Telephone Only Deals for Pensioners – Home Phone Line from £15.97 per Month

We are asked this a lot. Every provider pays a cost to connect a customer through Openreach. Many providers recover that cost by tying customers into 12, 18 or 24-month contracts.

That means you often pay for connection costs over the full term of the contract, and in some cases you may still face charges for disconnecting or moving your service.

We do things differently. Instead, we charge a clear upfront activation, connection or installation fee. This helps us avoid early termination or disconnection fees and keeps things simple, fair and transparent.

Yes. We can move around 99% of telephone numbers.

However, since September 2023, you can no longer move your telephone number to another provider, or to us, unless you convert to a new digital phone line.

Unlike many providers, we run our own telephone network and platforms, similar to TalkTalk and Virgin. That means if you are moving home, relocating to another part of the country or even moving abroad, we have the technology to help you keep your current number.

Yes. Any standard telephone will work with the new digital phone line service, including telephones with built-in call blockers. There is no need to buy a special phone.

Yes. A paper bill can be sent to your address each month.

We also provide a full online billing system, which means a family member or trusted person can help you keep an eye on your account if needed.

No. We will send the transfer request to your current provider for you.

Once your order has been placed, your current provider may write to you by letter or email to confirm that your telephone number is being transferred. After the transfer has completed, they may send you a final bill for any outstanding charges.

Your first invoice shows the full month in which the invoice is issued and the whole of the following calendar month. That means the first bill usually covers two full months in advance.

This advance payment helps cover your 30-day notice period for cancellation, allowing us to terminate your line on the same day you notify us if needed.

If your service goes live part way through a month, your first bill will also include charges from the live date to the end of that part month.

Please note that the Direct Debit name shown on the bill payer’s bank statement will appear as Simpletele.

Yes and no. When a line is converted to a digital line, existing copper-based telephone extensions will stop working in the usual way.

However, depending on your installation, Openreach may be able to fit a Voice Reinjection plate. This routes voice signals from your router onto the existing home telephone wiring, provided those extensions were installed by Openreach and not by a third party.

This can allow extension sockets to continue working, but we strongly recommend using a cordless phone system such as a BT 4600 kit, as older extension sockets and wiring can cause problems in the future.

Important: Openreach is only responsible for faults up to the back of the main telephone socket. Faults on internal extensions may be chargeable to fix.

Yes. You can change your call plan at any time by contacting us, and the new plan will start from the next billing period.

There is a small administration charge of £9.99 including VAT for making this change.

We always try to help identify local issues over the phone first. Our voice service platforms have a 99% uptime, and the first thing we recommend is restarting the router. Do not factory reset the router unless we ask you to do so.

We can run test calls through your account to check that the service is online and routing calls correctly. In many cases, faults are related to the broadband connection itself, as call quality depends on the internet connection you are using.

Common problems include:

• Incompatible handsets: some older analogue telephones may not work correctly with digital voice services.
• Cordless phone battery issues: weak batteries can cause problems with incoming and outgoing calls.
• Flat batteries: make sure cordless handsets are fully charged.
• Faulty extension leads: plug the telephone directly into the router to test for dial tone.
• Ringer switched off: check the handset is not set to silent.
• Phone unplugged or router switched off: make sure everything is connected and powered on.

Digital Line Basic Care is included with all services. Openreach aims to respond to faults within 72 working hours from receipt of a valid fault report, excluding weekends, UK public holidays and allowable parked time.

If you have a chronic long-term illness or disability, we strongly recommend choosing a higher fault care level if you need a faster response time. It is the end user’s responsibility to make sure the appropriate care level is in place for their needs.

Booking a site visit: we will not arrange an Openreach engineer visit unless the customer authorises it first and accepts that charges may apply. In some cases, payment may be required in advance if the call-out is known to be chargeable.

Our digital voice platforms have a 99% uptime. If you think there is a fault, the first step is to restart the router. We can also test that the phone service and underlying broadband connection are both online.

Important: if you have a chronic long-term illness or disability, we strongly recommend considering a higher fault repair level if you need a faster response. A priority Openreach fault cannot be raised outside working hours, weekends or public holidays.

Digital Line Basic Care – Included
Basic Care is included with all services. Faults can only be logged with Openreach between 9am and 6pm Monday to Friday, excluding weekends and bank holidays. Openreach aims to respond within 72 working hours of receiving the fault report, excluding allowable parked time.

Digital Line Standard Care – £1.99 per month inc VAT
Standard Care faults can also only be logged with Openreach between 9am and 6pm Monday to Friday, excluding weekends and bank holidays. Openreach aims to respond within 48 working hours of the fault report, excluding bank holidays, weekends and allowable parked time.

Digital Line Enhanced Care – 24 Clock Hours – £14.99 per month inc VAT
Enhanced Care operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, including UK bank and public holidays. Openreach aims to respond to or fix the fault within 24 clock hours of the report, excluding allowable parked time. Openreach may arrive without notice, and an abortive visit charge may apply if they cannot gain access.

Digital Line Premium / Critical Care – 8 Clock Hours – £19.99 per month inc VAT
Premium / Critical Care also operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, including UK bank and public holidays. Openreach aims to respond to or fix the fault within 8 clock hours of the report, excluding allowable parked time. An abortive visit charge may apply if access is not available.

All care level prices are in addition to the normal monthly rental charges.

To help safeguard customers, barring for international calls and premium rate numbers starting with 09, plus some 08 numbers, is applied automatically to the line.

Barring calls to mobile phones is available as an opt-in service. Please contact customer service if you want to enable mobile call barring free of charge.

Because of Ofcom rules, some 08 numbers are classed as premium rate and may not be callable. This is important if you use a care alarm, medical device or catalogue service that relies on one of these numbers.

International call barring can be removed on request, but premium rate barring cannot be removed.

Yes, but broadband cannot be added to the Basic or Super Saver Cloud service.

You can add a full broadband service to eligible lines at a later date, and like our phone services, it is available on a 30-day rolling contract. There is an activation cost to add broadband to a digital phone-only service, and charges may also apply if you later downgrade from broadband to phone-only.

The broadband service is switched on remotely. For more information, please contact our sales team on 0330 122 0000. Costs depend on the current service and exchange availability.

No. We will keep copper-based telephone customers informed about the upcoming changes and the timetable for moving to the new SoGEA IP telephone service.

It will remain the customer’s choice when to move, where possible. However, after September 2023 you can no longer make changes to an existing copper voice service.

We strongly recommend not leaving it too late. As the copper switch-off approaches, more customers will be trying to move at the same time. Customers who do not transfer before the final cut-off date may lose both their service and their telephone number.

Yes, but the provider you are moving to will be responsible for handling the transfer process.

If you port your telephone number out of the Simple Telecoms network, you will not be eligible for a free port back to us until 36 months have passed from the original port-out date.

If you want to move the number back within that 36-month period, a charge will apply. The account and telephone number must also remain live and fully paid up until the transfer completes. Under Ofcom rules, disconnected accounts and non-live numbers cannot be transferred.

If there is a power cut or broadband failure, you will not be able to make calls using Digital Voice, including 999 calls, unless suitable backup arrangements are in place.

You should always keep a mobile phone charged as a backup. Some customers who need extra support may be offered a battery backup unit to keep the router connected for a short time during a power cut.

Important: a battery backup unit will not power other devices such as your telephone handset or care alarm. Customers must provide their own backup arrangements for those devices.

Even larger battery backup systems may not fully solve the problem, because the batteries in street cabinets may only run for around 4 to 6 hours before shutting down. If you need help, please call 0330 122 0000 Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm.

Yes. We can set up a second telephone line and number on the same router. This can be useful for alarm systems or other specialist devices.

The router can usually be programmed remotely, so there is no need to return it to us. We also offer discounted line rental for the second telephone line. Please contact us on 0330 122 0000 for more information.

Any devices currently plugged into your telephone wall socket will need to be connected to a telephone socket on the router instead.

This may include care alarms, telecare devices, intruder alarms and similar equipment. You should check with the device provider to confirm that the equipment will continue to work with an internet-based phone service.

If needed, we may also be able to provide a second line on the router for these types of services.

Yes. We can provide a standalone broadband-only service without a phone line.

However, depending on the service you choose, you may lose your existing telephone number.

Please see our broadband page for more information.

Yes. You can ask a friend or family member to help you switch to Digital Voice. We may contact you to confirm who that person is before proceeding.

1571 voicemail messages are stored on our system for 30 days. After that time, they are automatically deleted.

Yes. To record your outgoing voicemail greeting, dial 1571, press option 3 and then follow the voice prompts.

Yes. If you no longer need the 1571 voicemail service, call us on 0330 122 0000 and we can switch it off for you the same day. This is not currently a self-service option.