Call 18866 >and< Ratebuster

markcramer

This site is great!

In the last month we have shifted from BT and Onetel (no CPS) to Onetel with CPS for free weekend calls, and 18866 and 1899 for cheap weekday, 0845, 0870 and international to Australia calls.

I have tried Ratebuster to get 1p a minute to Australia, but the line quality was hopeless and both BT and Onetel seem to have a ~5p minimum call charge, so a one minute unintelligible call to OZ was 5p

Does anyone know if you can dial through 18866, then Ratebuster (or Telesavers/Cheapestcalls) then the OZ number, to get 1p connection and 1p a minute? This would be cheaper if the call is going to be short (<5 mins) or if we get a rubbish line and have to redial.

18866 08447202020 006173.....

Memory buttons on phones are >really< handy. :-)

Steve_xx

You can't call 0844 via 18866.com.

If you could, then you would hit the same exchange lines that you said were of poor quality, wouldn't you?

Try Cheapest Calls, they charge only 1p per minute to Oz landlines:

http://www.cheapestcalls.co.uk/index2.php

derrick

This site is great!

In the last month we have shifted from BT and Onetel (no CPS) to Onetel with CPS for free weekend calls, and 18866 and 1899 for cheap weekday, 0845, 0870 and international to Australia calls.

It is cheaper to use B.T. for 0845/0870 numbers, and better to use TalkTalk as they are offering free weekend and evening calls for 12 months without subscription,as agains Onetels wekend only free calls

markcramer

It doesn't always help that BT are cheaper for 0845/0870 numbers if the offices you are calling aren't open nights and weekends, for daytime use call1899 is cheapest.

I think it would be still worth calling 0844 nos through 18866 because the calls should be cheaper if no one is home and you get answerphone instead, after all who leaves 5 minute long messages on answerphones.

I think I'll just try it and see what happens, for short calls it should be cheaper than routing through BT or Onetel's 5p minimum.

And we are here to save money after all. :-)

Steve_xx

markcramer

I refer you to my earlier answer, ie you cannot call 0844 via 18866.com

derrick

It doesn't always help that BT are cheaper for 0845/0870 numbers if the offices you are calling aren't open nights and weekends, for daytime use call1899 is cheapest.

From 1899 website  UK (0845 Local) 3
UK (0870 National) 7

B.T.  0845  3p per min   Mon-Fri daytime
B.T.   0870  7.5p per min  "     "      "

Plus 0844 will charge 5p minimum even if you don`t get through to the number you are calling, i.e number unobtainable,this is charged from when you connect to there service

olap_2

Have you guys heard of the V4 dialler?

http://www.orchid-electronics.com/v4dialler.htm

I use TalkTalk (1 year free offpeak landland calls to UK,USA,Canada and Australia).
I got someone to recommend me and between us we got £20 each and I use the V4 dialler to route all my calls to other numbers

markcramer

I know TalkTalk say you can get free evening calls for a year, but in their T&C it says:

11.4 Free Calls are only available to UK residential customers who use TalkTalk as their sole call provider (as far as is possible under the TalkTalk service).

So if you're subscribed to TalkTalk and using other access codes, you're violating their T&C's and the could drop you if they realise it.

I find myself checking prices about once a week and adjusting our 'Who to use table' by the phone as needed.

Boy has our phone bill gone down this month. :-)

miken

Olap
Which dialler did you choose. Is it easy to program and looking back on it, is it a good investment??

Galstonian

I wonder what the regulator might say about the condition that you cannot use another provider if you choose TalkTalk? Anyone know if this clause is permitted?

Steve_xx

TalkTalk would never know if you were using another provider, since BT carry the call for them anyway. Also, it is well known that TalkTalk don't carry all types of calls anyway, so you automatically have to use another operator, usually BT, to route certain calls, ie 0800 0808 freephone.