Mobile Override Discussion Area

System

Erm........Martin, are you sure? I think not.
I would check with OneTel for the cost of calling 0871 numbers.

MSE_Martin

Always like to be challenged

Most people on override are on the the international talk option for their override calls (though do check)

The telestunt number for calling mobiles is 0871 99etc

The One-Tel charge for such is listed on this page http://www.onetel.co.uk/index.php/callrates/plan,internationaltalk/view,nongeo/show,8719

It is 10p/min

martin

System

A new bit of information for my mental database.

System

MARTIN:

When I got my first mobile phone a few years ago I was already aware of indirect service providers that could route calls from mobile phones via ‘freephone’ numbers. I think I have become a bit of an ‘expert’ on this topic since.

At that time Orange ‘Pay As You Go’ and Orange contract customers could benefit from indirect service providers. I believe One-Two-One contract mobile users could also benefit. But, seemingly, One-Two-One was quicker at barring access to freephone numbers used by indirect service providers than Orange so using an indirect service provider was unreliable with One-Two-One. I believe that One-Two-One’s successor, T-Mobile, now charges for all freephone numbers.

About 2 years ago Orange started charging their ‘Pay As You Go’ customers for access to freephone numbers; this meant that I had to look for an alternative. I switched to a Virgin ‘Pay As You Go’ (which used the One-Two-One network) but, unlike, One-Two-One ‘Pay As You Go’ customer access to freephone numbers was free.

But, within a short while, Virgin started charging for access to freephone numbers so I switched to an Orange OVP that matched the Virgin tariff. Curiously, Orange allowed free access to freephone numbers for about a year after the Virgin tariff they were matching actually starting charging for it! I still have the Orange OVP (Virgin) sim card and use it to access my voice mail on other orange phones as voicemail on the OVP (Virgin) tariff is free!

But, in April 2003, Orange started charging for access to freephone numbers on the OVP (Virgin) tariff. This left me with no alternative but to switch to an Orange contract plan in order to continue with cheap calls.

Note: Although Orange warn their ‘Pay As You Go’ customers that calls to ‘freephone’ as chargeable there is no similar warning to Orange OVP (Virgin) customers!

My current Indirect Service Provider charges me just 2p/min+vat at all times for calls to UK landline numbers and 0845 numbers (per minute billing) from my mobile phone (I have no landline). I access their service via a freephone number. There is no connection charge or any other overheads to make a call. Overseas calls are also cheap but certainly not the cheapest on the market. I do not have to enter any password or customer number as the service automatically recognises my phone number.

I pay for the service by debit card and this is done automatically when the balance on my account falls to £5. The company also offers a postpay service which gives cheaper international calls but this is not available to those who only have a mobile registered with them.

Their freephone number has never been blocked by Orange and, if it were, they have no means of changing the access number. Hence my reticence in advertising the company name on this site!

I can tell you that I also used to use phone cards from Telecom Plus on my mobile. The service was unreliable and there were several errors in the pricing tables. For instance all calls to Hull – where I live – were free and calls to 0845 numbers cost more than calls to 0870 numbers. Calls to ships at sea via the Inmarsat satellite were just 5p/min instead of £5/minute! Most other inland calls were 3.5p/min day, 1.8p/min evening and 1.7p/min weekends. The service eventually disappeared.

System

In my previous post I said I used an overrider which charged just 2p/min+VAT (per minute billing) for calls from mobile phones. I thought this was the cheapest and certainly cheaper than anything mentioned on this site.

I have just switched to another overrider (which has been mentioned in this site but without mention of any averride from mobile phones) which charges just 0.5p/min (per second billing) plus 1p connection charge for calls from mobile phones.

Luckily, Orange does not charge yet for the access number but, as the overrider cannot change the access number I cannot publish their name or number here.

The new overrider also bills me in arrears (rather than advance) but still charges the bill to my debit card.

System

Just noticed that my new overrider charges 10p/min for calls to UK mobiles on weekdays and just 2p at weekends! That matches or beats the 0871 service described by Martin and you don't get charged until you are connected to the mobile (unlike the 0871 service)!

My overrider charges just 1p/min to call US Landlines or mobiles!

comdw

I've been locked into an Orange OVP O2 400 tariff (OSPS cashback deal) for the last 4 months and can now change my tariff to any other Orange one.

I was all set to change to the cheapest Orange tariff to take advantage of mobile override, when I realised that an OVP T-Mobile tariff could be cheaper for someone like me who only makes occasional calls and sends text messages. My reasoning is:

Orange yourplan 30 + 60 texts = £19 per month
T-mobile Freetime 750 + 50 text = £13.99 per month

T-mobile doesn't allow free access to 0800 numbers, but it does charge ONLY 10p for calls to 0870 and 0871 numbers at any time, which means you can use telestunt directly (I think this is something not that commonly known - other operators tend to charge at least the standard peak rate for 0870/1 calls).

The T-mobile tariff doesn't come with any peak or x-net minutes included, but the £5 I save on the line rental can be used on 50 mins worth of telestunt calls (more than the 30 x-net I'm getting with orange).

The only calls that would be more expensive would be peak landline calls (as I'd still have to use telestunt at 10p), but as I don't make many calls anyway I don't think I'd lose out, and I think the 750 off peak landline minutes included far outweighs this.

Have I missed anything in my thoughts here?

In summary, for people who don't make many calls but are forced into a contract, Orange with override won't necessarily be the cheapest option.

pennymakespounds

i tried last week to downgrade to the £10 month data tariff .. and was going to just stop using the phone for the balance of the 12 months but orange wouldn't let me saying they'd closed that loophole.
I went for the freetime 750 option as next best thing.

allthatmularky

Thanks for that COMDW - but I fail to understand a couple of points
1) Are you not paying 2 lots of 10p per minute - 10p to T mobile and 10p to Telestunt ? So effectively 20p per minute.
2) How do you use this - just dial the no. then the mobile no. ?

I use T mobile 750 tariff and if this works at 10p a minute will be excellent.

comdw

Thanks for that COMDW - but I fail to understand a couple of points
1) Are you not paying 2 lots of 10p per minute - 10p to T mobile and 10p to Telestunt ? So effectively 20p per minute.
2) How do you use this - just dial the no. then the mobile no. ?

 I use T mobile 750 tariff and if this works at 10p a minute will be excellent.

You don't need an account with telestunt to use the service - they recoup all their costs through the 0870/1 charging. Check out http://www.telestunt.co.uk/ - note you can use the mobile access number for your peak landline calls too as it will be the same price as the 0845 number that telestunt provide specifically for this purpose, then you only have to store one telestunt number in your phone.

Its also worth mentioning that if you need to call other mobiles over the weekend, you can use an override provider that uses a landline access number (e.g. onetel) for even cheaper calls, provided you have enough of those 750 free minutes left!

Weekday evenings OneTel charge over 10p to all mobiles except vodafone (6.6p), so telestunt is still the way to go most of the time.