BT first in UK to make mobile calls to 0800 free.

*informer*

BT today became the first UK mobile company to make calls to 0800 numbers free for its BT Mobile customers. The landmark decision won immediate support from consumer groups that believe companies should stop charging for calls to freephone 0800 numbers. Consumer Focus and BT today called on the big mobile operators to follow their lead and give customers back the £50m a year they are charged for calling 0800 numbers from mobiles.

Mobile companies such as Orange charge up to 25p a minute for dialling the numbers, which companies set up in an attempt to let customers call them for free. Vodafone charges up to 20p a minute and O2 15p.

Other mobile companies also charge high rates for calling ‘free’ 0800 numbers, with 3 charging 15p a minute and T-Mobile 10p.

However, BT Mobile is scrapping all charges for its Consumer customers who dial 0800 numbers and similar 0500 numbers from May 1, despite the loss of tens of thousands of pounds in revenue.

BT announced in February last year that it was switching all its helpline numbers to 0800, making it free for all of its 14m customers to call them from any landline.

Consumer Focus, which incorporates the former National Consumer Council, is calling for mobile companies to give customers a fair deal by ensuring that calling an 0800 number from a mobile is free – the same as if you call the number from a landline.

Audrey Gallagher, of Consumer Focus said: "Scrapping unfair charges on 0800 calls from mobile phones is good news for BT customers. With so many consumers using mobile phones rather than landlines to contact essential services, find information and seek help, it is more important than ever that they do so for free across all 0800 numbers. Consumer Focus calls on mobile phone operators to follow BT and stop making money out of 0800 calls."

John Petter, managing director of BT’s Consumer business, said: “We think mobile customers are irritated by having to pay high rates to call ‘free’ 0800 numbers, so we have put our own house in order by making it free for any BT Mobile customer to call these numbers.

“We have all called an 0800 number from our mobiles and experienced the frustration of the message telling us that the call will be charged at standard rates.

“A customer with Orange would pay £7.50 just to make a 30-minute call their insurance company or bank and sort out a few issues. But if they made that call from a landline it would be free, so we can’t see the need to have this huge difference in price.

“We had already made calls into BT free for our 14m landline customers and we are happy to back Consumer Focus and other consumer organisations in their efforts to address this anomaly. We also recently announced that calls to 0870 and 0845 numbers would be included in call packages for BT landline customers, so it is a good time to be calling these organisations from a BT landline or mobile.”

Source: http://www.btplc.com/News/Articles/Showarticle.cfm?ArticleID=60425d34-f2a8-43f9-aa17-64d005d6766d

diamonds

im in shock, glad i got that free BT payg mobile sim, still got £4 odd credit

one wonders how BT got Vodafone to agree to that or do MVNO's get the same rate as Vodafone direct, ie no call charge! Vodafone next when they see BT swallow a large percentage of people flock to BT Mobile, Orange re-instate ?

This is a great move by BT, as is 0870 numbers from allowances on landlines, the new CEO is listening to BT's customers & a CEO has not done that since BT was privatised

*informer*

Defo good news...I have to say there has been good news and bad news from BT lately as they have increased their line rental by £1 per month and some other changes, but all in all on the bigger pictures, changes are been made for the better and whislt some small increases, I know that this change will save me ALOT of money.

BT use the Vadofone network but have their own price structure. I dont think they got Vadophone to lift the charges as normally these types of services are provided by 1/2/3/10 etc years contract, which doesnt really be changed.

diamonds

all those like me that got a BT payg sim with free £10 credit are laughing....BT withdrew BT Mobile payg for new customers im jiggy at least !! LOL


BTmobile prepay support http://bt.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/bt.cfg/php/enduser/cci/bt_catpage.php?p_sid=5av1fWpj&cat_lvl1=760&cat_lvl2=854&cat_lvl3=1242&p_cv=3.1242&p_cats=760,854,1242

redux

This is now supposed to have started

Has anyone tried a couple of calls?

I hear a pre-warning that the number I've called is chargeable. So far, I didn't let it ring and answer in order to find out. I wonder whether they've only applied zero tariff to some numbers, or the announcement is a glitch.

redux

I just spoke to BT, and was told that for the moment there is some technical issue why the announcement has not been removed, but despite that the calls will be free anyway.

I asked if there were exceptions which will still be chargeable - internet proviiders, she said

dazeruk

Can someone please explain what BT Mobile is?

The only mobile product I can find on the BT website is their mobile broadband.

Where do I find their regular mobile phone service details?

withabix

BT Mobile is only available (for new customers) to BT Business customers or those people on BT Total Broadband Anywhere.

diamonds

had 73p registration credit & £4.88 balance

during calls refreshing page showed deductions then after each call the balance went up on a refresh

very inconsistent.......


Transaction history
Current balance :
£4.57


Registration Credit Expires 2/1/2010 £0.00

06/05/09 22:58 08000790435 00:00:12 - 0.15
06/05/09 22:57 08000790435 00:00:12 - 0.15
06/05/09 22:56 08000790435 00:00:44 - 0.01
06/05/09 22:55 08000790435 00:00:13 - -
06/05/09 22:54 08000790435 00:00:33 - -
06/05/09 22:50 0800800150 00:00:40 - -
06/05/09 22:47 0800800150 00:01:38 - -

diamonds

more:
06/05/09 23:09 08000790435 00:01:00 - 0.15
06/05/09 23:08 08000790435 00:00:06 - 0.15

seems to be 15p connection or per minute ?

diamonds

15p connection
06/05/09 23:12 08000790435 00:01:20 - 0.15