The UKs Cheapest Home Phone Calls Provider Article Discussion Area

egarobar

I have a simpler solution for landline costs which I'd like to recommend.

I get the standard BT Option 1 for £11/month (Direct Debit rate).

I then use OneTel's free-call tariff, which means all calls are free all day long - apart from 0845/0870, internationals, and mobiles. This costs me another £11/month on DD. Total: £22/month, and I don't have to think about it. It's useful because we do have quite a few long phonecalls - to elderly parents and to friends in distant parts of the UK - and we can just go ahead and call anytime.

I rarely use international or mobile calls so I don't mind paying a few pence each time for them. As for 0870s, I refer to www.sayNOto0870.com!

twarner

I just cannot agree to this method.

If you take one of this forum's suggested routes to obtain 'real' free evening and weekend calls and make your other calls with 1899 then the savings over your suggested method are considerable. Any mobile or international calls will still have to be made by another method anyway.

My last invoice from 1899 covering a period from 030106 until 030306 was for £6.30 for 210 calls. This works out at 5 calls per day for week day calls; quite a bit above the average I think. My dear wife seems to always be on the phone for extended periods as she works for a lot of charities.

Using your suggestion, this would have cost me £22, no contest, I think.

You say that your method is simpler. Yes, but to save the amounts that the other suggested methods achieve is, I think well worth just a little bit of work.

Terry

Heinz

egarobar wrote:

I then use OneTel's free-call tariff, which means all calls are free all day long - apart from 0845/0870, internationals, and mobiles. This costs me another £11/month on DD.

That's fine if you make more than 366 calls to UK 01 or 02 numbers each month, every month (because that's how many calls at 3p each, regardless of duration or destination, you could make just by using 1899 for all such calls).

Getting free E&W calls via Primus Saver Option 2 CPS would save even more.

BTW, your OneTel calls are not 'free' - you've pre-paid £10.99 for them (even if you don't make them). In any case, that £10.99/month OneTel TotalUKTalk 'unlimited calls' plan is not the cheapest of its type and neither is it available to new customers now that Talk Talk have taken them over.

smipx013

Hi, I had a problem today with 1899 and wanted to share it with everyone. I am generally happy with the 1899 service but today I called someone in the UK (01932 xxxxx xxxxx) and when they picked up they were quite guarded with me. It turns out that the call came up on their caller display as "International" rather than my number.

On first inspection this may not seem to be a problem but lots of people don't pick up calls identified as "international" as they have, from experience, concluded that 99.9% of them are sales calls / diallers with automated voices. This is particularly the case with the elderly (especially if no international people every usually call them).

I quizzed 1899.com about it and their response was "quote"

Thank you for your email.

1899 keeps its prices low by buying in bulk from major international carriers. Unfortunately we cannot predict through which carrier a call will go. Therefore it is not possible to influence the way your call is displayed.

We hope this has answered your question.

This is a real problem for me as I'm sure it will be for many others. You have been warned. I wonder also if it might even be illegal as 1899.com are passing incorrect and misleading data to telephone users. If it says "international" then one should be able to trust the validity of that.

What if someone (not me as I'm not that stupid) dialled 1899 999 and the emergeny services saw the number as "international". Would they ignore you plea for help I wonder? what if all someones calls were routed through 1899 and I could not talk due to a heart attack but just managed to dial 999 and then passed out. The emergency services would not be able to trace the call and they might die.

What would happen then I wonder. Litigation I imagine.

Okay - these are extreme examples to further my argument but are not unfeasible!!

Paul

Victor_Delta

Relax!

Many, if not all of the low cost operators, routinely route UK-UK traffic internationally (although it always makes me marvel how they can do this at lower cost than, say, BT!).

I don't think you will find there is any problem in practice with 999 calls routed via 1899 (or any of the other similar operators).

utilitybroker

smipx013 wrote:

This is a real problem for me as I'm sure it will be for many others.

I dont have a problem with how they deliver their calls as long as the keep them cheap and the line quality is good.You cant have your cake and eat it to.

jill_higgins

I spend approximately 5 months of the year out of the country and want to find a phone provider where I do not have to pay line rental during this period but at the same time to keep the same telephone number. I am currently with BT. I do not make international calls and a light user. Can anyone help?

Heinz

jill_higgins wrote:

I spend approximately 5 months of the year out of the country and want to find a phone provider where I do not have to pay line rental during this period but at the same time to keep the same telephone number. I am currently with BT. I do not make international calls and a light user. Can anyone help?

I don't think you're going to find a line rental provider that's going to let you come and go like that and keep your number.

Surely it's worth paying BT the minimum (£11/month)?

OTOH, if I understand what you said, you're already on the Light User Scheme so you're actually paying a lot less than £11/month - at least for 5 months. So that means it's even more worthwhile staying with them.

Money_Man_Steve

Just had email confirmation from Talk Talk that they have acquired Just Dial Saver, and that (from 01/05/06) my Just Dial Saver Lite package will be replaced with "LeisureUKTalk with InternationalCaller Extra:"

They go on to say that:
"For just 99p a month you'll get:

Unlimited** evening and weekend calls to UK local landline numbers (starting 01 and 02)
Unlimited daytime, evening and weekend calls to over 2 million TalkTalk customers*
International rates from as little as 2p a minute
Access to customer services - via phone, website or email
**Fair Use Policy applies. Excludes 0845/0870/0840, calls to Jersey, Guernsey and premium rate numbers. Subject to paying line rental to TalkTalk or another provider."

So now I'm going to switch to Primus Saver Option 2. If anyone is interested, you can sign up to Primus Option 2 online, via Uswitch. (Martin's article says that you can only phone Primus to sign up).

See info regarding signing up online on Primus' website FAQ here.

utilitybroker

Money_Man_Steve wrote:

Just had email confirmation from Talk Talk that they have acquired Just Dial Saver, and that (from 01/05/06) my Just Dial Saver Lite package will be replaced with "LeisureUKTalk with InternationalCaller Extra:"

They go on to say that:
"For just 99p a month you'll get:

Unlimited** evening and weekend calls to UK local landline numbers (starting 01 and 02)
Unlimited daytime, evening and weekend calls to over 2 million TalkTalk customers*
International rates from as little as 2p a minute
Access to customer services - via phone, website or email
**Fair Use Policy applies. Excludes 0845/0870/0840, calls to Jersey, Guernsey and premium rate numbers. Subject to paying line rental to TalkTalk or another provider."

So now I'm going to switch to Primus Saver Option 2. If anyone is interested, you can sign up to Primus Option 2 online, via Uswitch. (Martin's article says that you can only phone Primus to sign up).

See info regarding signing up online on Primus' website FAQ here.

You must have missed this thread.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=175220