On Tuesday, 4 December 2012 23:00:30 UTC, 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!

Yes, you do have to make 2 calls a month. I made the mistake of getting caller-ID switched on just before my monthly bill was due. As I didn't know about the change to monthly and hadn't made my 2 calls, they charged me for the whole month, even though I'd never had a chance to use it.

In addition to the charge for caller-ID, there's the same 2 calls requirement for 1571 service, and maybe other things, so it adds up.

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?

Could you rig something on a timer to press the button on a speed-dial 'phone? If you don't want to get inside it, use a motorised cam or pulsed solenoid as a mechanical finger.

More expensive unless you can get one secondhand, there are units for the elderly/infirm which make an emergency call to a carer on the press of a button. Their button is more easily replaced by a pulsed relay, and also they send a recorded message, so you know it's happened.

Chris