Virgin Talkanywhere 200,400 & 800 phone deal

bluedove

I am thinking of signing up for virgin "talk anywhere" phone package, from the virgin website; it states that the phone can be used to call any Uk land and mobile excluding 0800 and 090, also international landline and mobile in any country in the world for free with the inclusive minutes.

i don't know if the service will be through cable or normal telephone line, i make a lot of international call with my present BT line which is expensive,also most company now use 0871, 0870 and 0845 numbers which is free on the package, is this a good money saving option any one used it?.

any opinions please.

BexTech

With a BT landline you can use www.call18185.co.uk so international calls are from 0.5p/min.

You can use 18185 from a cable line, but call charges are higher.

use www.saynoto0870.com to see if you can find the real number behind the 0870, 0845, 0871 number.

For the money your paying you don't really get much with the Talk Anywhere packages.

The Talk Anywhere package are for their cable service, for their non-cable service then you'll have to have their ADSL broadband and then you only get the choice of inclusive evening and weekend 01 / 02 calls or daytime, evening and weekend inclusive calls.

Non-Cable services: http://www.virgin.net/allyours/broadband/unlimitedandtalk/?buspart=

MSE International Call Checker: http://callchecker.moneysavingexpert.com/intcallchecker/

Heinz

Don't those numbers sound big? You'd never manage to talk for that long, would you?

We're all different but as a guide, my wife would use 200 minutes in 5 calls.

In any case, the figures don't stand up to scrutiny.

200 minutes standard price £20/month = an average cost of 10p per minute;
400 minutes standard price £28/month = an average cost of 7p per minute;
800 minutes standard price £40/month = an average cost of 5p per minute.

As BexTech says, there are much cheaper options.

bluedove

But it is VAT inclusive, unlike BT that we have to pay VAT on calls.
i have a mobile on contract which i use to call 01 and 02 numbers but what about the 08 and international calls????.

BexTech

International calls via 18185 from 0.5p/min on a BT line.

Heinz

bluedove wrote: »

But it is VAT inclusive, unlike BT that we have to pay VAT on calls.
i have a mobile on contract which i use to call 01 and 02 numbers but what about the 08 and international calls????.

We (the plebs) have to pay VAT on all our calls.

Here are a few examples:

Including VAT, BT now charges 6p connection + 3¼p/minute for peak UK 01/02 calls;
Including VAT, 18185 charges 5p for a UK 01/02 call of any duration at any time.
Including VAT, 1899 charges 4p connection + ½p/minute at any time to call Germany.

bluedove

I am on BT together option 1 package, as i have free minutes on my mobile; I don’t need option 2 or 3 package. My quarterly bill fetches me an average of 15 quid on VAT.

I have just checked 18185 website, Japan mobile will cost me 12p per min and South Africa mobile is 10 p per minute.

On virgin any where 400 the price will be flat 7p per minute, no worries about VAT or connection charge.

BexTech

The 10p / 12p is with VAT so no worries there about VAT. Don't know why you are getting a bee in your bonnet over VAT, you have to pay Virgin VAT they just display VAT inclusive prices, you have to pay 18185 VAT, they display VAT inclusive prices.

Don't forget with the Virgin package, you'll be paying that each and every month, plus you're paying for calls to 01 and 02 numbers at the same rate, whereas they could have been free.


http://callchecker.moneysavingexpert.com/intcallchecker/japan-mobile 5p/min Japan mobiles.

http://callchecker.moneysavingexpert.com/intcallchecker/south_africa-mobile 6p/min South Africa Mobile.


With no worries about paying for a package each and every month, even when you don't use it, or when the calls you are making would have been free or much cheaper had you not had the package.

Primus Saver 2, no monthly fee gives you inclusive evening and weekend calls (each call up to 90 mins), you can use 18185 for daytime calls at 5p per call, use providers above for calls to Japan and ZA Mobile.

Heinz

bluedove wrote: »

I am on BT together option 1 package, as i have free minutes on my mobile; I don’t need option 2 or 3 package. My quarterly bill fetches me an average of 15 quid on VAT.

I have just checked 18185 website, Japan mobile will cost me 12p per min and South Africa mobile is 10 p per minute.

On virgin any where 400 the price will be flat 7p per minute, no worries about VAT or connection charge.

By the look of it, you've made you mind up.

I don't understand your 'thing' about VAT but, for what it's worth, may I suggest a perusal of the MSE International Callchecker - there are various gateway providers offering 6p/minute rates to Japanese and South African mobiles (but the BT connection charge will probably allow you to discount their use).

bluedove

I apologise if any body misunderstands my issue about VAT. Presently I use connection numbers from “Planettalkinstant” (owned by primus), to make international calls using BT landline, plant talk charge 7p per min inclusive VAT.

Below is an example of my BT bill.
A) Cost of call: 35
Service charge: 28
C) VAT: 11
Total this period: 74

“Cost of call is the connection number from plant talk that is already inclusive of VAT” BT will still add this to the service charge and then charged another VAT???

So I’m thinking that if the Virgin phone works like a contract mobile, then everything is already added up to arrive at the price.

[FONT=&quot]Please can some body help me with this?????[/FONT]

Heinz

I think you're saying that, because you didn't know about the MSE Callcheckers, you've been using Planet Talk Instant's 0844 and 0871 gateway numbers via your BT line. So, the above will save you at least 3p/minute on those calls if you just stay with the BT line and use a different gateway provider/number.

OK, let's use calls to South African mobiles as an example. Planet Talk Instant's 0871 335 0011 gateway number is shown on their website as costing 9p/minute and is charged by BT at 6p connection + 9p/minute INCLUDING VAT.

You appear to be confusing the way the summaries of charges are presented on your BT bill and assuming that the prices Planet Talk Instant quote on their website will have VAT added again by BT. That is not the case. In fact, BT charges 7.659p/minute excluding VAT for that particular number and then adds the VAT on at the end.