer phone line |
|---|---|---|
| LLU* | Yes | Within 2-3 weeks |
| No | Within 11 working days | |
| An active cable line | Yes | Depends on engineer appointment times |
| No | Depends on engineer appointment times | |
| A cable line that's not active | Yes | Within 2 weeks |
| No | Within 2-4 working days | |
| Brand new phone service | N/A | Depends on engineer appointment times |
| Starting a stopped phone line | N/A | Within 2-4 working days |
| Taking over a phone line | N/A | Within 2-3 weeks |
*LLU (Local Loop Unbundling) means a non-BT service provided by a provider installing their own equipment in a telephone exchange (e.g. TalkTalk).
8. Will my line be available during the transfer?
The transfer process is usually seamless, but in some cases your line can be unavailable for up to 30 minutes.
[Top]9. Will transferring affect my directory status?
No, your directory status will stay as it is.
[Top]10. Would transferring my line affect my broadband?
No, the broadband contract is handled separately.
[Top]Who can I call?
11. Are inclusive minutes available?
Yes, both call plans (Talk Anytime and Talk Evenings & Weekends) offer inclusive minutes.
Take a look at the Billing and Call Charges Guide to find out when these apply and what calls you can make.
[Top]12. Can I call mobiles and international numbers?
Yes. Check the Home Phone Tariff Guide for call rates:
For more information, see our Billing and Call Charges Guide.
[Top]13. Can I make Emergency or Operator calls?
Yes, you can dial 999 or 112 for Emergency calls and 100 for Operator calls.
BT call charges apply to Operator calls.
Please note: we add a 5% administration charge to all Operator calls.
[Top]If there are problems
14. How do I report a problem with my line?
Read how to troubleshoot and report a line fault to find out what you need to check and how best to contact us.
[Top]15. Do you offer compensation for service issues?
We can claim compensation on your behalf for problems fixed outside of BT Openreach's Service Level Agreement. We can't guarantee that your claim will be upheld or be held liable for any additional costs which you are charged.
Compensation claims are limited to £180 per customer line per year.
[Top]16. What can I claim compensation for?
We can handle claims for the following:
- Problems arising from transferred services, new services or telephone line conversions.
- Outgoing calls barred and temporary out of service.
- Cease orders - failure to cancel the line on date specified.
- Cancel own orders- failure of our request to cancel a pending order, (i.e. BT don't cancel the order on time).
- Failure of service - faults with the line (such as noise etc.).
- Appointments - engineers failing to meet appointments which have been booked.
- Disconnections made in error - BT disconnecting a phone service when they are not entitled to do so.
17. How do I make a claim?
Raise a ticket using the Help Assistant. We'll assess your claim and if it's valid, we'll apply to BT Openreach for compensation on your behalf.
[Top]This page last updated 24th March 2010
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