I have trawled through the Virgin website and have only found their old FAQ information about using 1280. As they have not updated this, I am assuming that at present, dialling 1280 will still route my calls through BT. However as soon as I'm able to log into my account, I will be sending them an email to ask them to confirm their position. If BT Wholesale are offering the calls providers a cheaper calls service, then I'm sure the majority will take the new service, and we will lose out, unless we switch back to BT.
BT seem to be offering free weekend and evening calls for no extra cost, but with a 12 month tie in.
Hopefully each of the calls providers will have the courtesy to inform their customers if they do switch services!
By doing this Sky Talk are forcing people to pay their expensive 0845/0870 Non Geographical prices. They can still be reduced by using 18185 if your line rental is still with BT.
If your line rental remains with BT we as a CPS provider can not block 1280 as this is a BT service and they still control the line.
It's PAC not PAC Code, it's MAC not MAC Code, it's PIN not PIN Number, it's ATM not ATM Machine, it's LCD not LCD Display, it's DVD not DVD disc... It's no one not noone, It's a lot not alot, It's got not gotten... Panini is the plural of panino - there is no S!!
(OK my English isn't great, the sciences, maths & IT are my strong points!)
We have only recently signed up with Bt and SKY. Line rental will be with Bt and Sky tv talk and broadband for £26. But we asked bt for £29.99 installation with 18 months contract and will have to make 10 calls via bt every month. I panicked after reading about 1280 changes and phoned sky. The customer services person said that if my landline rental will be with bt then calls made using 1280 prefix will be charged by bt not sky. According to him 1280 calls will be charged by sky if the landline rental was with sky as well. I hope he is right.
If your line rental remains with BT we as a CPS provider can not block 1280 as this is a BT service and they still control the line.
Thanks, that was what I was hoping (although I've had no reply yet).
However, that reply only applies to BT line rental + CPS, not WLR or LLU line rental.
It appears this whole issue came about because of BT trying to clarify the position for those using 1280 on lines now rented from third parties and, rather than giving (more complicated) explanations of the (different) positions with WLR and LLU, have just made a blanket "it's not our fault" statement.
Time has moved on (much quicker than it used to - or so it seems at my age) and my previous advice on residential telephony has been or is now gradually being overtaken by changes in the retail market. Hence, I have now deleted links to my previous 'pearls of wisdom'. I sincerely hope they helped save some of you money.
Although no definitive response from my contact at BT HQ has yet been received, it appears Sarah was absolutely correct and calls providers like Sky can now opt to use WCA rather than standard CPS.
As I now understand it, WCA provides the same 'default routing' of all calls via the third party calls provider as CPS does except that subscribers CANNOT override it and 'hop back onto BT' using the 1280 prefix (and, presumably, cannot use other prefixes - like 18185 - either). In other words, it gives the calls provider total control of the routing of all a subscriber's calls - as would be the case if line rental had been handed over - despite the fact that the subscriber has elected to leave line rental with BT!
Apparently, calls providers do not have to advise subscribers that they have been migrated from CPS to WCA and the first many are likely to know is when their BT bill shows charges for Caller Display and/or 1571 because the required number of chargeable or inclusive calls have not been made on the BT network.
Time has moved on (much quicker than it used to - or so it seems at my age) and my previous advice on residential telephony has been or is now gradually being overtaken by changes in the retail market. Hence, I have now deleted links to my previous 'pearls of wisdom'. I sincerely hope they helped save some of you money.
Replies
BT seem to be offering free weekend and evening calls for no extra cost, but with a 12 month tie in.
Hopefully each of the calls providers will have the courtesy to inform their customers if they do switch services!
Thanks
If your line rental remains with BT we as a CPS provider can not block 1280 as this is a BT service and they still control the line.
However, that reply only applies to BT line rental + CPS, not WLR or LLU line rental.
It appears this whole issue came about because of BT trying to clarify the position for those using 1280 on lines now rented from third parties and, rather than giving (more complicated) explanations of the (different) positions with WLR and LLU, have just made a blanket "it's not our fault" statement.
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=13028005#post13028005
We already knew LLU and line rental with someone else could lose the BT option for 1280 and others.
As I now understand it, WCA provides the same 'default routing' of all calls via the third party calls provider as CPS does except that subscribers CANNOT override it and 'hop back onto BT' using the 1280 prefix (and, presumably, cannot use other prefixes - like 18185 - either). In other words, it gives the calls provider total control of the routing of all a subscriber's calls - as would be the case if line rental had been handed over - despite the fact that the subscriber has elected to leave line rental with BT!
Apparently, calls providers do not have to advise subscribers that they have been migrated from CPS to WCA and the first many are likely to know is when their BT bill shows charges for Caller Display and/or 1571 because the required number of chargeable or inclusive calls have not been made on the BT network.
For those on Sky Talk, of course, their excessive charges for 0845 and non-Sky 0870 calls will also result.