On 04/12/2012 23:00, Roger Mills wrote:
I've just renewed my BT Line Rental Saver contract for the line in my
holiday flat (including free evening and weekend calls) and BT now seem
to be imposing monthly - rather than quarterly - billing for customers
using this deal.

I'm pretty sure that, in order to continue to qualify for free Caller
Display, etc., I still need to make a specified number of potentially
chargeable calls each billing period. That wasn't a problem with
quarterly billing because I was always at the flat often enough to make
enough calls each quarter - most of which would be free evening calls to
my answering machine at my main home!

However, there may be some times when I don't visit the flat for more
than a month - so, with monthly billing, I may sometimes be unable to
make the requisite number of calls.

So - eventually getting to the point after a long preamble - can anyone
suggest the best way of making calls from the flat without actually
being there? There isn't a computer there when I'm not there -
otherwise, if I left one running, I could probably set up a scheduled
task to use a modem to dial out at regular intervals. However, there
*is* a permanent internet connection, with a router which I can access
remotely to check that the connection's still up. Could I attach
anything to that which would do the dialling and which could be
controlled remotely? Or, is there a stand-alone bit of kit with a
built-in timer which could do it?

TIA.

Can someone explain to me why BT think it necessary to impose such silly
requirements? Especially if they can be fulfilled by all sorts of
workarounds. Don't we usually expect to pay more if we use something
more - rather than (as it appears) pay more if we don't use enough of it?

--
Rod