Calls to Sweden 28 July 2006 at 10:52AM in Phones & TV 14 replies 889 views

Ashropshirelady

Hi..........I'm a newbie with a question:A

What is the cheapest way of making phone calls to Sweden from UK. I notice there are companies like budgetcom etc. I have been reading the boards and I am a little confused..........worried about ending up with a huge bill as I have just had from BT.

I pay NTL £10 pm for free landline calls using a prefix. Can I use this prefix, then the access number? Does this mean I get the call completely free? Or do I have to go through BT? Seems to good to be true.

Can someone help me out of this confused state please????:j

Heinz

Welcome to the MSE forums.

You'll find the below link useful.

http://callchecker.moneysavingexpert.com/intcallchecker/

Bear in mind though that the prices quoted thereon are from a BT residential landline.

Ashropshirelady

Thank you for the welcome!
I did look at that but I am still confused as to how they make their money. Could I route them through ntl? What charges will I incur through BT if I use them?

Heinz

Ashropshirelady wrote:

Thank you for the welcome!
I did look at that but I am still confused as to how they make their money. Could I route them through ntl? What charges will I incur through BT if I use them?

If you call from a BT residential landline, you will pay exactly what it says on that link (i.e. 0.5p per minute for calls to Sweden using Budgetcom's 0844 number). That's subject to BT's minimum call charge of 5.5p or course (i.e. if the target Swedish number is engaged, you'll pay 5.5p anyway because the call starts when you start dialling the 00 part of the call).

I don't know what NTL would charge for such a call but, TBH, I'd strongly advise against doing that because I've seen so many horror stories about people being charged £0.5 instead of 0.5p per minute because of errors in other firms' accounting systems.

I don't understand the NTL £10 part of your original post. Are you saying you have a BT landline (BT Together Option 1 @ £11/month rental) but send your calls out via NTL using a 4 or 5 digit prefix?

If so, are you sure that's worthwhile? On a BT line, you could make 333 calls to UK 01/02 numbers for that amount using www.call1899.co.uk and, of course, you'd only pay for the calls you made if you didn't make that many calls in a month and nothing when you're away on holiday.

twist3d

If you both have computers then you could try using a program called skype. If you both have it and you can get free calls. SKype also gives you pretty damned cheap calls all over the world if the recipient isnt using skype.

littleange

You can phone Sweden for free using this software upto 300 minutes a week.

I've just downloaded it and installed it and seems to work ok calling UK landlines.

BexTech

littleange_com wrote:

You can phone Sweden for free using this software upto 300 minutes a week.

I've just downloaded it and installed it and seems to work ok calling UK landlines.

It's run by the same people behind about 20+ other VoIP services such as VoIP Buster, VoIP Stunt VoIP Cheap etc, I've never had any problems.

Ashropshirelady

I called Sweden last night at 8.00ish and talked for 39.47 minutes using the Budgetcom system. When I looked at my BT bill on line I had been charged
£1.020. Surely that's not right.

I did the call correctly using a BT line, dialled the Budgetcom number and then entered Swedish number and pressed the hash key as requested. What did I do wrong?

Heinz

Ashropshirelady wrote:

I called Sweden last night at 8.00ish and talked for 39.47 minutes using the Budgetcom system. When I looked at my BT bill on line I had been charged
£1.020. Surely that's not right.

I did the call correctly using a BT line, dialled the Budgetcom number and then entered Swedish number and pressed the hash key as requested. What did I do wrong?

No, it's not right if you used the 0844 200 40 40 number from a BT residential landline. BT's charge for calling 0844 200 xxxx numbers is clearly shown as 'g22' rate on its own price list.

BT appear to have wrongly charged you @ 'g10' rate - 3p/minute incl. VAT because £1.02 + VAT = £1.1985.

Complain!

Ashropshirelady

Thank you for the reply. Loolking at the bill the Swedish number is actually showing up not the Budgetcom number. I did go through the system, I know I did. So...........has BT got it wrong or is there a glitch in the system?

Yasmin x

BexTech

Somehow you didn't go through Budgetcom, there would be no way BT could charge you for a call to Sweeden if you had got onto the Budgetcom system.