Broadband Telephone - no call charges

Edinburghlass_2

On first reading this I thought the OP meant that the £29.95 included their broadband use, however on reading further and had a look at the website it appears to me that the £29.95 is purely and simply for telephone calls.

This then means that there is line rental to be added to the £29.95 and your broadband provider to be paid which, to me, makes it horrendously expensive.

As a previous poster pointed out that means a lot of calls must be made over the month to "get your moneys' worth". For the majority of people reading this I wouldn't think this is a moneysaving option.

Using the BT Option 1 for line rental, TalkTalk Option 2 for calls and 18866 for daytime UK calls, mobile and international calls my monthly bill is hard pushed to reach £15 per month AND I am not paying for something that I wouldn't be using when on holiday. (and I don't have to put up with muffled calls )

edited to add: Just noticed that the International calls are only to USA and Canada whereas I call NZ at least twice a week for an hour or so at a time and my 18866 bill for the past three months is £10. Even at the rate I can talk on the phone sometimes I doubt I could speak for 24 hours

blogdime

heyhum wrote:

£29.99 for a VoIP service? You're being seriously ripped off!

How do you figure that? I just use my exisiting phone and can call any mobile or landline within the plan for no extra charge. The other VoiP services I've seen all rely on you using a computer instead of normal telephones, plus there is per minute charges on top. Also there's an option to use wireless VoiP phones on the same account, provided of course you can get into a wireless network somewhere.

Edinburghlass_2

blogdime wrote:

How do you figure that? I just use my exisiting phone and can call any mobile or landline within the plan for no extra charge.

You just lost me now as in your first post you say you just took delivery of a broadband phone (?) that plugs into a small box then you use your normal phone, so what is a broadband phone? And is there an extra charge for that?

blogdime

edinburghlass wrote:

You just lost me now as in your first post you say you just took delivery of a broadband phone (?) that plugs into a small box then you use your normal phone, so what is a broadband phone? And is there an extra charge for that?

No extra charge. I'm using my normal DECT cordless phone plugged into the box that came with the service. I suppose what I meant was that the box turns my analogue telephone into a broadband telephone, so I don't use the computer to make a call - something my mum can understand! I'm also looking at these new combination WiFi/mobile phones...

blogdime

edinburghlass wrote:

On first reading this I thought the OP meant that the £29.95 included their broadband use, however on reading further and had a look at the website it appears to me that the £29.95 is purely and simply for telephone calls.

This then means that there is line rental to be added to the £29.95 and your broadband provider to be paid which, to me, makes it horrendously expensive.

As a previous poster pointed out that means a lot of calls must be made over the month to "get your moneys' worth". For the majority of people reading this I wouldn't think this is a moneysaving option.

Using the BT Option 1 for line rental, TalkTalk Option 2 for calls and 18866 for daytime UK calls, mobile and international calls my monthly bill is hard pushed to reach £15 per month AND I am not paying for something that I wouldn't be using when on holiday. (and I don't have to put up with muffled calls )

edited to add: Just noticed that the International calls are only to USA and Canada whereas I call NZ at least twice a week for an hour or so at a time and my 18866 bill for the past three months is £10. Even at the rate I can talk on the phone sometimes I doubt I could speak for 24 hours

I agree this combination seems good - I've had a look at 18866 and it seems OK. I suppose the service I'm using comes into its own when speaking for long periods to USA or Canada. I've a sister in Nova Scotia and my mum speaks to her every other day from my phone....

Edinburghlass_2

blogdime wrote:

I agree this combination seems good - I've had a look at 18866 and it seems OK. I suppose the service I'm using comes into its own when speaking for long periods to USA or Canada. I've a sister in Nova Scotia and my mum speaks to her every other day from my phone....

Exactly blogdime, its each to his own, but I would urge all MSE'rs to check every angle before committing to any "contract".

I helped a newbie yesterday with a package deal for broadband and all day UK calls for £24.95 but when I pointed out that if he signed for 18866 for his daytime calls that would be roughly £60 worth of calls over the year that he might not use! I'm not saying that he will save £60 but the possibility is he will save perhaps £30.

Edinburghlass_2

And now it would appear that you can call via 1899 to USA and Canada for just the 3p connection charge

See the thread here

You just never know where the next bargain is coming from in the telephone game

blogdime

18866 charges 12p minute connect to mobile phones - so this service is way cheaper. Last night a 36 minute call via 18866 to a UK mobile number cost:

Time: 0:36:34 Cost: 4.3979

On this basis I would recoup the entire cost of the monthly subscription after 6 calls like this, and I can still call USA & UK mobiles.

andy88_2

I'd say if you call UK mobiles for 2 or 3 hours a day, you've got a serious bargain, but you're a rare type of user.

Anyone else could think of a few hundred minutes to mobiles by using a mobile for those calls, with one or more of the many offers around (other threads may point you towards 500 min a month on 3, or 200 or 400 on Orange)

US and Canada mobiles are the same price as landlines (3p from 1899).

With other voip providers you can get 1000 min UK landlines for £5.90, or 1000 minutes to 19 countries for £5.

You can even get 3000 min a month to landlines and T-mobile from T-mobile for £15 +vat. One dealer will give you a free Dell PC with this.