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Friday 10th February 2012

Little changes to your home technology, means big savings on your household bills - Get money smart with expert advice from Suzi Perry and BT. TV gadget expert, Suzi Perry (Channel Five’s The Gadget Show) has joined up with BT to show you how you can cut your domestic bills when it comes to home technology. Below she gives suggestions on everything from paying only for what you watch with a range of On Demand films and TV shows on BT Vision, to cashing in on your old technology and saving money being green.

To help you make big savings every month during this tough financial year, Suzi recommends:

  • Pay-per-view - there are myriad broadband and TV deals to choose from all offering different services. Ultimately the package should be good value for money, give you an excellent wireless connection and let you only pay for the TV programmes you actually watch. BT Total Broadband with BT Vision starts from £7.78 per month for the first three months, where you only pay for what you watch not what you don’t and it offers a huge range of on-demand films and TV shows that you can watch at the touch of a button, when it suits you. Get the HD set-top box on its own with no monthly subscription for just £29.36 plus £29.36 connection, so you aren’t wasting money on TV programmes you’re not watching!


  • Save £££’s by health checking your computer – Make sure that when you buy broadband, the deal includes security as part of the package. Over 15 million computers were infected with a virus recently so the more high quality security you can install the better. BT Total Broadband Option 2, Option 3 and BT Total Broadband Anywhere come with new, improved McAfee® security, including VirusScan, a personal firewall and parental controls. Plus instead of rushing out to buy a new computer, BT Home IT Support can help by performing a simple memory upgrade or a hard drive replacement can be much more cost effective.


  • Greener finances - It's often cheaper to opt to have your bills emailed to you rather than sent in the post, and if you choose to pay by direct debit. If you have paperless billing and direct debit payments not only are you saving the environment, you’re also saving on your bank balance!


  • Create a big family night in for less – Suzi recommends that instead of going to the movies, create the ultimate ‘better value’ family night in at home and enjoy pay-per-view entertainment as it’s cheaper and more comfortable viewing at home! Take advantage of the massive library of blockbuster films BT Vision has available on demand. There is always something new to choose from as the film list is updated every Friday. What’s more, don’t waste money on buying expensive DVD box sets, for £6.85 per month you can watch the entire series of Desperate Housewives, Alias and lots more other series on BT Vision.


  • Cash in on your old technology – we all have handsets that we may have fallen out of love with or mp3 players that have been super seeded by newer, shinier versions. Suzy recommends try selling old home technology online via websites such as www.bestbuytradein.com and www.buymytronics.com, which can help raise some extra cash. Sell items on eBay and get the sale to end on a Thursday lunchtime or Saturday afternoon, as these are the most successful times to make a sale. Some websites also take broken technology, recycle the parts and send you a cheque or a voucher for the pleasure; other sites send old gadgets to third world countries. But don’t forget to remove all your personal data from IT equipment before selling items on.


  • Go green and watch your bills shrink – one of the best ways to cut your household bills is to turn off home appliances when not in use. Saving power saves money! To see how much electricity you are using, Suzy recommends investing in a Wattson, a small device that counts used energy and it could save you 20% off your electricity bill. To make things easy for you, BT’s Home Hub comes complete with a power save mode, which enables users to be more energy efficient and set their hub to power down when they aren’t using their BT Total Broadband.


  • Buy smart – and look at the small print. BT recommends checking for extra costs before you enter into a contract. BT has made all calls to their helpdesks free and is the first UK telephone company to include 0870 and 0845 numbers in call packages and offering cheaper calls to mobile and international numbers - saving many callers a significant amount of money. BT is also the first UK mobile company to make calls to 0800 numbers free for its BT Mobile customers.


  • Hunt out the latest bargains online – the Internet is the best place to find brilliant bargains. BT recommends using BT Total Broadband to find hundreds of different sites such as the BT Shop, which is designed to help you find the latest offers on home gadgets. For more information on BT Total Broadband and BT Vision, visit www.bt.com/broadband.