This discussion relates to the Free International Calls from Mobiles Article

Beano

You may wish to look at Pre-Dial as an alternative to Simplyfone.

It's a similar service and whilst having a reduced destination list, it does have a good variety of access numbers:

http://www.pre-dial.com/frame_destlisto.htm

zenscara

So,having only yesterday bought an o2 phone because I thought (as was assured by shop staff) that 0844 numbers were bundled (they're not, so I guess I'll be taking that phone back tomorrow!!), I started to search for other cheap ways to call Moldova. Oh that there would be an 0870 number, because that would be bundled, but apparently there isn't one, even though you can call Mongolia through 0870 (no fair!). So today I came across this 07744 thing, and basically spent an entire day researching it, including speaking to a man at simply-fone, and exchanging emails with a guy at a similar company cheap-phonecall.co.uk... after which I managed to find this forum which would have told me all of it inside ten mins, ie that only o2 and t mobile seem definites at the moment. But since I was looking to set one up specifically to save money (I call about an hour a day!!) I can't afford to start a new contract if it might change... do you guys think that t mobile and o2 will follow suit soon? I guess maybe they will, although the very polite man at simply-fone (I think both orange and t mobile could learn from him in terms of manners!) seemed to be saying that they wouldn't, but I suppose he would say that wouldn't he. How come blipping ofcom rules only affect BT anyway?!

wizz

if u r indecisive between 02 & t-mobile

go for t-mobile.... much more obliging & they accept calls to 07744974363 :beer:

andy88_2

Somebody sent me a PM suggesting that I accused one person of being greedy. My apologies if anything I said appeared to be personal to only one.

Here is the reply I sent. I'd draw peoples attention to my remarks about people reselling these calls to fellow students.

I'm sorry if you think the comment was directed against one person.

Other people were boasting about their ability to get over £100 worth of calls free per month from a contract costing less than £50 per year. Many of the calls could have been made less obtrusively, but still from included minutes, with other providers.

Other people who thought it was too good to be true and did not understand the operation of the service contacted Orange to ask them to explain it to them, and/or explained it to Orange.

Elsewhere, I've seen people saying they had 3 or 4 contracts and were selling the minutes to fellow students. This is greed, and does not entitle the person concerned to allege rip-off by Orange.

Clearly something had to break. Orange cannot be obliged to provide the service, and have discontinued it.

My last bill contains a goodwill refund of 45p, and I'll contact them about a further 63p, so I was a low user or had already moved on I suppose.

It is still possible to use other services that Orange do not know about, and Ofcom confirmed to me that nobody is obliged to check with Orange in the manner that these people did before. One cheap calls provider told me that Orange has not recognised one of his 0800 numbers for 6 years.

edit - nb it's also possible to use some providers 0844 and 0870 access numbers from some contracts included minutes, so the whole range of possibilities has not been completely closed

zenscara

wizz wrote:

if u r indecisive between 02 & t-mobile

go for t-mobile.... much more obliging & they accept calls to 07744974363 :beer:

The problem is you get two weeks tro change your mind with o2 and not with t mobile! The man in the shop started banging on about 07744 when i just asked him about 0844 calls (!!) and he seemed to think its days were numbered. Feel like I missed out on a good deal while it was going on!

Smarty_pants

I've got 500 X network and just received my orange bill today. I've been charged for using the mobile with the simply-fone number.

mrs_3

It seems all the 07744 xxxx xxx numbers have been discontinued by the respective providers and the instruction says to dial 0871 instead from all the networks. Does anybody know which of them are still working?

charlie12

07744 974 333 still works for me. Have you tried using using a BT line?

(obviously not cost effective to use BT but just proving that the number still works)

zenscara

I have been going round in circles!!I was originally told 0844 numbers were bundled with o2 high street tariffs. This was confirmed by a call made to customer services in the shop. Then I was told by someone they'd stopped, so I checked by ringing customer services, who told me none of 0844, 0845, or 0870 were bundled BUT in my brochure the small print specifically mentions 0845 and 0870 and says they ARE, so I rang customer services again to ask 'is 0844 bundled?' again! Each time they have to ask their supervisor and each time they come back and say oh well actually it's 10 p a minute. But today, as there is a 48 hour delay to online billing, I looked, and I had had my 0844 calls bundled after all, so AGAIN I rang someone - this time the shop manager and he didn't know but was full of guff about '99% sure it won't change because customers would complain and we're all about customer service' (yeah right). HE rang customer services due to all the conflicting info and was himself told it would be 10p a minute. But it wasn't on my online bill!! So I asked if it was something they could change, and basically he said any company was entitled to change what they did with pricing, so I would never have a guarantee. Argh! So, does ANYONE have extensive experience of not being charged to ring 0844 numbers on o2, or if I keep the contract, will I be living in fear every 2 days wghen I check the online bill, in case they have charged?!? Oh arrrggghhhh!!!!

digp

andy88 wrote:

Discuss it with Orange when you get the bill. I was told on 12th that these were ordinary mobiles (obviously the spread of info through Orange was a bit slow), and based my case on that; the bill should be here in a couple of days.

Issue a summons - let them come to court and explain what their game is.