Telewest connection fee and call18185 etc.

Viking_Man

Sorry probably someone asked this before but I can't find it. I have Telewest for my phone service. I am looking at the prefix number providers liike call18185 etc. There seem to be basically two kinds:

A) Services like 1899 and call18185 where I sign up and I pay the fees to the override provider from my bank account, but the access number is a Freephone number (e.g. 0808 1 703 703 for call18185).

Services like 0844calls and Phonecheap where I dial an 0844 access number, or an 0870/1 access number, and I am billed by Telewest for that call.

Is this basically how it works?

Do I have to pay Telewest's 6p connection fee for both of these types of services, or just for the second type? In other words do I pay (for example) the call18185 connection fee PLUS 6p to Telewest, or just the call18185 connection fee?

c_smith

I'm with Telewest and route all my calls through Call1899. You are NOT charged a connection fee by Telewest for doing this, as the number you call to access Call1899's service is a freephone one.

I use Call 1899 for landline calls Monday to Friday and for mobile calls all week. Make sure if you're calling landline numbers midnight Friday through to midnight Sunday, you just call direct on the Telewest line as they're free at weekends with Telewest.

mobilegossip

If you dial 0844/0845/0870/0871 from your Cable Supplier they will bill you,they will raise a connection charge of 6p and they may charge a different per minute rate then the one shown on the dial through providers eg Phonecheap,as these rates and the announcements on them are the cost of a call from a BT line.So you need to check your cable suppliers tariff for these numbers.

A couple of other suppliers who supply cheap calls to cable customers are

https://www.phone.coop

http://www.firsttelecom.com/residential/residential-paymonthly-saverCS.htm

bbb_uk

For those with Telewest/NTL, it is best to use Call1899 for geographical calls (01 or 02) monday to friday. During the weekends use Telewest because geographical calls are free.

For calls to non-geographical numbers (084x/087x) numbers then it is cheaper to use Call18185 than use Telewest/NTL.

To save the trouble of having to remember to dial either Call1899/18185's freephone numbers, I would recommend getting a Least Cost Routing dialler box from Orchid Electronics (more info here). It would allow you to setup all different types of call routing based on time of day and type of call, and can even be used to block certain type of calls.

UPDATE:

Amended cheapest supplier for calls to geographicals during the daytime from Call18185 to Call1899.

Viking_Man

I'm with Telewest and route all my calls through Call1899. You are NOT charged a connection fee by Telewest for doing this, as the number you call to access Call1899's service is a freephone one.

I just rang the Telewest helpline and they told me clearly that there is a connection fee, even for a freephone number So the connection fee for Telewest users to call18185 is 10p in total, 6p to Telewest and 4p to call18185. That makes call18185 fairly uneconomical for short calls.

bbb_uk

Viking_Man wrote:

Could I also use the Orchid dialler to access 0844 prefix number services such as Phoencheap?

You can but remember that you would pay Telewest rates for the number concerned (including their expensive 6p connection fee) and which may NOT be the rate that the likes of phonecheap advertise because phonecheap's rate is only applicable from a BT landline.

Generally though, because of TW/NTL's connection fee and the fact that in most cases it's hard to know how much TW/NTL's charge for calls to 0844 because they vary in price, it may still be worth considering using Call18185 even if it may only be 1ppm or so dearer than the likes of override providers like phonecheap but at least with Call18185, you know how much you are paying including connection fee whereas TW/NTL, it's nearly impossible unless you ask them but beware it's not uncommon for them to give wrong advice out.

Telewest's different call charges can be found here (.pdf format). I'm afraid not all type of numbers are easily identifiable because you need to know what Telewest would class that certain type of call under.

Is it possible that one day Telewest will decide they don't like losing business to the override providers, and block their freephone access numbers or apply a fee to those numbers? Is there anything to stop Telewest doing this?

No, there is nothing stopping Telewest from doing this as they have near enough complete control over their prices. BT on the otherhand, is still under some (albeit not as much as before) regulation in that they have to provide access to all types of numbers, etc.

lilac_lady

Can you use 18185 for cheaper overseas calls? Would telewest charge a connection fee for them?

Viking_Man

Hi bbb_uk sorry I edited my previous post after you replied to it. It seems Telewest does charge a connection fee, even for freephone numbers, which is (to put it mildly) rather mean of them. I wonder if they charge a connection fee for 999 calls as well?!

mobilegossip

Viking_Man wrote:

Hi bbb_uk sorry I edited my previous post after you replied to it. It seems Telewest does charge a connection fee, even for freephone numbers, which is (to put it mildly) rather mean of them. I wonder if they charge a connection fee for 999 calls as well?!

Sorry Telewest do not raise a connection charge for calls to 0500/0800/0808 FreePhone Numbers.

bbb_uk

Viking_Man wrote:

Hi bbb_uk sorry I edited my previous post after you replied to it. It seems Telewest does charge a connection fee, even for freephone numbers, which is (to put it mildly) rather mean of them. I wonder if they charge a connection fee for 999 calls as well?!

As mentioned by mobilegossip, I think the connection fee is only for chargable calls. Freephone numbers and calls to geographicals at the weekend (when it's free) are not subject to the connection fee.

lilac_lady wrote:

Can you use 18185 for cheaper overseas calls? Would telewest charge a connection fee for them?

Providing you use 18185's freephone number then you only pay the rate advertised by Call18185.

Viking_Man

mobilegossip wrote:

Sorry Telewest do not raise a connection charge for calls to 0500/0800/0808 FreePhone Numbers.

I really hope that's true, but I rang the Telewest helpline 5 minutes ago and specifically asked "is there a connection fee for freephone numbers" and was told that, yes there is