18185 increase cost of 0845 calls.

OldGreyFox

I notice that www.18185.co.uk have increased the cost of evening and weekend 0845 calls from half a pence a minute to 3p a minute.

DonnyDave

OldGreyFox wrote: »

I notice that www.18185.co.uk have increased the cost of evening and weekend 0845 calls from half a pence a minute to 3p a minute.

This is perhaps as a result of less people using the service at weekends due to having inclusive 0845 calls with BT and some others.

1carminestocky

Isn't that a 600% increase?? 8p charge for 1st minute? 3 one minute calls a day to 0845 through 18185 and you'd be better off with a 24/7 inclusive calls package...wouldn't you?

moonrakerz

1carminestocky wrote: »

Isn't that a 600% increase?? 8p charge for 1st minute? 3 one minute calls a day to 0845 through 18185 and you'd be better off with a 24/7 inclusive calls package...wouldn't you?

It's a 500% increase.

OldGreyFox

I have an account with them and as per normal they dont appear to have notified customers of the increases.

jblackmore

I just noticed this, and was a bit miffed.
I use 0845 for occasional dial up internet (probably around 10 minutes a week), any suggestions on cheaper override providers ??

Also, anyone know what BTs current 0845 rate is, I am looking at https://www.bt.com and none the wiser ;-)

UPDATE; 20 minutes later fighting the BT website I think 0845 calls cost 8p setup + 2p/min daytime 0.5p/min evenings/weekends ??

So BT is cheaper for calls over 4 mins, I guess I will have to stop using 18185 for these calls !

Shame as 18185 being cheapest for everything was easy to remember, now I will use them less !

Heinz

jblackmore wrote: »

UPDATE; 20 minutes later fighting the BT website I think 0845 calls cost 8p setup + 2p/min daytime 0.5p/min evenings/weekends?

Yes, that appears to be the case. In fact, anybody who has BT line rental should at least get 'free' (inclusive) 0845 calls of up to 60 minutes each at the weekend so, apart from the call set-up fee, BT appears to be the cheapest for 0845 calls at all times now (2p/minute weekday daytimes, ½p/minute weekday evenings and inclusive at weekends).

Geoff_W

My fixed line is with Virgin Media (formerly ntl) and I have always used 18185 for calls, except at the weekend for 01, 02 etc. It's very useful when calling relatives in Australia (2p/min).

But I was very disappointed to see the 0845 rate increase so dramatically from 0.5p/min to 3p/min.

VM are increasing their call costs again from 1 Oct after just increasing them in August. I think the providers are clawing back from fixed-line customers the revenue they have been forced to lose by the EU ruling on mobile roaming charges.

Geoff

1carminestocky

Here's my take on why all the prices are risng (and no criticism implied, BTW, we all must do what we can to pay as little as poss for stuff): BT are leaking cash on account of having to allow companies like 18185 to be used. They then have to regularly increase all their prices across the board to try and save their margins and, of course, just about all the 'alternative' suppliers like talktalk, Sky and Virgin, because they are basically rip-off merchants, feel entirely justified in raising their prices in line with BTs.

1carminestocky

moonrakerz wrote: »

It's a 500% increase.

My maths is and always has been the crappest of the crap. No other way to describe it.

buglawton

Virgin Media now charge 10p per min for a weekend 0845 call!
Skype charge about 9p at any time!

So now it really pays to look up a landline alternative on Saynoto0870