Dear LPG readers, 

Google seems to agree with me when I think that the lockdown that resulted from the recent pandemic has left quite a few more over 65s than you would think having invested in smartphones.  A few of my friends, me included, have successfully acquired enough knowledge about how to use them so that we are able to keep up with friends and family using video calling apps. 

I have friends that live abroad, and it is really good to be able to see them as well as hear them and, although I suppose I see more of my local friends now, I am glad to be able to keep in touch with the ones that live further afield with the help of my smartphone.

But, when I take a look at my friends and the people of my age that I know, it is obvious that we oldies are the ones who are still most likely to have home phones even if we have a smart phone as well.  The younger members of my family now all seem to have got rid of their landlines.        

The other thing that a lot of my older friends and I have in common is that many of us have had our landline telephone contracts for what seems like forever, and we continue to pay our bills monthly, by direct debit, without taking a really good look at what we are actually paying for?   

It has been about five years since I took a look at my landline contract, but the other day my son explained something to me which got me thinking.  When you phone via video call you are using the internet and not the phone.  I suppose that is obvious really, but I wonder if anyone else has been doing the same as me.

My landline package already includes broadband, and I am also paying for a 24/7 ‘international boost’ which allows me to call the USA and most of Europe without paying for each minute I am on the phone.  I realised that I have been paying £14 per month even though I have not called any of my foreign friends the old-fashioned way for at least three years.  

If you still have a landline package which includes the ‘international boost’ (each company has a different name for it), but you now use video calling when reaching the people and family who live in faraway lands, it might be worth having a word with your telephone service provider to see what you are paying for but not actually using.  In this day and age every penny counts… 

CP, Lee

… LPG offers some information on the day’s celebration… 

(►►►)