OneTel / TalkTalk

steveblake

Following others on these boards, I'm thinking of switching from a 'vanilla' BT homephone setup to a more cost-effective one (probably using the now infamous 1899/18866 deals)

Now as for evening /weekend calls, is anyone able to recommend either OneTel or TalkTalk specifically? As I'm a little concerned about the possibility of not getting through on either of these systems during peek times (ie just after 6pm or something) - is this a problem people have found? Are there other drawbacks that anyone's aware of?

I suppose I just want to know that I'm not buying into a lesser service, and struggling to make calls when I need to.

Thanks. Any advice, very welcome..

bbb_uk

Welcome.

Neither TalkTalk or OneTel are doing free evening & weekends calls anymore.

As far as I'm aware it's just JustDial Saver Lite* and Tele2.

Tele2's is just an offer which ends at the end of this year but JustDial Saver Lite's isn't plus JustDialSaver Lite also do capped prices to mobiles of an evening & weekend for calls under 20mins in length.

During the daytime, the cheapest for geographical (those beginning 01 & 02) calls is Call18866 with calls just 2p per call.

JustDialSaver Lite was discussed in a little more detail here.

If you can't be bothered or may keep forgetting to dial the access code for Call18866 during the daytime then I recommend the v4 Orchid Dialler from Orchid-Electronics.com which is capable of routing calls depending on type of call and/or time of day, etc and bar certain type of calls. More info here.

In summary:-

For geographical (those beginning 01 or 02) calls:-

Daytime: Call18866 at 2p per call
Evening: JustDialSaver Lite for free
Weekend: JustDialSaver Lite for free

* For each individual call longer than 2 hours then charges will apply but every individual call less than 2 hours is free to a geographical number. There is nothing stopping you from replacing handset and redialling when approaching the 2hour limit.

steveblake

Hmmm thanks for that.

So do you reck'n 1899,18866 and these deals from JustDial etc are ultimately just 'promotionals' too? (ie they're come to en end in a year or so?)

I mean as much as I'm keen to move from BT, I'm not really that interested in changing my setup every few months necessarily, just to chase the cehapest deal. But maybe I'm just being short sighted (and a bit paranoid!)

Cool. Well, I'll take a look at your links... Thanks again

pricefighter

1899,and 18866 have held there Uk landline to landline 01/02 prices for some considerable time and i wouldnt think it likely they would change the prices to much.

Justdialsaver lite is now part of the Onetel/Centrica British Gas Group.My personal experience of them is that anything can happen.

bbb_uk

steveblake wrote:

...So do you reck'n 1899,18866 and these deals from JustDial etc are ultimately just 'promotionals' too? (ie they're come to en end in a year or so?)...

Call18866/1899 have been going for absolutely ages and is unlikely to end although they may increase their prices a bit but you are never going to beat 2p per call (not per minute).

JustDialSaver Lite doesn't mention its an offer of any kind but it is a 'no-frills' company similar to that of Call18866/1899 in that neither of them operate really expensive telephone call centres and thus pass the savings back to us customers.

If you make very, very few calls then simply sticking with BT but using Call18866 may be your answer but I have to warn you that it is known that sometimes both Call18866/1899 can become very busy at the weekends and it could be impossible to make calls via them which is why most MSE forum members generally choose a company for CPS calls like JustDialSaver, OneTel, TalkTalk, Tele2, etc.

It will cost you nothing but just a few minutes to fill-in the application form on whichever company you decide to use and after about 2 weeks (for JustDialSaver, OneTel, TalkTalk, etc), your calls will automatically be routed via which ever provider you choose.

Remember, you can simply change call providers if JustDialSaver ever decides to stop the free calls thing but I don't see that happening anytime soon.

Registering with Call18866/1899 (18866 is cheaper for BT customers) only takes a few minutes and then pretty much you can start using them straight away by dialling their relevant access code (either 18866 or 1899).

Transferring to one of the other companies takes longer because they ask BT to automatically route calls with them and this takes 2 weeks because OfCOM have told them (BT) to allow at least 10days in case you change your mind.

Providing you don't move your line rental as well then there are no minimum term contract of any kind and you can swap over to another provider whenever you wanted.

April2

bbb_uk wrote:

Call18866/1899 have been going for absolutely ages and is unlikely to end although they may increase their prices a bit but you are never going to beat 2p per call (not per minute).

3p per call from 6/9/05 (18866) - and 1899 already is.

http://www.call18866.co.uk/news.php#0

steveblake

Great info, thanks!

>Neither TalkTalk or OneTel are doing free evening & weekends calls anymore.

- TalkTalk/Talk 2 still sounds like quite a good deal tho doesn't it? (ie. unlimited evening and weekend calls for £5 a month) with 1899,18866 during the day. Or am I missing something?

Also have people had or heard of problems getting through on OneTel/TalkTalk during the 'unlimited' tarrif times?

I'm still a bit concerned that we'll have problems.

Edinburghlass_2

steveblake wrote:

Great info, thanks!

>Neither TalkTalk or OneTel are doing free evening & weekends calls anymore.

- TalkTalk/Talk 2 still sounds like quite a good deal tho doesn't it? (ie. unlimited evening and weekend calls for £5 a month) with 1899,18866 during the day. Or am I missing something?

Also have people had or heard of problems getting through on OneTel/TalkTalk during the 'unlimited' tarrif times?

I'm still a bit concerned that we'll have problems.

Welcome to the Phone Boards, Steve

Personally I have been with both Onetel and TalkTalk and not had any problems with either although from reading experiences here people have had more problems with Onetel and not many from TalkTalk.

My free evenings and w/end package with TalkTalk comes to an end shortly but as I have a few friends and family with TalkTalk I am going to stay with them on their TalkTalk1 package for the free w/end calls and continue using 18866/1899/18185 for all other calls.

Both the transfers I made to Onetel and TalkTalk went smoothly and I have never had any problems making calls on either "network".

As regards the £4.99 monthly package from TalkTalk you do have to take into account that it means you are paying this amount per month even if you are on holiday and not using the phone at all and it takes a fair amount of calls per day every month to be less than using 18866 at 3p per call.

I can't say anything about JustdialSaver or Tele2 as I haven't used them but it is certainly worth looking at their websites and checking out any threads on here from people who are using them.

Hope this helps and do come back if you have any more questions.

pricefighter

Steve. If you are concerned about using a cps carrier like Talk Talk or Onetel why not put all your traffic through 1899 for cheaper 01/02,Uk Mobile,Intl calls.At least with them you can set it up straight away,monitor it online,and if you dont like it and want to go back to BT for dearer calls(I jest) you can.

Bear in mind if you chose the Talk Talk option 2 £4.99.You can make approx 166 01/02 evening and weekend calls on 1899 for that amount of money a month .Thats more then 5 calls an evening or weekend.Do you make that number of calls?

System

Your explanation of how many calls one can make at £4.99 is enlightening and something I hadn't done. I too am currently wondering which of the permutations I should elect to use. I doubt we use our landline more than 8/10 times per week at w/ends & eve's. During the day it's 18866. Having extracted extra mins from orange, we tend to use them.

Penny-Pincher!!

Hi

I moved to talktalk about 3 months ago. I pay £7.99 a month (got 1st month free) and get all my calls free (01 & 02 numbers etc). Ive been happy with their service and still pay the £10 a month to BT for line rental. Since using saynoto0870 I have saved a further £2-£3 a month as I was using these type of numbers for banking/credit cards/bills etc etc.

6 months ago we were spending about £50-£60 a month on rental and calls :eek: now it averages out to around £17-£18 a month :T

What is the max time limit for a call with talktalk before i have to re-dial?

PP
xx