Misguided BT Loyalist trying to leave

Question

I have reached the end of the line with BT simply because no package exists any more for people like me.
I make very few social calls of more than a few minutes duration and have absolutely no need for free weekend or evening calls whatsoever, I normally have better things to do with my time.
My fundamental need for a house landline is for security and occasional domestic management purposes, i.e. dealing with insurance firms, utilities etc. during businesss hours. The tariffs designed to appeal to low users penalise me heavil by charging not only a rate per minute which is barely competitive with mobile tariffs and has the sting in the tail of charging a set up fee for each and every call outside evenings and weekends. !6 calls in the last quuarter effectively costing me around £80.
Over the years anything good which BT ever had for me has gone. Friends and family, Friends and Family Mobile, Best Friend.   Calls to Channel Islands (part of the National STD system, for goodness sake) treated as though we are all millionaires at this end too!
The last straw now is the introduction of a charge for caller display.  Just how mean can BT get?
Well, I suppose no more mean than charging 6 quid a quarter for payment processsing. I pay by automated service with a debit card. I'm not asking anyone to unwrap an envelope containing a cheque and then key in the details!
Well, here's news, BT. I'm off to Post Office Home Phone as soon as possible. They don't discriminate against how you settle up and if I give them £120 up front the line rental is only £10 a month. On the other hand I might just do everything on a monthly top up deal with the mobile phone and also get to grips with Skype. I haven't discounted the Co-op either, a somewhat worthier cause than privatised BT and even the once revered Post Office.
At the moment, BT calmly trousers over £320 per year off me for providing me with progressively less and less for more and more cost.
I am a pensioner on a laughable monthly income and it is a pretty poor show that our once fine telephone service which used to have a social conscience has taken away low user tarriffs and incoming calls only tariffs.
Foolishly believing the hype that BT don't want people to leave I have wasted hours talikng to customer service and twice was hoodwinked into taking out annual agreements overriding my rolling 30 day notice. On cancelling both within the statutory 7 days I was then told that I couldn't go back on my pre-existing terms because they no longer exist. Well, they did exist and I was on them and I'm back on them but it took a grievance procedure to reinstate but then again that was no hardship for BT as I'm back where I was, getting screwed for every call and, really annoyingly, having to pay for caller display. Caller display doesn't cost a bean on mobile phones.
As of today I have settledd what I consider a reasonable sum towards the bill (they can stuff the grossly discriminatory processing  charge) consisting of last months outstanding line rental, the next two months line rental (in return for which I expect a service, not a dead line) and £4.97 the cost of the grand total of 12 calls to UK landlines (total duration 21min 27 sec) 4 calls to mobile numbers (total 0 min 53 sec. all these in the course of 3months.  Now, wait for it: I made one free call (51 sec) during that quarter!
Well nough is enough. No more £320 a year from me for you to blow on sports sponsorship, BT
How do I exit most economically before transferring to Post Office Home Phone, bearing in mind that I've just given you a couple of months rental up front for which I can reasonably expect a connection and my line is dead?
Frank

Answer 1

Hi Keith,
Thanks for your reply. I'm interested to know where the free caller display which you mention comes from, is it a bonus for joining 'Rental Saver'?
Unfortunately, BT lost three chances to make a realistic deal  with them and I will definitely now terminate my relationship with them in the near future. Because one always has to pay the line rental up front, which I have just done, I now need to work out when is the ideal time to give notice so as not to negate any benefit of going elsewhere. If I 'wait until my Bt Contract has finnished' I will once again find myself on the wrong side of the next bill.
I might just decide to jack in landline culture completely  and go cellular only. The latter would undoubtedly be the most cost effective but would put me without the security of a fixed line at my house. I don't need an internet connection at the premises concerned, or anywhere away from free Wi Fi for that matter. I will never want to download or watch movies or indulge in on line gaming and other data intensive usage, nor am I interested enough in social phone use to bother with Skype.
Landline rental certainly is an absolute rip off. The cabling and switching technology has become cheaper and more reliable over the years yet the cost to the householder just goes up and up.   How do the cellular providers manage to vritually give away telephones at a fraction of their true value?   A replacemet Lithium Ion battery costs more than the purchase price of the phone.
Are most of the people who reply on here BT stooges?  Good on you  if you are merely enthusiastic supporters, even if prolific posters.  Anyone in the future who gets a reply from me need not fear that to be so in my case (stooge or supporter- note my self description as a misguided loyalist). Part of my misguided loyalty is my unshakeable belief that the telecoms infrastucture should have remained a national asset.
I might even stick around on here after I end my over 50 year relationship with the outfit.
Frank