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NewswireTODAY - /newswire/ -
London, United Kingdom, 2011/02/25 - The UK market is flooded with communication providers, from small to big players which supposedly increases competition and drives downward price pressure.
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Sadly, BT and TalkTalk are still the top two UK dominant home phone players. Both companies have recently rolled out inflation busting price increases in 2010, and BT prices are expected to increase again in April 2011 with line rental charges increasing from £13.60 to £13.90 a month and connection fees from 11.5p to 12.5p per call.
BT has been notorious for its price hikes in recent years. In 2009, the telecommunication giant’s line rental was only £11.50, with call setup fees at 7p and daytime UK calls at 3.91p a minute. The comparison table below shows just how much BT has robbed its customers with increases of as much as 94% since 2009. Most providers, especially TalkTalk usually follow suit quickly, seeing such moves as a great opportunity to increase profit margin.
Line rental - £11.50 in 2009 VS £13.90 in April 2011 (+ 21% increase)
Call setup fee – 7p in 2009 VS 12.5p in April 2011 (+ 79% increase)
UK calls – 3.91pence in 2009 VS 7.6pence in April 2011 (+ 94% increase)
Conversely, there are many small providers which still offer considerable savings against such big players. Auracall*, a low cost telephony provider with a multi lingual call centre based in North London, offers £8.99 line rental per month for the first two months, and £10.99 thereafter on its Weekend Saver Plan. UK daytime calls are priced at only 3p/min and international calls from only 2p/min.
Auracall’s Anytime Saver offers a generous 700 inclusive minutes to 33 destinations worldwide, including the UK, and call charges to other non-inclusive destinations start from only 2p/min. These offers are available direct from uSwitch.com, homephonechoices.co.uk and several other UK comparison sites.
Customers can also override BT prices with a two-stage dialling process, where customers dial a four-digit prefix before their destination number and make calls at cheaper rates. The service is available on cheapcall1689.co.uk with calling rates starting from as low as 1p/min and UK mobile rates from as low as 6p/min. There is no monthly fee or long contract, only 30 days’ notice and consumers are charged only for what they use.
There are other communication providers out there in the market which may be worth considering but always remember to check the small print. Some providers massively discount their price front, such as the line rental, but hike up their prices on calls and features with poor after sales support.
Nonetheless, the widening gap between the cheapest and most expensive communication providers means it is always worthwhile doing a little research for a better deal, especially in today’s economic climate where every penny counts.
* More information is available at auracall.com or call 0800 651 0055 (Mon-Fri, 9am to 5.30pm).
** Source: calls.bt.com/.
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serenna[.]auracall.com 
