19 January 2010 (Tuesday) - Saving Money

Now that I have an HD telly, it has been suggested that upgrade my Sky TV package. More expense(!)

Well, it would seem perhaps not. I have been getting my telephone from BT, my Internet from Orange and my telly programs from Sky. Allowing for the vagaries of the phone bill varying from month to month (depending on how many calls we make), the whole lot costs me a lot of money. Darren at Sky told me that if I get the whole kaboodle from Sky, I can get HD telly programs, a Sky Box with double the recording capacity, faster broadband, the facility for both brats to have a Sky Plus box in their bedrooms, and it will all still be a fiver cheaper than what I’ve been paying per month. I was impressed.

Having said that, I’ve been with Orange for eight years, and with BT for twenty five years. I get soppy over things like that. I can’t just leave them without kissing them goodbye. So I phoned BT and explained the situation. I had a nice chat about my new telly with Michael. He reviewed my package (oo-er!) and suggested I have the same phone deal as he has at home. I’m staying with BT, and will now only be paying sixty per cent of what I was with BT.

Flushed with success I phoned Kieran at Orange and told him my news. He too was very friendly and helpful (and was interested in my new telly too). And I’m staying with Orange for my Internet connection. I’ve now got a connection which is three times faster than what it was this morning for only forty percent of what I was paying.

I still can’t believe it. I phoned them up, and said “gis it cheaper!!” And both said “Oh, go on then”. And did!

Which is for the best. I didn’t want to muck about changing phone and Internet. These things are usually best left alone. This is probably why I’ve been paying so much. I just set the accounts up all those years ago and just went with them. I wonder what other savings I can make on the household accounts? At this point I found myself stopping and taking stock of what had happened.

I started off looking at getting Sky HD. Somewhere along the line I lost sight of what I was doing and I got cheaper phone and faster Internet before I ran out of time and had to go to work.

The current plan (now) is to look at the Sky HD multi-room deal. The HD is ten quid a month more. But seeing as I’m saving twenty five quid a month on phone and Internet (and if the kids want Sky TV in their bedrooms they can pay for it), I’m still quids in.

All I have to do is come up with two Sky Plus boxes. Should I upgrade to Sky HD, I’m hoping I can use the existing box for one of the fruits of my loin, but the other fruit will need a box. So can I ask if any of my loyal readers have a Sky Plus box kicking around that they don’t want? I doubt anyone has one, but it doesn’t hurt to ask…