Tesco VOIP

ioscorpio

Could you use this phone from BT @ £5.99 rather than the Tesco internet phone.

http://www.shop.bt.com/invt/ccm142

virgo17

iomexico wrote:

Could you use this phone from BT @ £5.99 rather than the Tesco internet phone.

http://www.shop.bt.com/invt/ccm142

The BT phone plugs into your sound card, not a USB port. Therefore it is just a microphone and speaker in a handset case. The Tesco phone is a USB connected device.

So the answer is yes, you probably could use it with Tesco but it's not a phone in the true sense of the word.


V.

BexTech

And neither is the Tesco USB 'toy' phone a phone in the true sense of the word.

It is just a USB soundcard device.

virgo17

BexTech wrote:

And neither is the Tesco USB 'toy' phone a phone in the true sense of the word.

It is just a USB soundcard device.

Indeed. In fact all of these USB phones which sell for circa £15 - £25 are just soundcards and the required hardware in a phone shape.

V.

wavelength_2

I make all my landline calls via 0844 numbers and have just noticed that a call I made today cost twice as much (2p/min) as one I made a few days ago (1p/min). Checking tesco's rate page for 08 numbers shows the increase (and to quite a few other tariffs I think), but the main rate page indicates that rates are effective 16 Jan 2006.

Their T&C page states that they will email notification of any 'significant' changes to their customers but I guess they don't consider this change to be major as I never received a notification (I checked my spam basket!).

I have emailed them regarding this and await their reply. If my previous encounter with their support desk is anything to go by, I suspect their response will not be satisfactory.

Heinz

I'd consider a 100% price hike 'significant' and suspect everyone except Tesco would.

Were the earlier call and the recent call to the same number - i.e. were the digits after the 0844 part the same?

BexTech

Yes, you can't just go by 0844, you need the next few digits afterwards as these determine the cost.

wavelength_2

Yes, it was the same number. Since my last post I located an old version of the rates page using Google cache and ran a comparison. There are many changes to 08 tariffs. Some 0845 have more than doubled from 3p to 7p and 0844048 has gone up from 1p to 5p!!!

I notice that Tesco's Internet Phone web site is not responding this morning. Coincidence? Probably!

Heinz

wavelength wrote:

Some 0845 have more than doubled from 3p to 7p and 0844048 has gone up from 1p to 5p!!!

0844 04 numbers are charged by BT at g5 (calls to internet services) rate - 1p peak, 0.6p evenings and 0.5p weekends.

Tesco are obviously trying to rack up their profits - but TEN TIMES MORE EXPENSIVE than BT at weekends is inexcusable.

BexTech

Tesco VoIP has never been good value for money, they like Skype are one of the dearer VoIP services, you could get better rates from a landline and the cheap call providers such as the ones wavelength were using over their VoIP connection or indirect carriers like 1899 and 18185.

Now Tesco seem even worse value for money.

I don't have a landline so have to rely on VoIP, I know I'm saving on my line rental, and also on my calls, but how long will it be before other VoIP providers go the way of Tesco?