International and UK CallChecker Discussion Area

hurrah

stluke023 wrote:

off peak 5p an hour
after 6 pm 3p a minute, yes that is correct please be warned

Surely TalkTalk/Onetel only charge their normal rates to call a 020 geographical number,unless you have inclusive 020 minutes.

Heinz

hurrah wrote:

Surely TalkTalk/Onetel only charge their normal rates to call a 020 geographical number,unless you have inclusive 020 minutes.

I think stluke023 was trying to warn people about calls of over an hour to the 020 number (i.e. TT charge 5p [or is it 5.5p?] for the first hour to any UK 01/02 number off peak but, like BT, they then charge per minute if you don't hang up and dial again).

But, as hurrah usefully points out below, stluke023's other thread shows he/she did not mean that at all. In fact, BT would charge the same for the call to the 020 number btwn 06:00 & 18:00 Mon-Frid (it's an ordinary geographical call after all).

hurrah

Heinz wrote:

I think stluke023 was trying to warn people about calls of over an hour to the 020 number (i.e. TT charge 5p [or is it 5.5p?] for the first hour to any UK 01/02 number off peak but, like BT, they then charge per minute if you don't hang up and dial again).

Perhaps not.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=312975

redux

How do new providers get added to the Callchecker?

Most of those featured are for use from landlines, but for calling from mobiles, on networks that do not have the 0844 or 07744 numbers in inclusive minutes, there isn't that much choice there; not much more than a couple of text-top-up services or 18185/1899/18866 accounts.

Also, people might want to use a landline that they cannot add in advance to a 18185 account, or from a callbox


I've found a couple of services that are not mentioned at all on here or a couple of other forum sites I read, and there are some others that are interesting that have been mentioned on other threads, but are not in the Callchecker and have just as cheap rates as some that are.

There don't seem to be many calling card providers for example, even though many are longer established than a couple of services that were first spammed on here by people who'd supposedly received an email from a friend who'd used them for weeks, but actually they appeared here on the very day of launch.

Of the unknown ones I've found, one uses a prefix from landlines or has other access numbers too, and another that is like a one-shot calling card. Both could make some calls cheaper than providers listed in the callchecker; the later one undercuts about 80% of the tariffs I compared at random, but needs some more research into account life and other charges ...

On a previous version of a discussion thread like this, Martin said that new providers would not be added unless they had some particular rate that was the cheapest. I think that because of restricted choice from either mobiles, or callboxes, or via a landline that you are visiting but do not want to incur charges on (so can't use callthrough and maybe don't have chance to add the caller ID to a 18185 account), then more of these might need to be added.

I have no connection at all with the unknown products I'm talking about, but it seems sometimes difficult to discuss such matters without accusations being made. In the past, some comments about new providers have been challenged as spam, paradoxically by some persons that only ever support one group of companies, and who are prone to slagging off the call quality of others.

Several months ago I made a thread listing 07744 providers and saying that they had different destinations possible. As a result I received a series of abusive PMs speculating on my sexlife or supposed failed agency for a certain rival company that had reduced its range of destinations. So I was more glad than most when Martin revised his 07744 article and added other providers ...

Examples of cheap call rates unlisted in Callchecker - Costa Rica Mobile 2.5p, Ghana Mobile 2.27p, India Mobile 1.66p, Jamaica Mobile 5p, Jordan Mobile 2.5p, Kenya Mobile 7.1p

buglawton

Ooh what a tease!

redux

What I forgot to include in that post was about the retrograde shift of many companies towards per minute billing.

It doesn't matter on call rates of 0.5p a minute, but on 5 or 10 pence a minute with call connect fees as well, it may well be that per second billing of apparently higher tariffs could work out cheaper for short calls.

oriental

I use 0844calls access number 08444 62 3838 to call Pakistan at 2p/minute quite regualrly from BT line at work.
since yesterday when i try to use the above access number message says it is no longer possible to call pakistan at this special rate but can call at 5p/minute using adifferant access number.
I am also using the same 2p/m access number from my Home BT line and that is still 2p/minute( i use this less regularly).
my friends can also still use this access number from home
I have concluded from this that although 0844calls website still says 2p/minute to pakistan if you use this access number heavily from a line them your line gets barred.I have tried 141 to withold my number but same result.
I have also used my fax line at work(BT line but not used for calls regularly) and it is still possible to call using 2p number.
I would welcome other people's experience about using this service.

alan99_2

redux wrote:

What I forgot to include in that post was about the retrograde shift of many companies towards per minute billing.

It doesn't matter on call rates of 0.5p a minute, but on 5 or 10 pence a minute with call connect fees as well, it may well be that per second billing of apparently higher tariffs could work out cheaper for short calls.

I use Tiscali for 0844 calls. AFAIK same per min as BT. Second billing. No connection fee. 5p minimum call charge. (awaiting first bill) Saving money on calls to Uk mobiles via 0844. Have asked and got Tiscali to 1615 me rather than CPS. I have bband with them.

SlowlyGettingThere_2

I'm a little confused, using the International Call Checker, is the rate the only amount you pay, or will BT(which I'm using) have its own charge aswell when using 0844 Calls (0844 439 9898)?

I use 0844 to call Kenya, and India landlines, both destinations are 3p per minute.

Any help woud be appreciated.

Heinz

SlowlyGettingThere wrote:

I'm a little confused, using the International Call Checker, is the rate the only amount you pay, or will BT(which I'm using) have its own charge aswell when using 0844 Calls (0844 439 9898)?

I use 0844 to call Kenya, and India landlines, both destinations are 3p per minute.

Any help woud be appreciated.

Using a BT landline, you dial the 0844 gateway number and, at the moment you reach the gateway (i.e. when the voice prompt tells you to start dialling your 'target' number), BT charge you a 3p 'call set-up fee' and start charging you 3p per minute.

That means that, if your 'target' number is engaged or dialling it fails, BT will have charged you the 3p 'call set-up fee' plus 3p per minute up until the moment at which you hang up.

There are no other charges, the cost of the call (connected or not, see above) is charged by BT and appears on your BT bill.