TalkTalk offer a number of boosts to increase your call allowance on top of your package allowance. Their descriptions:
- 100 mobile minutes boost – The UK’s best value landline to mobile calls. Save up to £12 with 100 minutes anytime for just £3 per month.
- 1000 mobile minutes boost – The UK’s best value landline to mobile calls. Save upto £50 with 1000 minutes of anytime calls for £5 per month.
- International calls boost – Unlimited anytime calls to the 36 most popular landline destinations including Australia, USA and Europe for £3.50
- 500 global minutes boost – 500 minutes to call landlines and mobiles in 100 international destinations including india, pakistan and china for £5 per month
Now, unlike usual reviews, I haven’t actually tried out any of these packages. But I have investigated the savings claims.
So for example, the 1000 mobile minute boost.
TalkTalk say:
1000 Mobile Minutes Boost
*£50 saving based on a customer making 250 calls at 2mins, charged at a Daytime-Evening average blended rate of 9.95ppm with standard call connection fee of 13.87p. Actual saving figure up to £73. UK’s best value landline to mobile calls: Comparison against BT, Plusnet, Sky and Virgin off-peak (evening) landline to UK mobile rates. Inclusive minutes don’t roll over & any unused minutes are lost.
BT call costs (outside packages) are
Let’s go with the 250 minutes at 2mins. BT per call connection is 15p, so we’re at £37.50 before we’ve actually said anything. (Ouch!) Cost per minute is 12p standard or 6p if you’ve got unlimited anytime (first hint that it gets complicated working this stuff out.) So for standard costs you’re in for £60. (Unlimited anytime is £30.) So even compared against the cheaper BT package, you’re still getting a bargain saving of 62.50.
Gosh.
Actually, further research and the unlimited anytime fee is £7 a month, so costing £2 more per month to just get the discount than TalkTalk is costing for the whole call bundle.
It massively annoys me that all this stuff is so complicated to work out though. So I’ve just spent much longer than I wanted to on the VirginMedia website trying to work out what a comparable package would cost there. I *think* the Talk unlimited extra is the relevant package, which is £15 a month on top of the line rental bits (I haven’t gone into the costs of those on TalkTalk or BT yet, sigh) but gives you unlimited mobile calls, so if you’re planning on exceeding 250 2 minute calls to mobiles seeming like a good deal. (I’m not sure how many extra calls you’d actually have to do to make it worthwhile, and quite frankly, my head hurts now.)
All in all, from what I can tell, TalkTalk seems like really good value on this stuff. But obviously, I recommend you do your own research starting from a position of what you actually need and can afford!
Disclosure. I am a TalkTalk family blogger and have been supplied with a YouView box and broadband for the purposes of this (overall) review programme.
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If you’ve found this post helpful, you might be wondering what else you’ll find here on Live Otherwise. Well, here’s the thing. While this topic might not be what you’d typically expect from a home education blog, it actually reflects the same approach I take to everything I write about: questioning conventional wisdom, sharing real experiences, and helping people find practical solutions.
What I actually specialise in is home education.
For over 20 years, I’ve been “making it up as we go along”: home educating my four children (two now adults) and sharing everything I’ve learned along the way.
Just like I approach every topic with curiosity and a willingness to share honest experiences, I encourage parents to question whether traditional schooling is the only option for their children, especially neurodivergent children who might thrive in a different learning environment.
If you’re curious about home education, here’s where to start:
- New to home ed? Begin with this essential guide that covers everything you need to know
- Considering taking your child out of school? Here’s exactly how to deregister and what you need to know
- Looking for practical ideas? Browse my home education activities and inspiration
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