Whether it’s Radio 2 presenters, cabbies, or the airport security guard, it seems people everywhere are infuriated by telephone line rental - or at least it’s the first thing on their mind to ask when they spot me.

Perhaps it’s the idea of £100s a year paid for a facility then you’re charged calls on top which makes people’s teeth gnash.

Thankfully though, for the first time ever, I’ve an answer and can write about a way to cut the cost of the line rental and calls.

Why has it taken so long?

Providers have been competing on line rental deals for a number of years, but the worry has been then they will block the use of override providers that can massively cut call costs. These are specialist companies which you access simply by dialling them up on your existing phone line. Once connected to them, your call costs are slashed, eg, 5p per CALL rather than per minute to call a landline or half a penny a minute, rather than 20p to call many countries overseas.

BT is prevented from blocking access to these over-ride numbers, because of its dominant position. Yet the restriction doesn’t apply to other line rental providers. So saving a quid or two on the line can scupper your ability to get cheaper calls.

Yet for once, the two cheapest line rental providers have guaranteed me that they’ve no plans to block access, so you can get the best of both worlds.

Are you on a BT line?

Strange as it may sound, the company that provides your phone line needn’t be the one that you make calls with. Unless you’re with a cable provider (see below), even if you pay line rental to another company such as TalkTalk or Sky, chances are it’s BT providing the hardware that makes it all work. As long as you’ve got that, you should be able to access these deals.