BT and 0844

[jimbojet]

Have just has an email from BT stating that they have been told by Ofcom to make their charges clearer.

So they are making changes as of 01-July but its as about as clear as mud!! It appears that the 0844... number the little Lady uses now has a connection charge of 9.4p then its just the call charge to the special service of 1p per min.

If I am reading it correctly come July they will be charging 9.47p per min not just the one off connection charge plus the 1p to the special service.

This will be the same for all 084 numbers.

Has anyone else looked into this or an I reading it wrong?

If I am correct an hour on the phone at present costs around 70p in Jul it will be £6.00 and a bit

[Gary & Nok]

If that is the case I would suggest you change and use LocalPhone @ 1.5p per minute to a mobile.

[Daniele]

I have received the same letter from Sky...not that clear either...

[nigel&panada]

Skype to Thailand £3-55 a month, Line app free.

[jimbojet]

To me it looks like they have made it less clear and put their prices up.

[Tobias]

There are several changes coming in to play regarding all non toll free 08 numbers. The Regulators say they are simplifying it so that consumers can 'easily' work out how much a call costs.

What will happen is that when you call an 084/7 number you will hear a call announcement advising how much the call will cost on top of the charge being charged by your own telephone company.

The new rules are still confusing the Telcos becauae the new charging structure is so complicated. It's no wonder people are unable to accurately decipher what the new charges will be.

It is an absolute mess

[colin244]

One for Ofcom perhaps (assuming they did not ok the change in the first place )

colin 244

[Tobias]

One for Ofcom perhaps (assuming they did not ok the change in the first place ...

They the lot that issued the directive and told the networks what they must do! It is the most confusing and contrived change that I have seen in the telecoms field in years.

[colin244]

Creating jobs for their boys then

colin 244

[jimbojet]

Hi all,

I have been having a dig around and have failed to find a solution to this issue, A friend on T mobile has just had a text stating the same so it looks like the mobile companies are following suit.

Anyone found a solution yet before I start having to selling family members to pay the phone bill!!

- - - - - - - u p d a t e d - - - - - - -

Copied this from the BT site, thing to note is the access charge....per minute, it used to be per call.

Numbers beginning 084 and 087 are general service numbers for contacting organisations. Those beginning 09 are 'premium rate' service numbers; while those beginning 118 are directory enquiry numbers.

From 1 July 2015, the cost of calling any of these numbers will be split into two parts:
•The access charge: This is what we charge you, per minute, for connecting the call. We will be communicating our access charges to you on 1 July 2015 via this website.
•The service charge: This is the remainder of the call charge. The organisation you are calling decides the service charge, and must communicate it. For example, if the service charge was 20p per minute, the organisation you are calling might say "Calls cost 20p per minute, plus your phone company’s access charge".

By adding together the access charge and the service charge, you'll know exactly what the call will cost you.

[Tobias]

My advice is to avoid calling 084 and 087 numbers from 1 July. There will be 2 charges - (1) the access charge which is a per minute charge (BT, Virgin, Sky will all charge around the 10ppm mark plus their call connection fee) and (2) the service charge which will be different than what you are paying now - this does not have a maximum level and is likely to be a minimum of 5ppm and higher.

As usual mobile companies are profiteering o2 will charge 25ppm access charge and EE will charge 44ppm!

Avoid calling 084 and 087 numbers from 1 July. These numbers will be MUCH MORE EXPENSIVE to call from there on.

The good news is that from 1 July 080 numbers will also be free to call from all UK mobiles.

[jimbojet]

This seems to be the end of cheap contract free calls to Thailand. I know many will say just use an internet based communication method.

However for us this is not an option as we have it this end but they don`t out there, we struggle to get the outlaws to remember to charge up the simple nokia mobile, let alone trying to get an internet signal on a smart phone!!

Any solutions will be greatly received.

[Lucky]

Localphone and Dial123 do not use 08 access numbers so will still be cheap.

[Linne]

going off subject but I never understand companies who use 0844 numbers for sales enquiries

[Daniele]

Are you happy with your subscription with Localphone Lucky...?? I dont know anyone using it...sounds ok, just wanted to find out if you were happy with the quality of calls and prices...