BT - Call Connection Charge? Since When?

sleepyfrog

I have a BT line in my home office just mainly for incoming calls. As I don't use it to call out much it's on their basic plan with Unlimited Evening and Weekend Calls. I have just queried why I have been charged 42p for a handful of 2-3 minute calls and can't believe what they've told me. Yes, it is 9p a minute, but if you dare to make a call outside your inclusive plan they charge a 15p per call "connection fee"!
Apparently this 'has always been the case' but I don't think so. Before they started forcing everyone onto one of their 'value' plans my bills were a sea of £0.042/minute calls without a connection fee in site.
Obviously this is a complete rip-off and I will not be having the BT phone much longer - but would like to warn other people :-)

molerat

I can't remember how many years it has been going for but it is quite a while. All the networks have a connection charge now. What plan are you on and what / when numbers are you calling ? Maybe something like 18185 would be beneficial, 5p connection and 0p per minute to uk numbers.

Quentin

They previously had a minimum charge per call.

In 2007 they abolished that and introduced a set up (connection) fee.

When it first came in it was 3p!

sleepyfrog

Really? And people have been letting them get away with it?
Just checked my last 2 months bills and no call made outside the plan has incurred the 15p fee, just this last bill sent after they autorenewed my services for another year. So I guess I have been lucky they didn't rip me off sooner. Needless to say, I will never be making an outgoing call from that line again :-)

sleepyfrog

I know I should feel lucky that I seem to have been getting away with it - but still. 15p? Just to connect? I don't think so matey, lol

Buzby

Actually from the 1940's until 1976 BT only used pulse metering, and you were charged the minimum of 1 unit (the duration of which varied by time of day and the distance called.

BT introduced time based charging in the 80's, claiming that it was fairer for all as you only paid for what you used - and billing 'by the second'.

In the 90's this innovation was quietly forgotten about when the connection charge was introduced, and per-second billing dropped in favour of minute billing, rounded up to the next minute.

The changes clearly to squeeze more money out from users, I've never forgiven them for this crass exploit and never will.

newbutold

sleepyfrog wrote: »

I know I should feel lucky that I seem to have been getting away with it - but still. 15p? Just to connect? I don't think so matey, lol

Unfortunately, I think most if not all phone providers charge a call connection fee now. So it's a case of choosing the best of a bad bunch. :cool:

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

Hello, Operator, I am connecting your call now, madam!

Ypaymore

sleepyfrog wrote: »

Apparently this 'has always been the case' but I don't think so.

BT scrapped its minimum call charge and introduced a Call Set-Up Fee on 1 October 2006.
now known as a call connection , at that time it was 8p so its nearly doubled.

You would have had lots of info with your bills every time it increased.;)

See: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/24222015#Comment_24222015

bubblegun

sleepyfrog wrote: »

Really? And people have been letting them get away with it?
Just checked my last 2 months bills and no call made outside the plan has incurred the 15p fee, just this last bill sent after they autorenewed my services for another year. So I guess I have been lucky they didn't rip me off sooner. Needless to say, I will never be making an outgoing call from that line again :-)

They really want everyone to take an unlimited anytime call package at (currently) £7 per month where there is no connection charge on inclusive calls.
They (and other phone providers) have stated this when they have increased these charges each year.

Auto-renewing phone contracts have been illegal since December 2012, as-in you cannot be put into a 12-month min term contract without speaking to someone and agreeing a new deal. If you don't do this you will just be on a rolling contract with a months notice.

poppasmurf_bewdley

Buzby wrote: »

Actually from the 1940's until 1976 BT only used pulse metering, and you were charged the minimum of 1 unit (the duration of which varied by time of day and the distance called.

BT introduced time based charging in the 80's, claiming that it was fairer for all as you only paid for what you used - and billing 'by the second'.

In the 90's this innovation was quietly forgotten about when the connection charge was introduced, and per-second billing dropped in favour of minute billing, rounded up to the next minute.

The changes clearly to squeeze more money out from users, I've never forgiven them for this crass exploit and never will.

Absolutely correct. I've had a BT phone since 1965, and when I first had it installed, the price of 'one unit' was two old pennies, which then went up to two and a half old pennies in 1970 and was rounded up to one new penny when decimalisation arrived in February 1971. No connections fees then.

The price progressively went up until it reached the outrageous present day levels, and the connection fee is on top of that.

I have used one paid for call via BT in the last year. And I will be leaving them completely when my present contract end in the summer, due to their ever increasing charges.