Cheap calls though 18185 - experiences please?

billsavings

18185 and its sister companies have recently increased the cost of 01/02/03 calls from 1p to 1.2p a minute plus 5p connection.

See https://www.18185.co.uk

brewerdave

Wonder if this is the beginning of the end for these IACs?
It isn't long along ago that it was 0p per min, then 0.7p,then 1p -now 1.2p per minute.
My latest statement suggests that I'm being charged 4p connection fee not 5p however.
Even at 1.2p per minute still vastly cheaper than the telco rates BUT if you use the landline phone a lot then the inclusive call bundles are easier to justify.

The_Groat_Counter

billsavings wrote: »

18185 and its sister companies have recently increased the cost of 01/02/03 calls from 1p to 1.2p a minute plus 5p connection.

See www.18185.co.uk

The latest of several increases over recent times, as brewerdave has said.

I strongly suspect this most recent increase is a result of the tanking value of the pound. The company behind the 18185, 18866 and 1899 services is Finarea SA, based in Switzerland. They will likely be doing a lot of their business in Euros, as well as Swiss Francs.

However in spite of these increases, a combination of using a mobile with an inclusive minutes plan and 18185 could still make sense for many people.

(Of course nowadays there's also WhatsApp voice calling, Skype, Facetime calling etc available to many with smartphones, particularly useful for international calls.)

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Just noticed calls to 01/02/03 numbers made via the 0808 access number are still charged at 1p/min, rather than 1.2p/min via the 18185 access number.

Meanwhile calls to UK mobile numbers via the 0808 access number are 10p/min, whilst via the 18185 access number they are 6p/min.

There are other differences too - for calls to US landlines and US cellphones respectively...
* the costs via the 18185 access number are 2p/min and 0.5p/min
* the costs via the 0808 access number are 1p/min and 2p/min

So it's worth comparing the rates via the two access numbers to see if there's any difference before calling. The rates for the 0808 access number are listed on the Mobile Rates page, but can also be used from any type of landline.

(Of course this is all academic if you cannot use the 18185 access number, which is only available to customers of BT and some other Openreach-based wholesale line rental providers.)

oldharryrocks

If you dont invest in a inclusive landline bundle you could consider a callback service for cheaper 01/02/03 calls .

EG Localphone 01/02/03 call would cost 2 legs x 0.5p= 1p a minute No connection fee.

Uk Mobile Call would cost 2 legs x 1.8p = 3.6p a minute. No connection fee.

https://www.localphone.com/services/callback

https://www.localphone.com/call/united_kingdom

If you have inclusive minutes to 01/02/03 or cheap calls you can call the USA and some other intl destinations at no extra cost via an 0161 number at https://www.callstunt.com

Ian011

The respective 'Anytime' inclusive call plans offered by Plusnet, Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin Media, each costing around £8 per month, now include calls to mobile numbers starting 071-075 and 077-079. Once BT follows suit (changes made by Ofcom on 1 May 2015 and 1 April 2016 mean that BT cannot realistically hold out for much longer) it's all over for indirect providers as far as making calls to UK numbers.

brewerdave

Ian011 wrote: »

The respective 'Anytime' inclusive call plans offered by Plusnet, Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin Media, each costing around £8 per month, now include calls to mobile numbers starting 071-075 and 077-079. Once BT follows suit (changes made by Ofcom on 1 May 2015 and 1 April 2016 mean that BT cannot realistically hold out for much longer) it's all over for indirect providers as far as making calls to UK numbers.

....not sure its "all over if BT follow suit" - there will still presumably be enough customers like myself, who make far too few landline calls to need any inclusive plan??
The final nail will be if/when they increase connection/p. min charge to a point where they are only slightly cheaper than the telcos.

The_Groat_Counter

Agreed, if you don't make £8 worth of calls a month (which is £96 over a year) then an Anytime call package isn't worth it. And as I suggest upthread a lot of people do already have an inclusive calls package, but it's on their mobile not their landline.

Ian011

Many people have an inclusive call plan on their mobile and are likely to be paying a lot more than £8 per month for it, and yet probably make most of their calls while they are sat at home.

One reason for having a mobile phone has been that making calls to mobile numbers from landlines has always been expensive. Now that landline providers offer inclusive calls to mobile numbers, that is no longer the case.

Landline providers have botched their marketing. They usually advertise unsuitable 'weekend' call plans to keep the headline price down. These plans have extortionate weekday rates and this along with the previous high rates for calls to mobile numbers has led most people to be under the impression that landlines are expensive.

If landline providers were to swap their advertising to feature anytime inclusive calls to landline numbers, 03 numbers and mobile numbers for £8 per month, many people would see this as a simple way to save money when making telephone calls.

Stompa

The_Groat_Counter wrote: »

Agreed, if you don't make £8 worth of calls a month (which is £96 over a year) then an Anytime call package isn't worth it.

I agree, but some of us get Anytime for less than that, in my case £4.30 which does make it worthwhile.

The_Groat_Counter

I understand the argument but I don't necessarily agree with all of that analysis, besides I think there's a bigger picture here.

It's rather too little, too late for landlines - they're becoming more of a niche thing. Of course there's a significant generational divide on this, but for many younger people they're a bit of an irrelevance - they are just a delivery mechanism for home broadband.