Caller Display - what a rip-off!

dc

daveboy wrote:

I'd actually say that NTL are the incompetent ones from my experience.
Never had a problem with BT and being a regular, knew about the caller display thing ages ago.

Then daveboy your experience is limited, and recent.

Depends where you live, as NTL is a conglomeration of disparate small cable companies each with different facilities. If you are in an old Cabletel area (the NTL founders), then your service will be good.

The one thing is consistent BT stands for Bloody Thieves, and if it wasnt for the likes of NTL, you would be paying 0870 rates for ALL your calls.
Because that was BT's national rate, and they hang onto it like grim death.

It was NTL that made all calls the same rate with their 3p.2p.1p rates and BT had to relucantly follow.

dc

mobilegossip

I thought that dereg/competition brought Bt prices down when you could choose to cps your calls through other carriers etc etc.I dont think NTL had a lot to do with this.

NTL the company that charges you a connection charge of 6p before you make a call.BT dont.

NTL the company that charges you for caller display.BTdont.

NTL the company charges who charges you 2p a minute at evenings to make 01/02 calls(Unless you have a package) Bt dont.

NTL the company whose NGN rates are more expensive then BT.

dc

mobilegossip wrote:

I thought that dereg/competition brought Bt prices down when you could choose to cps your calls through other carriers etc etc.I dont think NTL had a lot to do with this..

In the 8 or so years before cps became availabe/ popular, NTL forced BT call prices down from their National (ALL geographic calls at 0870 rates 24/7) and Local ( All calls at 0845 rates) with their 3-2-1p tariff.
BT eventually responded with 4-3-2-1p, so 1p a min dearer. It is only in the last couple of years that BT has really realised it no longer has a captive audience and has to become competetive. CPS is affecting all fixed line telcos, but then they sell wholesale to the cps, so they are still in charge.

NTL the company that charges you a connection charge of 6p before you make a call.BT dont.

But BT charge you a similar " 5p Minimum Call Charge", NTL used to be 1.5p, then some bright spark at NTL mistakenly equated the two. 6p is only a month in from 5p. NTL do not realise this is the most important put-off, perhaps one day they will.

NTL the company that charges you for caller display.BTdont.

It is only around 6 months ago that BT had a change of heart on CD and still dont apply this universally, the reason for this post! Sneaky like 0870 which is BT's history.

NTL the company charges who charges you 2p a minute at evenings to make 01/02 calls(Unless you have a package) Bt dont.

Part of the line rental increases, so a compulsory BT package? again very recent,

NTL the company whose NGN rates are more expensive then BT

That is because BT own the non- geo copper ends and thus charge NTL and thereby their customers the full rate to use. Its about time Ofcom got their finger out.

Historically BT have had to be dragged to any price reduction, so dont be fooled.

dc

pricefighter

dc wrote:

But BT charge you a similar " 5p Minimum Call Charge"

The difference being that you pay the NTL connection charge irrespective of the length of the call.Where as if your call is long enough with BT the min call charge does not apply.

DonnyDave

pricefighter wrote:

The difference being that you pay the NTL connection charge irrespective of the length of the call.Where as if your call is long enough with BT the min call charge does not apply.

So if you spread out the 6p connection charge with NTL across the length of the call, you get the average pence per minute. Even a 6 minute call, the average pence per minute will work out at 1p/min more than it actually is (or appears to be).

BexTech

3 minute call with BT at 1p/min = 5p
3 minute call with NTL at 1p/min = 9p

5 minute call with BT at 1p/min = 5p
5 minute call with NTL at 1p/min = 11p

10 minute call with BT at 1p/min = 10p
10 minute call with NTL at 1p/min = 16p

pricefighter

Evenings are not that great.

5 min 01/02 non local call with BT 5.5p. Same call with NTL 15p.

10 min 01/02 non local call with BT 5.5p. Same call with NTL 26p

15 min 01/02 non local of call with BT 5.5p . Same call with NTL 36p

Some local calls are free with NTL.

dc

The point I am trying to make is that the connection fee is now the worst part of NTLs tariff, but wasn't always so.


Historically Cabletel ( founder of NTL) when it started some ten + years ago set the connection fee at 1.5p, to be a cheaper alternative to the BT 5p min charge, for example when you hit an unwanted recorded announcement or answering machine.
However some idiot during the continual cable re-organisations, office moves and bankruptcies thought that, "well if BT can charge 5p we will too", failing to understand the difference. Presumably cos no one kicked up a fuss, they stuck with it.

pricefighter wrote:

The difference being that you pay the NTL connection charge irrespective of the length of the call.Where as if your call is long enough with BT the min call charge does not apply.

AfaIk you dont pay the 6p if the call is part of your price plan, not even the "5p Talk plan" ( which strangely it is still called that and is still free ).

BexTech

We had Birmingham Cable before they were ruined by Telewest.

They didn't have a connection fee, they still had a minimum charge, but this was half that of BT, and lower on certain other calls.

Once Telewest took over, the line rental went up from £6/month (or £5.50 via DD) to £9 and call charges went up, they then dropped the free call waiting and call divert option, then they introduced call connection fee and increased line rental further.

We soon dumped Telewest.

halliwellroger

Just learnt probably a little late that you can get free answerphone and caller display services from BT just dial 150 and request it. It comes under bt privacy package. I hasten to add that they dont inform you that the service is now free I have been paying for it for years TUT TUT BT.