Orchid routing tables

Galstonian

These have been mentioned several times and many people have suggested sharing them. As I have just purchased a new dialler for a relative and have just taken the time to transcribe the routing table I thought I might as well share it with everyone


Code Attribute Day Night Weekend
0 A 1 0 0
*2*9 L 1 0 0
07 A 2 2 2
084 A 2 2 2
087 A 2 2 2
00 A 2 2 2
001 A 2 0 0
0019 A 2 0 0
0061 A 1 0 0
070 A 1 1 1

999 E 0 0 0
1471 E 0 0 0
1571 E 0 0 0
0500 E 0 0 0
0800 E 0 0 0

121 T 0 0 0

141 S 0 0 0
1470 S 0 0 0

09 B 0 0 0


The routing codes and attributes are those available in the CW client. The Day/Night/Weekend numbers are my carrier codes.
The carriers are 0: Talk Talk, 1: 18866 and 2:1899, obviously if you use different carriers then the cheapest call options may differ.

If anyone has a better way of sharing this information or thinks there is a better way of setting things up then please let me know.

A narrative of what I tried to achieve:

999,1471,1571,0500 and 0800 calls are not routed.

All offpeak and weekend calls to local, national, US, Canadian and Australian numbers go through TalkTalk.

All 0845, 0870, international and mobile calls as well as peak time calls to US and Canada go through 1899.

All personal number (070) calls as well as peak local, national and Austalian calls go through 18866.

Premium calls (09) are barred.

I'm not too sure if I need an override but thought I'd leave 121 in there.

141 and 1470 are special handling codes for witholding/enabling CLI.

I would have added directory enquiries but One.Tel are no longer accepting "prefix" customers, they insist on carrier pre-select being used so I guess I'll stick to internet enquiries

Galstonian

Just realised 0845/0870 calls are not always cheapest with 1899. I avoid these numbers anyway using the geographic equivalent numbers wherever possible but it is worth noting.

For 0870 calls, BT and TalkTalk charge the same for weekdays and evenings. During these times 1899 is only a little cheaper for calls over 5 minutes (you can save about 13p on a 30 minute call). As the savings are not particularly significant it is probably best to go with BT or TalkTalk for these calls (and avoid excessively long ones). As I have a £20 credit for signing up with TalkTalk I will probably use it up with these. At weekends BT is always cheapest so the 1280 override can be used to drop the calls back to BT if required.

For 0845 calls BT are always cheapest (or joint cheapest) so always use BT for 0845 by using the 1280 override.

I have now set up a third carrier - 3: 1280 CPS Override which will take me back to BT and altered these two lines:

084 A 2 2 2
087 A 2 2 2

to:

0845 A 0 0 0
0870 A 0 0 0

When my credit with Talk Talk has been exhauasted I will change this to:

0845 A 3 3 3
0870 A 0 0 3

Toxteth_OGrady

I see you have all your 07... mobile calls routed to 18866 day/night/weekend. When I last set up my table (a while ago I must admit and I haven't checked prices since) I routed 07... to 1899 day/night and 18866 weekend.

Another little trick to save even more is when I realised that if I added the three mobile numbers I used most frequently to my TalkTalk Calling Circle, then routing these through TT for day/night worked out cheaper than both 1899 and 18866. To get this to work in the dialler I asked Orchid to add three custom routing codes on the server for me to add to my table.

I didn't want to publish my numbers in full so what I did was chop off the last 3 digits to make the routing code; i.e. enough to allow my dialler to distinguish these 3 numbers sufficiently to have their own routing to TT but still allow all other 07... numbers to be routed to 1899/18866.

So if for example your most used mobile is 07xxx-yyyzzz, put this in your TT calling circle and then ask Orchid to add a routing code 07xxx-yyy (leave off the zzz). You can then set this to (using your example):

A 0 0 1

TOG

8)

Galstonian

Thanks, I'm glad someone else understands what I'm up to

Note: I actually do have all 070 calls (aka personal numbers) going through 18866 but all 07 numbers (this should include all mobiles) going through 1899.

You are quite right, 1899 is cheaper during the day.  However, evenings and weekends will depend on call length; lots of short calls then 18866 is cheaper, if you make a few longer calls then 1899 could very quickly work out better.

On the calling circle I'm not sure it will work.  Calling circle numbers get a 10% discount (or 20% for one prime number).  A 20% discount on the cheapest TalkTalk mobile rate (to O2) equates to 9.6p/m (cheaper than 1899) but a 10% discount results in a rate of 10.8p/m (dearer than 1899).  Obviously length of call will matter too because of the 3p charge but for other operators TalkTalk are always dearer, e.g. Voda with a 10% discount is still 13.5p/m.

Toxteth_OGrady

My prime number in my TT CC is my most frequently called mobile number.

The calls made are invariably less than a minute, such as 'Where are you?' and 'What time you gonna be home?' So it is more cost effective for me to route calls the way I described.

Have to agree that calls > 3 mins to a mobile would be cheaper using 1899/18866 than TTCC Prime Number but I don't generally make calls of that length to that particular mobile.

It all serves to demonstrate the flexibility of the product and the fact that the routing is totally transparent to anyone making the phonecall. As far as they know they're just dialling a regular number. That's the great attraction in that it's incredibly easy once you've got it setup.

8)

TOG

System

Writing as someone who is extremely tempted to buy an Orchid, can I say that after reading and not understanding all the above, thank f they do it for you for £2. !!!

Galstonian

It is not entirely intuitive I'll grant you that but, once you have the software in front of you, it is just a matter of plugging all those numbers into a spreadsheet like interface.

Toxteth_OGrady

Writing as someone who is extremely tempted to buy an Orchid, can I say that after reading and not understanding all the above, thank f they do it for you for £2. !!!

I've cut my TOTAL cost of all calls (local/national/international/mobiles/0845/0870), including line rental fro my home phone from £150 per quarter to under £50. So I guess if you're in a similar position the 2 quid set-up fee will more than pay for itself.

8)

TOG

stellagypsy

I can beat you, Tox, my bill with NTL was over £250 A MONTH - thanks to son and his habit of ringing mobile phones at all hours of the day and night! I've hacked it down to about £50 in total over teh 3 CSP's I am using and am currently working on reducing it even further. This may involve breaking son's fingers! I am very interested in the recent posts about programming the dialler to bar calls to 1 particular mobile , I shall report back if / when I have sorted this out.

beeniemac

Hmm I'm having problems overiding my 118*** numbers to a specific 118 number. Anyone have any pointers?