A few money-saving ideas for you.
A cheaper deal from Virgin Media? ...
For those of you on Virgin Media, you may be able to
negotiate a less expensive phone-TV-Broadband deal from
them. For over a year, we had been on such a package for
about £26.50 per month (excluding any phone calls), but
when this came to an end last month, we were being asked
to pay an extra £8 a month for the package (which
included a very basic digital TV service, together with
a Freeview box).
I checked out the service we could get with BT at present -
phone + Broadband can be obtained for about £23-24 a month,
which includes free phone calls to local and national
numbers (starting with 01 or 02) in the evenings and at
weekends. There could be an additional one-off installation
fee, but I couldn't get through to the team to see if we'd
be exempt from this or not. The BT sales team advised me to
ask Virgin Media for my MAC number for our internet service,
which we'd require to speed up the transfer to BT. The MAC
number is like the gas meter reference number for your house.
Using VM's freephone line (150), and making several phone
calls to VM, inquiring about the MAC code and how much notice
we'd need to leave VM (30 days), I was eventually put through
to VM's "Disconnection Team", who are empowered to offer good
offers to retain their customers (lines open from 8am to 8pm,
by the way). We were on the point of transferring to BT,
unless VM could give us an improved deal, and I told the VM
representative this.
The result of all my badgering was phone-TV-Broadband for
£28.95 a month. This deal included free UK landline calls 24/7
(but not free for the usually more expensive calls), and two
other price reductions on phone use also. This package gives
us a £20 discount on their usual prices, on the basis that we
stay with VM for the next 12 months ... we've accepted this
deal. Have you got a better deal than this?
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For those of you with Alliance Leicester accounts, there is
a Freephone service available. The number is printed on the
back of their credit card ... 0800 0688 638. Choose option
number 2 when you get through to the recorded voice, if
you wish to enquire about services other than your credit
card.
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If a relative/friend of yours is about to dispose of an unwanted
mobile phone, you could take it over and then apply for
a free Orange Sim card online. This is for "Pay-As-You-Go",
where you pay 10p for sending a text message, and 15p a minute
for a phone call.
Here is the online address to Orange ...
http://shop.orange.co.uk/shop/freesimcard?WT.mc_id=ConFreGeAdd_0978
When your Sim card arrives a day or two later, you will have to
phone Orange to register both your card and your mobile phone with
them. You'll be given a freephone number to register with them.
Happy texting. :)
