Massive price increases for PAYG users

cepheus

These minimum call charges will increase bills substantially for those who try to minimise use. Answerphones are my bugbear since they exacerbate the 'short call' cost and delayed responses are rarely any use. Always best to turn it off and answer when you can.

Orange is putting up its minimum call charge for pay-as-you-go customers from 20p to 25p from Friday – a rise of 25 per cent.

Vodafone, meanwhile, is increasing the minimum call charge on some contracts from 15p to 25p – or 66 per cent. These charges apply to calls made outside of those allowed by a customer’s monthly contract.

Its pay-as-you-go users will see the cost of a text rise from 10p to 12p, while calls to mobiles and landlines will go up from 21p a minute to 25p.

The Vodafone increases take effect on July 14.
They are the latest in a series of increases by the major networks, who had vowed to recoup costs elsewhere if watchdogs in Britain and Europe curbed existing pricing structures.

Read more: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/news/article-2008868/Orange-Vodafone-users-hit-mobile-charges-soar-66-cent.html#ixzz1QYZnJbGs

MikeWhite

Indeed, can't wait to get children moved off of Vodafone payg to someone rather cheaper (8p/4p).
Mike

redux

Perhaps the networks could have prepared a joint statement to deny there is any collusion on prices.

gjchester

cepheus wrote: »

These minimum call charges will increase bills substantially for those who try to minimise use.

Hijacking your post slightly..

Well someones got to pay for the forced reduction of a termination fee, wondered what would go up.

Honestly everytime the regulators interfere and force/fix a price "for the consumer good" something else goes up...

cepheus

gjchester wrote: »

Hijacking your post slightly..

Well someones got to pay for the forced reduction of a termination fee

Yes it should be the employees and shareholders of the telecoms!

Hopefully when we can deliver mobile signals via the Internet things will get a lot cheaper and we will get some true competition. This is long overdue.

redux

gjchester wrote: »

Hijacking your post slightly..

Well someones got to pay for the forced reduction of a termination fee, wondered what would go up.

Honestly everytime the regulators interfere and force/fix a price "for the consumer good" something else goes up...

The incoming wholesale termination fee was cut by I believe about 0.7 pence a minute.

That hardly explains an increase in outgoing retail prices of 5 pence a minute. If it's given as an explanation then it's just naked contempt for the intelligence of the audience.

The incoming roaming rate in Europe is just about to be cut by 4 cents a minute plus VAT, so probably 3 or 4 pence a minute to probably 11 pence a minute.

Before the EU regulated roaming rates in Europe, it wasn't unknown for retail incoming rates to be in the order of 80 pence a minute, when actual wholesale cost is in single figures, so a profit margin of over 90% of the price.

I can specifically remember Orange increasing outgoing rates in for example Poland and Lithuania from 51 to 110 pence a minute from 2003 to 2004. When I objected to this and the fact that they simply didn't bother to inform all customers in advance (for some it was on one month's statement, for others on the next, and there was a gap of about 12 days of statement date where they omitted the announcement completely) they told me Orange was the cheapest for roaming. Not by then, as £1.10 was the most expensive. In 1999 their outgoing rates in some countries like Belgium and France were 30 pence a minute, and in others like Hong Kong and Singapore they were in single figures of pence a minute.

The networks can do what they want with some rates, but it would be useful if they didn't come up with highly dishonest explanations from time to time, spitefully blaming regulation of some prices for capricious decisions they make on others.

roddydogs

Gotta pay for its Orange Wednesdays.

cepheus

How much do the mobile networks charge the locals in developing countries? It is amazing how so many can afford to use mobiles.

http://www.simonlydeals.mobi/worldwide-mobile-phone-usage-statistics-by-country

zagfles

redux wrote: »

The incoming wholesale termination fee was cut by I believe about 0.7 pence a minute.

That hardly explains an increase in outgoing retail prices of 5 pence a minute. If it's given as an explanation then it's just naked contempt for the intelligence of the audience.

Plus of course the reduction in termination fees means that the networks pay less for terminating x-net calls on other networks, so they make a lot of the lost money back. If it were all UK mobile-mobile calls the net effect would be neutral, but because many calls are from landlines they'll lose some of the subsidy the get from landline callers. About time too.

Before the EU regulated roaming rates in Europe, it wasn't unknown for retail incoming rates to be in the order of 80 pence a minute, when actual wholesale cost is in single figures, so a profit margin of over 90% of the price.

They really were so stupidly expensive that they were asking for trouble.

I can specifically remember Orange increasing outgoing rates in for example Poland and Lithuania from 51 to 110 pence a minute from 2003 to 2004. When I objected to this and the fact that they simply didn't bother to inform all customers in advance (for some it was on one month's statement, for others on the next, and there was a gap of about 12 days of statement date where they omitted the announcement completely) they told me Orange was the cheapest for roaming. Not by then, as £1.10 was the most expensive. In 1999 their outgoing rates in some countries like Belgium and France were 30 pence a minute, and in others like Hong Kong and Singapore they were in single figures of pence a minute.

Till they realised what a cash cow roaming could be...

debutyou

Interesting discussion regarding the fact that no notice has been given, and whether Ofcom should force Orange/Vodafone to issue unlock codes for PAYG Phones to allow them to switch away, where customers are dissatisfied, due to the increase being excessive. 25% is excessive!

"zdnet.co.uk/news/mobile-working/2011/07/04/orange-and-vodafone-go-it-alone-with-payg-price-hikes-40093300/"

zagfles

debutyou wrote: »

Interesting discussion regarding the fact that no notice has been given, and whether Ofcom should force Orange/Vodafone to issue unlock codes for PAYG Phones to allow them to switch away, where customers are dissatisfied, due to the increase being excessive. 25% is excessive!

"zdnet.co.uk/news/mobile-working/2011/07/04/orange-and-vodafone-go-it-alone-with-payg-price-hikes-40093300/"

Or perhaps they shouldn't be allowed to lock phones in the first place, and stop the subsidy of phones through call charges.

It's even worse with contracts, where the contract monthly amount is almost a loan repayment for the purchase of the phone!