0870/0845 In free minutes..

steveh2001

Just wondered, in a phone contract deal where you have 200 mins free per month, does this include 0870/0845 numbers? I seem to remember reading an article on martins main page about a loophole for orange, but is this the only one? As ive got an 02 contract with 200 mins/month at the mo

Cheers

Money_Man_Steve

I have an O2 online tariff and calls to 0844/0845/0870 are included in my contract minutes. Also included are 0800 numbers that you have to dial without the first '0' i.e. you dial 800 XXXXXXX.

Money Man Steve

pricefighter

Only O2 definitely now include calls to 0844/0845/0870 in there inclusive minutes.The calls are not of course free lets say you are paying £25 a month for the 200 minutes ,the calls are costing you 12.5p a minute.The danger is when you exceed your inclusive minutes the cost of the calls to ngn shoot up.At the weekend it is cheaper to get a payg O2 online sim card,as calls to ngn numbers are only charged at 2p a minute.

I believe the following access codes (PREDIAL) 07792 316447 (0845 only) and (SIMPLYFONES) 07747 973333 (0870 only) still operate on 02 out of the inclusive minutes.But be careful some networks are charging for them at premium rate.

bbb_uk

pricefighter wrote:

...At the weekend it is cheaper to get a payg online sim card,as calls to ngn numbers are charged at 2p a minute.

Is that right? I thought calls to ngn (084x/087x, etc) are charged at about 30p a minute. I know this is true of daytime calls but never tried it of a weekend!?!

pin

0845 and 0870 are within inclusive minutes if you still have the Orange Everyday 50 tariff.

andy88_2

pricefighter wrote:

At the weekend it is cheaper to get a payg O2 online sim card,as calls to ngn numbers are only charged at 2p a minute.

I think this would need careful checking; they are not priced the same as other calls. 0844 and 0870 are not included in the free 100 minutes and I've had several different answers about the price of them.

pricefighter

I am not suggesting they are included in the free minutes. I had cause to call O2 PAYG ONLINE this morning. I asked them categorically to clarify the cost of calls to NGN numbers. Because the website says they are all charged the same but doesnt say how much,and somebody told me they were using it at weekends to phone Brazil on an 0844 number for 2p a minute.They said they would go away and double check it.

They rang me back and said calls are charged as follows 0845/0870

Peak 35p a min.Offpeak 10p a min. Weekends 2p a min.

They were not absolutely certain about 0844 but thought it was the same as 0845.

Perhaps some one could try ringing an 0844 number now and see what they are charged,but i suspect they do only charge 2p a min.They guy who told me he was phoneing Brazil for 2p was quite adamant.

0871 is charged at 30p a min at all times.

monomer

The following information applies only to the o2 PAYG online tariffs:

It's rather amusing but if you have an o2 online sim and choose to have the 'calls and messaging allowance' of 100 x-net minutes (pooled with free texts and picture messages) for topping up, you'll notice that 0845/0844/0870 numbers are included in the monthly allowance. [Well, I wasn't charged for them, anyway... I've just reread andy88's post that says he was charged.]

In an almost perverse kind of way, you can actually think of these as truly free calls since the £10 you use to top up is still on your PAYG balance. (And this includes using the simply-fone 07744 number.)

And yes, I'm able to confirm that at weekends the call rate to 0844 and 0845 is 2p/min (at least to the numbers I tested anyway). I didn't bother testing any 0870 numbers but I believe they are charged similarly.

From my information sources the prices on the o2 PAYG online talkalot tariff for 0845, 0844 and 0870 numbers are just as pricefighter says. However they are not subject to the 3 minutes rule, meaning that after 3 minutes on these numbers, normal landline/o2 calls will still be 25p/min for the first 3 minutes before reducing to the 5p/min (weekday) or 2p/min (weekend).

I think the pricing structure for the o2 PAYG online original tariff are slightly different, but cannot confirm this as I'm not on this tariff.

Also if you're tempted by the o2 home bolt-ons, these don't include non-geographical numbers in their allowances. (But the calls50 bolt-on does.)

Whatever you do, don't use 0871 numbers on any of the o2 PAYG tarriffs though, as these cost 35p/min at all times and are not included in any free minutes allowance.

You know, I think some people underestimate how versatile the o2 online sim is!


Oh, and I don't work for o2 or anything. I've found this out by trial and error, and I got slightly annoyed because I only managed to test the 0844/0845 rates after my free minutes quota ran out! :P

pricefighter

Ta for that.The whole thing gets more interesting the more you look at it.What would stop you adding the friends bolt on and then nominating the predial,and simply phone access numbers as your friends.Then you would be able to call mobiles,ngn,and geo numbers for 12.5 for first 3 mins, and 2.5 thereafter would you not.

monomer

pricefighter wrote:

Ta for that.The whole thing gets more interesting the more you look at it.What would stop you adding the friends bolt on and then nominating the predial,and simply phone access numbers as your friends.Then you would be able to call mobiles,ngn,and geo numbers for 12.5 for first 3 mins, and 2.5 thereafter would you not.

It'd be nice if it worked like that, but I get the feeling that the predial/simply phone numbers would be counted at the x-net mobile rate (normally 40p/min all times). If the O2 Friends bolt-on gives you 50% off, it'd be 20p/min instead.

But if you have a 18866 account, you could select 18866's 020 access number as a friend and theoretically call landlines at 18866's 0.5p/min rate so the combined rate would be 13p for the first 3 minutes, and 3p (weekday) or 1.5p (weekend) after that. Not sure whether it's worth paying the £5/month for it though!

Also at weekends, I think there is an 0844 number for calling mobiles, so you may be able to call x-net at weekends at 2p/min.

Apologies if this discussion has strayed a little from the subject of the original question!

matrix999

monomer wrote:

Also at weekends, I think there is an 0844 number for calling mobiles, so you may be able to call x-net at weekends at 2p/min.QUOTE]

Can anyone confirm this?