T-mobile charging for calls to lyca mobile

NFH

I've noticed that Lycamobile are operating in many other countries now, all over Europe and Australia, offering very good deals for foreigners who want to phone home. I wonder whether their business model relies high termination rates for incoming calls in other countries, as it appears to in the UK? I notice they have not launched in the United States, where high termination rates are not possible.

Blasto

It isn't T-Mobile alone. All networks do this from my understanding.

Hell, I've even discovered my landline provider (O2) charges more for this. In fact, according to their terms & condition it states:

Calls to mobiles are charged at the rate of the network who first issued the mobile number. So if the mobile number has been
ported to a different network the charge for the original network
will apply.

For example, a mobile number that has been ported from
Vodafone to O2 would be charged as a Vodafone number.

So in this case, if someone ported their Lyca number to O2, I'll still be charged more as it is deemed I'm calling a Lyca mobile (which is not a UK national network according to them). This condition is also applicable to their mobile phone t&c (I've got both O2 and Vodafone mobiles).

Buzby

No, it does't work that way but it remains a mess. Here's why;

The code you dialled USED to indicate the cost you would be charged for the call, and all was fine until the introduction of MNP (Mobile Number Portability). This meant that networks and virtual operators were free to negotiation their interconnect rates (the charges each pays to the other for completing the call on the distant network).

Lets say you are a Tesco Mobile customer, and you get free calls to all Tesco mobiles. You would assume that providing you dialled a Tesco mobile code, the call would be free (or inclusive). And you would be wrong!

If that Tesco number had been ported to a DIFFERENT network, interconnect charges would apply but you would not see any charges until you got your bill, or wondered where your credit had hall gone. By the same token, you could call a T-Mob or Vodafone native number, expecting to be charged - yet it would be free, all because the user ported the number to Tesco (but you wouldn't know this) and the first thing you see is no bill charge or diminishing credit.

This became a major problem in Ireland several years ago, and the telecoms regulator (COMREG) insisted that something be done - and it was. Their system was set up so when calling a number that stayed on your HOME network (i.e., 'no cost or inclusive') the call connected with no problems. If however, the number had been ported to a DIFFERENT network, and you were going to be billed for it, the was an alert - called a pre-connection tone. This was injected into the audio as the call was routed to the external gateway of the distant network. The caller, on hearing the tone would then know, and could choose to hang up before connection, or let the routing complete and pay the additional cost.

Now, Lyca charge networks highly (in comparison to others) to deliver calls to their customers, so non-Lyca networks have charge considerably more for the interconnection. This means the issue isn't with t-Mobile charging too much, but in Lyca setting their prices so high to connect with their customers..

A pre-connection tone just for those companies that have non-standard interconnect rates would be a step in the right direction, however as in Ireland, many kept wondering what the bleep was and carried on without knowing what it was all about.

m-s_2

Am I right in assuming that if I port a VirginMobile number to Lycamobile the following will apply :

1. Callers to my number will be charged the rate for calling a Virgin mobile, thus avoiding the surcharge.

2. As a Virgin Media customer I get free calls to Virgin mobiles. Therefore my Lyca mobile can be called from my home number (or any Virgin Media LL) for free.

3. As an bonus Lyca gives free credit to imported numbers

??

NFH

Usually an originating network's billing system is intelligent enough to know that the called number does not belong to one of their current customers, but is not intelligent enough to identify which third party network a number has been ported to. Therefore T-Mobile's billing system probably wouldn't be able to identify that an original Virgin number was now on Lycamobile, but it would be able to identify that an original T-Mobile number was now on Lycamobile.

Frozen_up_north

m-s wrote: »

Am I right in assuming that if I port a VirginMobile number to Lycamobile the following will apply :

1. Callers to my number will be charged the rate for calling a Virgin mobile, thus avoiding the surcharge.

2. As a Virgin Media customer I get free calls to Virgin mobiles. Therefore my Lyca mobile can be called from my home number (or any Virgin Media LL) for free.

3. As an bonus Lyca gives free credit to imported numbers

??

Er, no I don't think so. My other half ported her pay as you go O2 number to a Three contract, when I call her number from my Three mobile the minutes are deducted from my "Three to Three" minutes, not from my "Voice minutes". I assume the same would apply with a number port from Virgin to Lyca, with the calls being charged in the same way as an original Lyca number.

Roger1

Different operators but similar question.

Six months ago, Orange's price increases led me to Ovivo (MVNO using Vodafone). I'm wondering how callers to me are charged.

Also, I'm getting stupid messages from Orange telling me that my statement is available to view, except it isn't as the system always seems to be down. (I think I still have credit of 40p or so.)

They're also still sending me messages inviting me to text for Orange Wednesdays where a code sent to my phone entitles me to a 2nd cinema ticket free. I haven't tried this but presume it wouldn't work. Perhaps I should try.

m-s_2

m-s wrote: »

Am I right in assuming that if I port a VirginMobile number to Lycamobile the following will apply :

1. Callers to my number will be charged the rate for calling a Virgin mobile, thus avoiding the surcharge.

2. As a Virgin Media customer I get free calls to Virgin mobiles. Therefore my Lyca mobile can be called from my home number (or any Virgin Media LL) for free.

3. As an bonus Lyca gives free credit to imported numbers

??

Further to my above post I have ported a Virgin Mobile number (I happened to have a spare SIM with no credit), to Lycamobile.

So far it would appear that:

1. Calls from networks, other than Virgin, are charged the rate for calling a Virgin number.

2. As it is not an 'active' Virgin number it does not qualify for any special Virgin to Virgin rates.

3. Lyca will add £2 free credit to next top up.

Buzby

Your plan will fail when the ported number is fully assigned to Lyca - as the gateway will charge the caller the correct interconnect rate - there is no 'Virgin' number - it belongs to whichever network is using it. When if ceases it is returned to the donor network.

NFH

m-s wrote: »

Further to my above post I have ported a Virgin Mobile number (I happened to have a spare SIM with no credit), to Lycamobile.

So far it would appear that:

1. Calls from networks, other than Virgin, are charged the rate for calling a Virgin number.

2. As it is not an 'active' Virgin number it does not qualify for any special Virgin to Virgin rates.

3. Lyca will add £2 free credit to next top up.

That all sounds very plausible and exactly what I would expect to happen.

Buzby wrote: »

Your plan will fail when the ported number is fully assigned to Lyca

When does this happen and what event triggers it to happen?