Topup Now - for UK??

Telegraph_Sam

That's really useful info for folks like me that otherwise pay full rates for calls to mobiles. I'll "bookmark" it even if MSE doesn't!

Granted that once you have made a deposit with TUN you are "committed", is there the usual announcement at the beginning of the call saying if the charge is 0.5 or 9 or anything else p per min?

Telegraph_Sam

Stuart_W wrote: »

One of the cheapest long-term UK mobiles rates I've come across is Savacalldirect.com which is 3p/min via 0207 access code and 4p/min from 0800 access code with no connection fee. It's been that price for a good few years at least, but never seems to appear in the MSE callchecker.

Is the "catch" that you have to pay £25 up front and then top up by £5? OK if you are a regular mobile caller but a bit steep if you're not!

Stuart_W

Telegraph_Sam wrote: »

Is the "catch" that you have to pay £25 up front and then top up by £5? OK if you are a regular mobile caller but a bit steep if you're not!

They always used to allow accounts to be opened with less - £10 I think - the £25 opening credit is the minimum needed to get the £5 free joining credit, and once you're a customer, every further £50 top up gets £5 free credit. This makes the calls a further 10% cheaper again for regular customers. I must admit though, I'm still on my initial £25. It took me several months just to get through the £5 free credit.

The same account (and therefore the same credit) can be linked from different phones, or indeed used from any phone via a PIN.

Telegraph_Sam

I've just used the 18185 "escape" no [08081 ..] helpfully referred to above for a UK mobile call. The recorded message said "1p per minute". If (if) the connection charge is still 5 p then it's hardly worth pursuing other alternatives .. until as you say they change the rules.

This time I dialled the complete number in one go. Does this apply to all the "override" numbers? I got the impression from making international calls that you had to do it in two stages but may be there are economies in "dialling through".

redux

Telegraph_Sam wrote: »

This time I dialled the complete number in one go. Does this apply to all the "override" numbers? I got the impression from making international calls that you had to do it in two stages but may be there are economies in "dialling through".

You need to separate the access number from the destination number, so that you end up at an intermediate announcement or something similar, then

If you're dialling on an old phone that has a dialling tone straight away as you pick it up, then enter the numbers, you may achieve this anyway, but if it's the type where you compose the number then press dial, a long string containing both numbers isn't going to work unless it contains a pause character

Telegraph_Sam

I can only assume that there must be more than one system in operation depending on who you use (and perhaps UK vs International?). My phone is the modern pre-dial-and-send type and "dialing through" for the first time with 18185 seemed to work. It might have saved me a few fractions of a pence to boot:j

redux

Sorry, I should have reread that.

Using preselect prefixes from a landline, like 18185 itself and others, no need for a gap in the dialling.