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In this page we’re going to break down Direct Save Telecom contract and no contract deals for you and see if you might be better off with them, as well as delving into Direct Save Telecom reviews. Read on for everything you need to know about Direct Save broadband.

 

Direct Save Broadband Pricing

internet bill left

You may not have heard, but for a long time Direct Save Telecom has been offering some of the cheapest tariffs on the UK market. Since 1999, Direct Save have monitored UK telecommunications in order to make sure they’re delivering the best possible price and quality broadband and phone service to their customers. They are also committed to maintaining a UK customer support team, and recently launched 24/7 UK-based telephone line and broadband faults teams.

On the face of it, Direct Save broadband deals are identical to the standard packages offered by any other internet provider. What’s not identical to all other providers is the 24/7 broadband support they offer as a part of these deals! Their packages all allow unlimited data usage. Here are their fastest deals.

Direct Save do acknowledge that actual speeds vary depending on which part of the country you’re in, how far from the cabinet your home is, and so on. If you want an accurate estimate of the speeds they can provide you, just give them a call to provide them with a few details and they will use their availability checker to see exactly what you can expect to receive.

Direct Save Broadband Speeds

WiFi router

In terms of speed, this is pretty much what all ordinary providers are offering - with just a few specialist providers going above and beyond - and in terms of price it places Direct Save among the very best value providers. Apart from low prices, you’ll avoid unwanted setup charges, though you will see a rise in price at the end of your contract - this would be the time to threaten to switch!

Adding to the appeal of Direct Save’s contracts is free membership to Direct Save’s Loyalty Discount Club. They claim you can save into the thousands using it with your online shopping. The Discount Club is a savings scheme giving you money off everything from food shopping to life insurance, and saves many up to £1,500 per year. Membership usually costs £49.95 but is entirely free for your first year, and you’ll only be charged £9.95 if you want to renew once the year is up.

If you don’t feel like entering into a contract with any provider but still want internet, you might be tempted instead to go for one of Direct Save’s no contract deals. Direct Save Telecom have three main broadband packages:

Contract Internet No Contract Internet No Contract Fibre Broadband
only £18.95 per month 11Mb Broadband, unlimited usage, FREE Wireless Router (plus £8.95 post & packing), free set up, 12 Month Contract £22.95 after 12 months £27.95 per month Broadband & Fibre, unlimited usage, FREE Wireless Router (plus £8.95 post & packing), set up only £24.95, no contract £27.95 after 12 months £34.95 per month for 35Mb & £39.95 per month for 63Mb*, fibre unlimited usage, FREE Wireless Router (plus £8.95 post & packing), Set Up only £24.95, No Contract

Last updated: 27/05/2022. These prices and details are provided for illustrative purposes only.

These deals are, as you’d expect, quite a bit more expensive than their equivalents on contract - but prices on contract deals do go up eventually anyway, so perhaps those not inclined to being tied down for a year will think it worthwhile. If their Discount Club is a dealbreaker, don’t worry, the same deal is included when you sign up without a contract.

If you’re a talker, you might be interested to know if Direct Save offers calls packages. Let’s get to that.

Direct Save Calls packages

In short, they do. Like their broadband deals, they offer three options when it comes to adding calls to your internet package. Here they are:

Option 1 Option 2 Option 3
Pay per use Evening & weekend Anytime
Free £3.00 £5.00

Last updated: 27/05/2022. These prices and details are provided for illustrative purposes only.

Additionally, their website lists the rates of calls that are not included with your deal. Note that even inclusive calls are only free up to 60 minutes - after that you’d better hang up and redial if you don’t want to get charged.

Adding one of these packages to your broadband deal could give you access to savings on calls to mobiles and international calls, as well as on features like call waiting and call divert. You’ll also have no minimum call spend and Direct Save guarantees a seamless transfer process and that you can keep the same number if you want to. This is often one of the biggest hassles when it comes to changing your phone provider, so it's a small detail we really appreciate.

Important to knowYou can only transfer your home phone to Direct Save for free if you have a BT type line. If you don’t, the transfer will only cost you £1 with Selectra!

Direct Save also offer a range of add-on calls features to choose from in case you want to add anything in particular to your package. 1471 is included but you will be charged monthly for any additional features you select.

Direct Save Business Deals

In addition to home broadband, Direct Save also offers a range of business broadband deals that are equally competitive in terms of pricing. They are broken up a bit more than their home broadband packages, but can generally grouped into three types of deal:

Teleworker Business 20 Business Unlimited
Broadband Fibre Broadband Fibre Broadband Fibre
11 Mbps 63 Mbps 11 Mbps 63 Mbps 11 Mbps 63 Mbps
£9.95 £19.95 £14.95 £24.95 £29.95 £39.95
10GB usage 10GB usage 20GB usage 20GB usage Unlimited Unlimited
Webmail Webmail Webmail Webmail Webmail Webmail
Static IP Static IP Static IP Static IP Static IP Static IP
0800 Help Desk 0800 Help Desk 0800 Help Desk 0800 Help Desk 0800 Help Desk 0800 Help Desk
UK Customer Support UK Customer Support UK Customer Support UK Customer Support UK Customer Support UK Customer Support

Last updated: 27/05/2022. These prices and details are provided for illustrative purposes only.

We’d say these deals offer a pretty good range of value-for-money services, but the limited usage associated with the Teleworker or Business 20 plans would make us think twice before going with these. Bear in mind that all of them are also subject to a minimum 24-month agreement. You can, however, re-grade to a different Direct Save plan during the course of your contract for a re-grade fee of £9.95.

Don't go over!It’s also important to keep in mind that for every GB of internet you go over on your plan (excluding unlimited deals, of course,) you will be charged £1.

On all of these deals customers have access to Direct Save’s 0800 Help Desk, which offers UK-based customer support from this number:

Direct Save Telecom Business ContactCall 0800 214 635 Monday to Friday: 8am-8pm; Weekends & Bank Holidays: 9am-5pm.

With your Direct Save business broadband deal you can also add one of their calls packages. They are also split into three main deals:

Business Basic Business Talk Business TalkPlus
Included £7.50/m £14.95/m
UK calls: 1.7ppm UK calls: free UK calls: free
UK mobiles: 5ppm UK mobiles: 5ppm UK mobiles: 5ppm
Call setup: 5ppc Call setup: 5ppc Call setup: 5ppc
US calls: 2ppm US calls: 2ppm US calls: 2ppm
Europe calls: 3.4ppm Europe calls: 3.4ppm Europe calls: 3.4ppm
Australia: 3.4ppm Australia: 3.4ppm Australia: 3.4ppm
Call waiting: £3.15pm Call waiting: £3.15pm Call waiting: free
Call diversion: £3.15pm Call diversion: £3.15pm Call diversion: free

Last updated: 27/05/2022. These prices and details are provided for illustrative purposes only.

If you decide not to fork out extra for your calls plan you will still get good prices on your calls, and on their website you can see the extent of your savings when compared to BT. If you make a lot of calls within the UK, however, you might consider upgrading to one of their other plans - in which daytime UK calls are included. We should point out that, like on most deals, free calls are only free for the first 60 minutes of the call - after this you’ll be charged the basic rate per minute.

For us, their Business Talk Plus plan - though pricey by comparison - represents the best value for money. Not only does it come with some handy features, but it also allows you to set up a non-geographical 0800, 0844 or 0871 number for your customers to call free of charge. This service will usually cost you £30 to set up and a £5 per month service charge.

Bear in mind that these calls packages do not include line rental, and for this you will be charged. They break down how much for you, and again let you know the savings you’ll be making when compared with a BT deal.

Direct Save can also provide a range of other telecommunications services for your business - including VoIP services, mobile call plans and handsets, call conferencing, among other services. To make a query about any of these you can call them on 0800 214 635.

 

Direct Save Telecom Contact

For home broadband, Direct Save offer technical support and handle customer service, billing, admin and sales inquiries every day of the week. You can call them on the number below, but for sales inquiries you’ll have to wait until 9am instead of the stated 8am on weekdays:

Direct Save Telecom Phone NumberCall 0192 370 9709 Monday to Friday: 8am-8pm; Weekends & Bank Holidays: 9am-5pm Please check with your provider if you don't know how much a call will cost.

On our Direct Save Contact Page you’ll find all the various ways you can contact this provider. If you’re moving home they also have a link to their mover’s guide to help you through the process without needing to call.

Direct Save TV

Whilst Direct Save doesn’t have its own TV network, like Sky, it does offer you the opportunity to bundle your package with Netgem TV. From £10 a month you get:

chubby man holding remote control left
  • 210+ live channels including Freeview!
  • 35+ apps
  • Premier Sports included (worth £12.99/month)
  • 40,000 hours of on-demand content
  • Choice of add-ons (BT Sport, Rakuten TV, BritBox, hayu, etc)
  • Unlimited Mobile TV
  • 4K TV box included (worth £149)

However, you don’t need to be a Direct Save broadband customer to enjoy the benefits of Netgem TV. You can sign up directly with Selectra without switching your broadband provider. You can also consider other TV Packages or Streaming Options that are best for you.

Direct Save Telecom Reviews

At first glance their ratings on the review site Trustpilot are impressive - almost two thirds of reviewers reported being pleased with their service and almost half give them the best rating of ‘excellent’. Despite this, the site gives Direct Save the unremarkable score of just 4 stars out of 5 in their overall rating. A quick look at why will tell you that their overall score is dragged down by a not insignificant minority of 23% recording ‘bad’ experiences.

This is perhaps to be expected on a site largely used by customers looking to complain, and when you consider that most major providers are rated below 2 out of five this puts a slightly different spin on things. This is not to say, however, that customers are not having issues with Direct Save’s service. One customer, despite leaving a four-star review, cites the company’s website as their main drawback:

I found it very helpful easy to understand your website I’m looking forward to becoming a customer thank you

Thankyou for you service more helpfull than another leading provider wich I was not happy with due to cost increase , plus your cheaper for same service thankyou

Broardband works properly for about 30% of the time. Spend more time calling up asking them to fix it then anything else. Last time I called the tech, who was eating his lunch down the phone and sounding like he didn't want to be there, told me 'well it's working on my end'. Well that's useful sir, please let me know what happens on vampire diaries season six, at least one of us can watch it! So, it was the last straw and I cancelled it.

The most greedy horrible company I've come across. They charge 60% on top of your bill if you miss your payment. Customer service nil please avoid this company at all costs.

Apart from this the negative reviews seem to come from instances when connections drop and other common issues like this, which occur with all /Broadband Providers. The good thing with Direct Save is that, when these problems occur, their customer service team seems to be really attentive to their customers. They are described by various reviewers as “friendly and helpful” and are said to deal with problems with “no fuss”.

Overall, then, we get a good impression from reviews of Direct Save - certainly enough to have a look at their speeds and pricing. Let’s do that now.

Direct Save Telecom: Selectra's Verdict

Overall, we are fans of Direct Save’s broadband offers. Their cheap and flexible deals are backed up by solid reviews of their service and customer support team. There are a few downsides to consider, of course, but on the whole we think many people could find a deal they’re happy with from Direct Save.

  • Cheap broadband deals with reasonable calls packages to add on.
  • Flexibility of choosing a contract or no contract deal.
  • 24/7 broadband support.
  • No setup fees or line rental for 12 months.
  • Loyalty Discount Club membership.
  • Their prices rise after your 12 month contract is up and a line rental charge is introduced, so your deal will start to look less attractive.
  • There is no Direct Save smartphone app and they offer you limited ability in managing your account online.

Read more articles about Direct Save

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