CallChecker - "Unfortunately due to capacity problem…..

dathigrimmur

What has happened to all the cheap phone providers, it seems that all of them that are charging “1p to 5p” per minute are coming up with this message: "Unfortunately due to capacity problem, its currently not possible to make use of this service"
Does anyone know what is going on? They can’t be all having this problem.

April2

It may be that a number of them are really the same company using the same limited capacity.

I noticed this morning for example that, dialing a local number using 18866, I got an international (single long tone) ring tone and enough delay to be annoying. That's never happened before.

I note that one of the other comparison sites http://www.niftylist.co.uk/ includes a standard warning on each page:

important notice: we have been getting reports some numbers, usually the lowest cost ones are inaccessible at times due to capacity problems, this is why we supply a sorted list, use it

dathigrimmur

Something really stinks about these numbers at the moment, I have just looked at my BT phone bill and to my horror they are charging you soon as you get through to them not when someone actually answers the phone.
Even if you get this message: "Unfortunately due to capacity problem, it’s currently not possible to make use of this service"

Sound like a good way to make quick money.
Here is a business module for you:
1. Buy few phone numbers, 0845 and 0870
2. Just redirect them to some of the services available
3. Charge people for every time they phone your number

Someone needs to look into this to see if these companies are just ripping us of or they are genuine having problems.

Edinburghlass_2

I would assume that they would charge you as soon as you get through to them as thats where the call starts?

I use Dialaround for calls to NZ, I have to dial the 0844 number then dial the NZ number followed by hash.

Today there was no reply at the destination number but I would expect to have to pay from the time the call was answered by the Dialaround answering service until I put down the phone.

andy88_2

It's entirely natural that BT charge from the start of the phone call connecting you to the other service.

It's not surprising that these providers are becoming more popular. One of the ways they are cheaper is by not buying excess capacity, so there will be busy times. Several companies are related, so they will all be affected together.

With any luck, as they become more popular, they will be able to invest in more equipment and capacity and expand

andy88_2

Does the Callchecker have its own capacity problem?

It seems to work only about half the time I want to use it, but is that maybe something to do with settings on my computer, Java or something?

The MSE headings are there, but the area where the scroll box was is sometimes blank for a search result, sometimes a new box appears which only goes down to D or H.

Does anybody else have occasional odd moments?

mhp1

dathigrimmur wrote: »

Something really stinks about these numbers at the moment, I have just looked at my BT phone bill and to my horror they are charging you soon as you get through to them not when someone actually answers the phone.
Even if you get this message: "Unfortunately due to capacity problem, it’s currently not possible to make use of this service"

Sound like a good way to make quick money.
Here is a business module for you:
1. Buy few phone numbers, 0845 and 0870
2. Just redirect them to some of the services available
3. Charge people for every time they phone your number

Someone needs to look into this to see if these companies are just ripping us of or they are genuine having problems.

I think "dathigrimmur" is right. it is a money making scheme. I had the same problem and after calling BT i found out it is the company's fault. I therefore emailed the company and since then I could make calls. it seems as if they block some landlines randomly and it has nothing to do with the "busy times". I recieved this message from one of my landlines and not from the other one.

Heinz

Bear in mind the post to which you refer was more than 5 years ago.

Many people have since got wise to the use of 0844 gateway numbers and now use 1899, 18185 or 18866 (on which charging does not start halfway through dialling) instead.