aol talk - free evening/weekend - whats the catch

elektra

Recently got this email.

FREE* Evening & Weekend local and national calls

We're delighted to offer you this home telephone package exclusive to AOL members. Sign up to AOL Talk now and you'll receive FREE Evening and Weekend local and national calls.

AOL Talk Evenings & Weekends is designed to let you take the time to catch up with family and friends. You can make as many calls to UK local and national numbers as you want between 6pm and 6am on weekdays and anytime at weekends.

No monthly fee for 12 months - normally £3.99 per month

There are no minimum commitment periods

You could save £47, compared to the subscription fee you would pay for BT's equivalent package in the first year**

Unlimited number of inclusive calls in the evening and at weekends to UK local and national landline calls (starting 01 and 02 only)

Free calls to AOL Member Services for all Internet and AOL Talk enquiries

Competitive international and mobile rates

Easy to change - keep your existing BT line and phone number



You'll be amazed to see how easy it is to set up and get started. There's no break in your telephone service and we will take care of everything for you. All we ask is that you remain an AOL Internet subscriber for the duration of your AOL Talk subscription.
To take advantage of our AOL Talk landline telephone offer, simply call our helpful AOL Talk team on 0800 200 6065 or click here.

We look forward to welcoming you to AOL Talk.

Yours sincerely,

Ravi Senthivel
Customer Marketing Director
AOL Broadband

PS. Don't miss out! Offer ends 31/03/07. Sign-up for the AOL Talk Evenings & Weekends offer by calling 0800 200 6065 or click here.



* Offer ends 31.03.07. New AOL Talk customers only. Subscription is free for the first 6 months, and at no extra cost for the following 6 months. After this, standard fees apply, currently £3.99/month. After signing up to AOL Talk Evenings & Weekends, one month's subscription will be credited to your AOL bill on your first billing date after activation and monthly thereafter for the next 11 months. If activation of AOL Talk occurs within 2 days of your billing date, the credit will be applied on your subsequent billing date. An additional daily charge will apply for the period between AOL Talk being activated and your first billing date. Inclusive calls apply to UK landline numbers (starting 01 and 02 only) between 6pm and 6am weekdays and between midnight Friday to midnight Sunday. Excludes calls to the Channel Islands. All other calls chargeable. Calls to AOL Member Services are free when made from the phone line on which AOL Talk has been activated. **Savings comparison: Savings based on subscription to AOL Talk Evenings and Weekends at no extra cost for 12 months compared to standard monthly subscription cost of BT Together Option 2 as per https://www.bt.com on 30 January 2007.
Click here to opt out of receiving future promotional messages from AOL or go to AOL Keyword: Marketing Preferences. Please do not reply to this email as replies are not monitored.

AOL Services Sàrl is a company registered in Luxembourg under number B 122 040 with a corporate address at 65, boulevard Grande-Duchesse Charlotte L-1331 Luxembourg.




So what is the catch. I don't really understand the line 'Subscription is free for the first 6 months, and at no extra cost for the following 6 months' , isn't free and no extra cost the same thing ?

Also not sure I like the bit about 'additional daily charge will apply for the period between AOL Talk being activated and your first billing date' , as I would not want to pay for any days when it is supposed to be free.

Heinz

Like many others, AOL Talk is a CPS (Carrier PreSelect) service and that means that you continue to pay BT for your line rental (£10.75/month by DD with online only billing) but can continue to use the likes of 1899, 18185 etc.

CPS means that, although you have a BT landline and your incoming calls still arrive on BT (so Caller Display, 1471 and 1571 work normally), you will have opted to have the BT exchange programmed so that, by default, (nearly) all your outgoing calls are sent via the CPS provider (and BT don't even 'see' the calls even though they carry the first leg).

The 'default' part of that sentence is the key to CPS. It means that, if you want, you can use a prefix to send an individual call via another provider (i.e. override the CPS programming for a single call). For example, using just a 1280 prefix will send that call out via BT, using just a 18185 prefix (not 128018185) will send that call out via www.18185.co.uk and so on.

In other words, CPS allows you still to pick the best carrier for your calls even though you've opted, normally, to use one provider (in this case, AOL Talk).

However, AOL Talk Evenings & Weekends at £3.99/month is expensive (Primus Saver Option 2 CPS gives the same for no monthly fee).

I note AOL don't say how long each of the 'free' calls can be before you have to 'redial to avoid charges' (Sky specify 60 minutes and Primus specify 90 minutes).

OTOH, AOL has online itemised call listing - which Primus doesn't.

Nevertheless, for standard telephony money-saving, I'd suggest THIS.

shellsuit

No monthly fee for 12 months - normally £3.99 per month


Looks like it is free for 12 months, but I don't know why they have worded it like they have.

Lievesleys

Dear Customer,

Great news:
We're delighted to tell you that from 1st March 2008 we're giving you FREE calls to all UK landline numbers (starting with 01 and 02), between midnight on Friday to midnight on Sunday. If the weekend is your time to catch up with friends and family, you can now talk for as long as you like - and the really good news is that these calls won't cost you a penny.

You don't need to do anything to benefit from this upgrade - simply continue to use your phone as normal.


You will continue to get all the great benefits of your AOL Talk package:
· No monthly subscription fee
· FREE calls to Tech Support when you call from your AOL Talk phone line
· Competitive rates to mobile and other international destinations
· Keep track and gain control of your home phone bill:
- Visit AOL Keyword: Billing for a breakdown of any call charges and credits updated daily
· You can also bar calls to premium rate numbers from your AOL Talk phone line for no extra cost


At AOL Talk, we constantly review our prices against current market rates. From 7th April 2008, any chargeable calls* you make will be rounded up to the nearest minute and penny. Any calls you make to UK landline numbers starting 01 or 02 during the Evening (6pm-6am Mon-Fri) will change from 4.5p for the first hour to 1.45p per minute, and during the Day (6am - 6pm Monday-Friday) will change from 3p to 3.95p per minute. If you subscribe to Mobile Saver, you will continue to save 25% on calls to major UK mobile networks and the cost of Mobile Saver is still just £0.45 per month. All other terms of your AOL Talk agreement remain the same.


If you have any questions, you can contact us by going to AOL Keyword: Live Help, or you can call us on 0844 499 5555 between 8am and 12 midnight, free from your AOL Talk phone line.

Yours sincerely

Ravi Senthivel

Customer Marketing Director

AOL Broadband

*A connection fee of 6p applies to all chargeable calls with AOL Talk

AOL Talk is provided by TPH Services Sarl, a company registered in Luxembourg under number B122 040 with a corporate address at 65, boulevard Grande-Duchesse Charlotte L-1331 Luxembourg

Heinz

Following BT's lead almost exactly.

Which appears to refute Ofcom's assertion that competition in the telecoms market is in the interests of the consumer.

jhp

Whats great about increaseing the cost of your Peak and Evening Geographic Calls,and rounding up the cost of all calls to the nearest minute and penny.

hotbagelman

AOL are now offering thier Talk Unlimited International service free for life! This service gives you free phone service to 01, 02, 03 and international calls to 36 countries (not sure of the list but I use it for USA and Australia).

The service was £7.49 per month previously - you need to have an AOL account (broadband or dialup). Link attached for more info: Please note it does not say it is free but will give it if you ask (if you are a moneysaver you won't be too shy).
http://myaolbroadband.co.uk/broadband/talk-unlInter.adp

Enjoy!

tubster

I only managed to get talk unlimited free, you did well to get international. The also agreed to put my broadband speed up to 2mbs on the 9.99 a month deal, fingers crossed it'll happen

elektra

tubster wrote: »

I only managed to get talk unlimited free, you did well to get international. The also agreed to put my broadband speed up to 2mbs on the 9.99 a month deal, fingers crossed it'll happen

Thinking of taking this talk unlimited offer. Are thre any drawbacks ?
Presumably I can still use 18185 and also hop back on to BT to use override providers to phone abroad or mobiles.

osagefo

hotbagelman wrote: »

AOL are now offering thier Talk Unlimited International service free for life! This service gives you free phone service to 01, 02, 03 and international calls to 36 countries (not sure of the list but I use it for USA and Australia).

The service was £7.49 per month previously - you need to have an AOL account (broadband or dialup). Link attached for more info: Please note it does not say it is free but will give it if you ask (if you are a moneysaver you won't be too shy).
http://myaolbroadband.co.uk/broadband/talk-unlInter.adp

Enjoy!

Just signed up to a skype deal which seems to be much better than this one in lots of respects.

You get a new number.
Calls are all inclusive ...it is not just free at the weekend or in the evening.
And it is cheaper, you get 3 months free if you pay the whole year in advance.

This is what Martin has to say about it

If you're willing to make calls to normal phones using your PC, Skype has some dirt cheap packages for calling abroad. Sign up to its Unlimited Europe* package for £3.39 and you get inclusive calls (up to 10,000 minutes per month fair usage) for 20 European countries or if you're calling further afield opt for the Unlimited World* package for £7.99. Even better, you aren't tied into any long contracts, simply pay per month.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/phones/cheap-overseas-calls#seconds

The only problem with it is that you may need extra equipment which costs from £1.00 (assuming you have a pc/laptop). I have connected mine via a cordless 'skype' phone for the convenience.

barncopxx

elektra wrote: »

Thinking of taking this talk unlimited offer. Are thre any drawbacks ?
Presumably I can still use 18185 and also hop back on to BT to use override providers to phone abroad or mobiles.

I've been on AOL talk unlimited for 3 years now - never had any problem whatsoever.