Landline Telephone Users (better choices)
Not everyone uses a mobile phone. And there are some better choices if you use a landline, some or all of the time. BT only reduced its prices, after being told to by OFCOM.
The other option is to bundle your mobile package, which opens up broadband deals like NOW TV (around £30 a month, which includes use of a landline via Openreach phone lines).
Landline services are being upgraded in 2025 to VOIP (voice over internet protocol), which runs on broadband. People who use landline phones (and security alarms) should check with suppliers, to check re upgrades.
The VOIP Shop offers a digital landline service that works in storms (with flat fee calls to mobile phones). Digital phone lines have built-in encryption, so no-one can listen in. This is presently the only BT alternative (good to avoid a monopoly).
Free calls for Older and Disabled People
BT Home Essentials offers affordable deals with people on low incomes, including pensioners and disabled residents. You’ll need your national insurance number, to apply. You’ll receive affordable home deals (with optional broadband).
People with hearing or speech difficulties can also take advantage of BT’s Relay Service, which lets a hearing person relay info on your behalf.
BT 195 Directory Enquiries is a free service for people who can’t read (or hold a phone book) due to impairment or disability. Registered customers also don’t pay for 1471 or 1571 (call return) fee.
GoodCall (line-rentals for non-profits)
GoodCall is a social enterprise offering mobile phones and line rental for non-profits, at an average saving of 40%. Created by a business partnering with a Scottish homelessness charity, it has collectively saved small charities hundreds of thousands of pounds.
It does this by only offering needed services, rather than signing up charities to premium plans. Operating on EE with good coverage for most areas, it can also supply phones and SIM cards.
The optional Sharer Plan lets one leader use the main data, which can be shared with colleagues. This avoids paying for more data allowances.
So far, GoodCall has saved non-profits a combined £150,000 in telephone fees, money which of course can then be used to do good for their projects. It has saved around 40% on contract costs, for over 200 organisations.
The benefits are immense. For instance, the average mobile phone shop confuses the average techy person, with all the complicated and expensive contracts and tie-ins, and trying to sell different types of phones. And even a standard landline contract is expensive and confusing.
So you can imagine: A tiny budget-strapped wildlife rescue charity or something like that. They are out at all hours rescuing animals and birds, and don’t want to be bothered with all the headache over choosing a phone company (something that’s very important for people to call when wildlife need rescuing).
GoodCall simplifies everything, so charities get a good deal that’s simple and fair to understand, and as a social enterprise, you know you’re not going to get ripped off.
GoodCall recommends Learn My Way, which offers free courses to gain digital skills, if you know more about a badger’s claw or angry teenager needing help, than the different kinds of mobile phones, or what a gigabyte is. It teaches you everything from how to use a mouse and take photos, to different kinds of office programs and managing money (donations) online.
