Communication Choices BT Basic

bt.com/btbasic

What is BT Basic?

At BT we know that, whatever your income, everyone needs a phone. BT Basic is a low-cost package that is easy to understand and helps you keep in touch, even if money is a bit tight.

You can usually get BT Basic if you’re claiming one of the benefits below.

Income Support

Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance

Pensions Credit (Guaranteed Credit)

Employment and Support Allowance (income related)

Universal Credit (and are on zero earnings)

Universal Credit is a new benefit. See Common questions for more details.

Please note that some conditions apply. You can see a list of conditions in Getting BT Basic.

We hope you’ll find all you need to know about BT Basic in this handy guide.

How much does it cost?

BT Basic costs just £15.30 (including VAT) for three months line rental. For that, you get a call allowance of up to £4.50 (including VAT) every three months.

This means you get £4.50 to spend on local, national and international landline calls every three months, without paying any more money.

If you go over your call allowance, you’ll pay 11.3p a minute (plus 3.3p for each phone call) for all normal UK calls.

You can see a list of the types of phone numbers this includes in Common questions.

How will it help me?

As long as you stay within your £4.50 call limit, your phone bill will always be £15.30.

So it’s really easy for you to stay in touch and keep within your budget.

BT Basic is easy to manage and your call costs are clearly priced.

A quick guide to BT Basic

How much does it cost?

£15.30 every three months (this includes £4.50 to spend on calls).

If you go over your call allowance of £4.50, you’ll pay 11.3p a minute (plus 3.3p for each phone call) for all normal UK calls.

How often do I need to pay this?

Every three months.

Who can get BT Basic?

You must be getting one of the benefits below:

Income Support

Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance

Pensions Credit (Guaranteed Credit)

Employment and Support Allowance (income related)

Universal Credit (and are on zero earnings)

Please note: if you get benefits with similar names, this doesn’t mean you’ll be eligible for BT Basic. If your circumstances change and you stop getting one of these benefits, you must let us know so we can check if you still qualify.

More ways we can help

Stay on budget

It’s easier to save for your next bill when you know how much you’ve spent. With BT Basic, you can find out how much you’ve spent at any time of the day or night by phoning us or visiting our website. You’ll need to have your account number handy. You’ll find it on any of your BT bills.

Phone

Find out how much you’ve spent on phone calls since your last bill or when your next bill is due with ‘Call My Bill.’ Call our freephone number 0800 44 33 11 from your home landline and choose ‘option 1’ and then ‘option 2.’

Website

Simply register online at bt.com/mybt and follow the steps to register for a BT ID. Once you’ve registered, our online service will allow you to view your bill, manage your payments and check how much you’ve used your phone.

Customer Controlled Call Barring

Call Barring lets you control the calls that can be made from your phone. BT Basic comes with a Call Barring option which allows you to stop certain calls being dialled from your phone. You can bar a range of call types, for example, to international destinations, mobile phones or to Premium Rate numbers (these can include calls to chatlines or TV shows). There is no charge for this service.

If you would like Call Barring, please tell us when you order BT Basic. We’ll send you a guide explaining how to use this service.

For more information about BT Basic visit bt.com/btbasic our accessibility designed website that enables better communications.

Common questions

What is Universal Credit?

Universal Credit is a new benefit for people who are unemployed or on a low income and will replace a range of existing benefits.

UK-wide roll-out of Universal Credit started in October 2013.

What do you mean by Universal Credit and zero earnings?

This means the benefit claimant has no earnings from employment or self-employment during the assessment period for their benefit.

What numbers can I call with my call allowance?

Calls up to the value of £4.50 (including VAT) that are included

local and national UK phone numbers that begin "01", "02" or "03"

international calls

Calls not included

calls made through the operator

calls to UK mobile phones

premium-rate numbers

0845 or 0870 numbers

the internet

If you do make any of these calls, you’ll be charged at our standard BT Basic calling plan rates. You can find details of these rates on our website at bt.com/personal/pricing

With BT Basic, you’ll also get free weekend calls to 0845 and 0870 numbers which last up to 60 minutes. This doesn’t include indirect access numbers (for services that can give you numbers for other companies and charge you for putting you in touch with them) and dial-up internet access. If you go over 1000 minutes or 150 calls in a month, we’ll charge you for these calls.

How many calls can I make with my call allowance?

Your £4.50 call allowance covers national, local and international calls. The number of calls you can make depends on the length and type of calls you make. If you call a national or local number, it will cost 11.3p a minute (plus 3.3p for each phone call). International calls are based on our standard BT Basic calling plan rates.

What happens if I go over my call allowance?

If you go over your £4.50 call allowance, you’ll pay 11.3p a minute (plus 3.3p for each phone call) for all normal UK calls. All other calls are charged at our standard BT Basic calling package rates.

I haven’t used up all of my call allowance, can I carry it over?

No. If you don’t use up all of your call allowance within three months, you can’t carry it over to the next three months.

Can I have broadband with BT Basic?

Yes. We recognise the importance of the internet in today’s world and BT Basic has been designed to allow broadband on the line.

The good news is that you can sign up for BT Basic + Broadband. Your broadband will cost only £14.55 every three months. So, with your BT Basic line rental included, the total cost will be £29.85 for every three-month period (that’s £9.95 a month).

BT Basic + Broadband includes:

broadband with up to 16Mb download speed

10GB usage a month, which typically means you can:

browse the internet for up to 30 hours a month

stream video for up to ten hours a month

download one standard definition film and up to ten albums a month

Don’t worry – we’ll email you if you get close to going over your allowance. If you do go over, a charge will apply.

You won’t need to pay a connection charge for installing broadband, but you’ll need to pay for the postage and packaging of your BT Home Hub, which you’ll need for the broadband to work.

Or you can take one of the standard BT Broadband only options (BT Basic customers aren’t eligible for the combined Broadband and Calls packages). Choose the package that best meets your needs and budgets.

Go to bt.com/btbasic for more details on BT Basic + Broadband.

Please note: BT Broadband isn’t available in all areas. Conditions, including a minimum contract period, apply.

What if I don’t have a BT phone line?

If you don’t have a BT line, you’ll need to change to BT before you can get BT Basic. You won’t normally need to pay a connection charge to do this unless there are exceptional circumstances that involve special equipment or work. We’ll tell you about any charges before we agree any work.

If you’d like to see the terms and conditions of any of our other phone products and services, please go to our website at bt.com/dealterms

Getting BT Basic

If you think you qualify for BT Basic, simply fill in your form and send it back to us. Before you fill in the form, please make sure you read the conditions below and the section ‘How to fill in the application form’ below.

Important conditions

Even if you’re getting one of the benefits we listed above (in What is BT Basic?), you may not be able to get BT Basic if you have any of the following:

a phone service provided by another company

Calling Plan add-ons such as ‘Friends & Family International’ or ‘International Freedom’ which cannot be used with BT Basic

more than one phone line – whether these are at the same or different addresses. (This doesn’t apply if you’re registered as being Chronically Sick and Disabled by your local authority social services, under the Chronically Sick & Disabled Persons Act (CSDPA) 1970 – because of a chronic long-term illness or disability and your local authority pays some or all of your line rental charges)

a phone line that doesn’t let you make calls (it only lets you receive them), or one that you only use for a burglar alarm (this doesn’t apply to lifeline alarms)

a business, temporary or payphone line

I don’t qualify to get BT Basic. Can you still help me?

Even if you can’t get BT Basic, we still want to help you cut your phone costs. We’ll do all we can to find the best Calling Plan for you. Our Calling Plans now include more calls, more features, and cost less than ever before. To find out more, go to bt.com/callingplans

Check mark How to fill in the application form

There are a few things you need to know before you start filling in the application form. An example form is shown below with guidance on how to complete it.

We’ll need some personal details, such as your National Insurance number and date of birth, so we can contact the Department for Work and Pensions to check that you’re receiving Income Support, income based Jobseeker’s Allowance, Pensions Credit (Guaranteed Credit), Employment and Support Allowance (income related) or Universal Credit (and are on zero earnings).

Please use black ink and CAPITAL LETTERS.

Make sure you provide the details required in the shaded boxes.

Make sure you provide details of your NI number, DOB and benefit you’re receiving.

Remember to sign and date your form before you send it back to us. Only sign the form if the BT account is in your name.

Don’t worry. We take your privacy very seriously. We’ll treat any information you give us as confidential. We’ll share it only with the Department for Work and Pensions.

Your National Insurance number will be nine characters long. It’s made up of two letters, followed by six numbers and then a final letter (for example, AB 123456 C).

If your National Insurance number starts with the letters TN, we can’t accept your application yet because this is a temporary number.

Please note that applications with incomplete or missing information cannot be processed and will delay your application.

Where do I return the form to?

Completed application forms should be returned in the envelope provided, or alternatively sent to:

BT Plc, BT Basic, Durham DH98 1BT.

What happens next? How long will I have to wait to find out if I can get BT Basic?

When we have all your information, we’ll check your personal details against benefits information held by the Department for Work and Pensions and we’ll write to you after we’ve processed your application. This can take up to a month if you’ve not completed your application correctly. If we can give you BT Basic we’ll let you know when we’ll move you over. If we can’t, we’ll give you advice about other ways we can help cut your phone bill.

If your application for BT Basic is successful

If your application is successful, we’ll send you a confirmation letter and transfer you to BT Basic. Your BT Basic service will be shown on your new bill.

For more information about BT Basic visit bt.com/btbasic

Need some more help?

We’ve brought together lots of information about our products and services, help and support, news, advice, information – and much more – all in one place, at bt.com/includingyou

The Including You website is fully accessible and you can alter font sizes and background colour to suit your needs. It’s compatible with Browsealoud – which reads web pages aloud and highlights each word as it’s spoken – useful if you need help reading or seeing a computer screen. Many pages also have information in British Sign Language (BSL).

You could also take a look at our Including You guide, where you’ll find lots of information about our standard and more specialised products and services. We hope that it will be useful for everyone but it’s especially aimed at our customers who find communication more challenging.

We understand that everyone has different communication needs and, while we don’t want to make assumptions about what you can or can’t do, or want to do, we hope you’ll find enough information to make informed decisions.

The booklet is free of charge. You can get a copy, or copies, by going to our download section on the Including You website or by calling 0800 800 150.

It’s also available in other formats including large print, Braille or audio CD. Go to bt.com/mediatypes to find out more.

bt.com/includingyou

The Silver Line is a new charity set up by Esther Rantzen providing a UK-wide, 24 hours a day Freephone helpline for older people. The Silver Line connects individuals to local services and activities, offers a befriending service to combat loneliness and in the same way that ChildLine helps children, it supports older people who are experiencing abuse or neglect and makes sure they are protected. BT has been proud to support The Silver Line from its start.

thesilverline.org.uk

Terms and conditions

All the prices and information in this guide were correct at the time we went to print (August 2014) but these may vary from time to time.

All prices include VAT at 20%, unless it says differently (this may change). Friends and Family International is a trademark of MCI Communications Corporation and is used under licence.

We’ve created BT Basic by working closely with telecoms regulator Ofcom and other stakeholders (people with an interest in our business), to make sure people on low incomes can still afford a phone service in their home.

Nothing in this leaflet makes up part of any contract.

Alternative formats

Available in other formats including Braille, large print or audio CD. Please go to bt.com/mediatypes or call 0800 800 150

Offices worldwide

BT and the ‘connected world’ logo are registered trademarks of British Telecommunications plc

© British Telecommunications plc 2014

Registered Office: 81 Newgate Street, London EC1A 7AJRegistered in England No. 1800000

Written and designed by The Art & Design Partnership and Muse Publishing

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