Bills for phone and internet usually arrive either every month or three months and are usually the tenants’ responsibility (they are not covered in the rent). Often these can be quite large and flatmates on tight budgets can sometimes have difficulties paying their share all in one hit - which is why these bills cause so many problems. There are ways to reduce the problem.

For example, you could all decide to put some money away every week for bills, so that when one arrives you have some money saved to cover it. Alternatively, you could arrange a pre-payment plan with these services.

A much easier solution is for everyone to get a mobile phone and forget about the home phone.

If you really need a BT Landline to get Broadband Internet, then use their call barring option . For about £1.50 a month, all calls out will be barred apart from the Free & Emergency numbers such as 0800 & 999. All incoming calls still accepted though.

Housemates usually have high phone bills due to overseas calls. We will suggest that you make your calls over the internet, or using cheap calling cards, or VOIP providers.

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