Cheap telephone calls

[singer]

Can anyone help please. I have a BT line & NTL dial up so I get £15 per month "free" phone calls and I rarely exced the limit. I intend to go over to Pipex broadband in the new year so I would be grateful if someone could tell me of any telephone provider who will supply me with cheap national and local calls (I make very few international calls) without having to add a prefix to each number I dial. Thank you

[thefirs]

This is rather a big subject. The best source of collected information is http://www.magsys.co.uk/telecom/residx.htm where you'll be able to compare the rates of virtually all operators for local, national, mobile calls etc. The rates are mostly correct but can get out of date. Look for suppliers in the tables that are headed "CPS" - Carrier PreSelection - which is what you seek i.e. no prefix to dial.

A quick look at the tables suggests that Tele2 might be one of the lowest priced offerings @ 0.75p/min for inland offpeak calls and 2.5p for peak. There are however no specially good savings for mobile calls. Their minimum call charge is usefully low at 3p. They seem to be a new entrant to the UK marketplace, though I know they are long-established in France.

What Magsys doesn't analyse is bundled offerings - giving you a some inclusive minutes or for a monthly rental of £5 upwards, unlimited calls to local or national destinations. You'll have to work out your own calling pattern to establish if this is worthwhile. TalkTalk have a range of products that might be worth looking at, though I have seen criticisms of their customer services. Tiscali, Onetel, Tesco, Sainsbury and others all have alternatives.

Whichever of these you choose, you continue to pay a basic line rental to BT, and it is they who fix the line if it's broken. Don't forget that BT still give you a free £2.15 of inland calls per month within that rental, though you'll have to force the call via BT via prefix 1280 if you've switched to CPS

[singer]

Well, what can I say - an excellent reply full of info and if I can't get something from that web site I won't get it anywhere! Thanks very much indeed for your comprehensive help.

[speedster]

Singer,
I'm in exactly the same situation as you, I've used the ntl service for years, but now I have broadband(Eclipse) I thought it was time to shop around. As we just switched our gas supply to SWEB I thought I'd go with them for phone at the same time, as I then qualify for a further discount
For details
http://www.sweb.co.uk/showPage.do?na....telephone.til

Just the prices(Natl/Intl/Mobile)
http://www.sweb.co.uk/showPage.do?na...one.prices.til

I haven't yet switched but am in the process of writing to ntl to terminate the account, as discussed in other threads.

[singer]

Speedster
Thanks for the info which I will check out. I haven't actually moved from NTL yet and I have gone off Pipex a bit - their latest
customer service rating has slipped a bit. I did consider Eclipse but they don't seem to do Newsgroups and they don't appear to have local rate phone support. So I have just about decided on Zen who also have a dial back up service. I see in another Scream post someone reckons that Zen "rocks"!! Best of luck with escaping from NTL!

[speedster]

eclipse phone support is on a standard national rate (if you're not in Exeter, where they're based) but you have the option of logging a call on their website and having them call you! As far as I can tell from my paperwork all the normal newsgroups are available (news.eclipse.co.uk)

[singer]

Thanks for the info Speedster I will recon sider Eclipse. I am in Lancashire.

[oldboy2000]

I use 18866 .......1p minute anytime any where in the UK......no working out as to what time it is or what day it is

International is Listed....a lot of it is at 1p minute, including Australia, New Zealand and USA and here USA Mobiles are only 1p minute....

Look at complete list www.call18866.co.uk

[joe2cool]

Originally posted by oldboy2000
I use 18866 .......1p minute anytime any where in the UK......no working out as to what time it is or what day it is

International is Listed....a lot of it is at 1p minute, including Australia, New Zealand and USA and here USA Mobiles are only 1p minute....

Look at complete list www.call18866.co.uk

Sounds CoOL!

[oldboy2000]

Just phoned Scotland....it is on my account already which I view on line....cost was 4 Minutes= 4pence

[joe2cool]

COOL !!

[singer]

Originally posted by oldboy2000
I use 18866 .......1p minute anytime any where in the UK......no working out as to what time it is or what day it is

International is Listed....a lot of it is at 1p minute, including Australia, New Zealand and USA and here USA Mobiles are only 1p minute....

Look at complete list www.call18866.co.uk

Oldboy thanks for the info, I will try it out.

[BexTech]

There is always BT-Together 3p/min Local/ national daytime.
Then at Eve/Weekends 6p for up to 60mins Local/National.

Though TalkTalk is better no additional cost (BT Together +£2)

Then 2.7p daytime Local/National
Then at Eve/Weekends 5.5p for upto 70 mins.

And if you connect to TalkTalk via Sainsbury's you earn nectar points.

[joe2cool]

Cheers for that , didn't know about the 'Sainsburys'

[speedster]

Typical,
I signed up for talktalk last night. Just had a look at the Sainsburys site and it's just a carbon copy of talktalks with Sainsburys pasted on!

[gem]

Isn't Tesco Talk similar (plus Clubcard points) to Talk Talk? And what about OneTel?

EDIT: Or why not compare prices with Checkmyfile.com.

[BexTech]

Tesco Talk you have to pay £5 per month and OneTel £1 per month to get simular tariff, which cost NIL per month with TalkTalk.

[joe2cool]

OK !

[thefirs]

This article from MoneySavingExpert is a fine resumé of the current state of affairs:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi...5582337,44182,

Undergraduates of thefirs University of Parsimony will find useful tutorials in other areas of MSE

[oldboy2000]

I use 18866 saves me a fortune.

[pogo]

two months ago hit a site that gives you a much better deal
I use mobile a lot (student) so this one is the best!!!
check it http://www.topup2call.co.uk
if you know a better deal let me know , im always on the lookout

[cheeky2004]

Hi. Just read your post from last year, did you get fixed up? I have found EXCELLENT services at > www.************ They list services such as JUSTDIAL, where you dial a UK number to make any international calls and you only pay fo the UK national number! And this is REALLY true, only that national number appears on your BT bill.
Also they sell very cheap phone cards. However, the best service for you I think would be the Telco service. If you click Telco on their site, you can sign up for a telephone service which automatically reroutes your calls. Telco are one of the BIGGEST alternative providers with excellent customer service. I am on Telco select all calls myself and I do not have ANY prefic to dial, no box, or anything, its all automatic and you save loads compared with BT. i think they are doing an offer at the moment, free local calls for a year or something.
Take a look at the website www.************ oh and by the way I use telco from my orange mobile too!!!! I dial a freephone access number and get my everyday 50 mobile calls for 4p a min in the daytime, then still get 50 mins free in the evening! EXCELLENT!
Hope this helps.

[BexTech]

18866 is great for daytimes, and mobiles especially calls at weekends to all UK mobiles 2p per min.

Use in addition to BT Together or TalkTalk!

[oldboy2000]

Originally posted by BexTech
18866 is great for daytimes, and mobiles especially calls at weekends to all UK mobiles 2p per min.

Use in addition to BT Together or TalkTalk!

You don't mention the 1p a minute to USA Land Line or Mobile !!!and anytime !!!!

[BexTech]

Yes 1p per minute daytime infact anytime to UK landines is great!

I use it to call UK landlines and all UK Mobiles during the day, evenings for UK mobiles except Vodafone - when TalkTalk (& BT together is cheaper), and weekends for UK mobiles.

Yes and the 1p/min to many international countries is excellent too, some are 1p / min to international mobiles too - it's great!!

But Evenings and weekend's if I know I will be on a call more than 4 minutes, then I use TalkTalk as for 5.5p I get 70 mins (BT Together 6p for 60mins), so it pays to use both!

BT Together charge £2 per month, TalkTalk is free for better like option.

With 18866 there is no minimum charge just a 1p call connection charge, so a 10 minute call to a UK mobile at the weekend will cost 21p, and a 5 minute daytime UK landline call will cost 6p.

[squidgy]

Magenta Systems web site used to be the best for tariff comparison - but I think Uswitch is now better.

If you make lots of phone calls to UK geographic numbers and UK mobiles or international numbers - then your best bet is to get a BT phone line. Forget about calls to mobiles and international numbers for a moment, and visit http://www.uswitch.com to find the cheapest carrier pre-selection deal just for your calls to UK geographic numbers. Sign up for it. Then, visit http://www.magsys.co.uk to find the cheapest indirect access deals for each of the mobile networks and international destinations you often phone.

If the cheapest ones are only available by carrier pre-selection - then you might get away with signing up for them anyway, to see if they give you an indirect access prefix to use, while waiting for the transfer. If they do, then use the prefix - but then contact BT to get the carrier pre-selection changeover cancelled before it goes through.

The reason for this is because telco's don't like doing unmetered deals on indirect access - they figure you'll only use the prefix to make free calls, and you'll use a different prefix to make chargeable calls with a cheaper competitor. So they push carrier pre-selection on you to encourage consumer inertia. However, when you sign up as a new customer, they want you to start making chargeable calls straight away. Carrier pre-selection takes two weeks - but indirect access can be offered immediately. However, you have the right to cancel the changeover, regardless of whether or not you've used a prefix issued by the same phone company - and that's how you can force an unenthusiastic telco into an indirect access account.

I don't think I've explained that very well.