Is it now possible to do these for less than 10p/min (the current Dialaround rate)?  I used to have details of various 0870/0844 access no deals, but something seems to have happened this year to drive all these discounts away.

Phillip

The cheap calls page at www.saynoto0870.com/calls.php lists 18185 at 5ppm to all networks during the day.

And http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/ukcallchecker/index.php lists Discountdial's 0844 number - 4p/minute.

But, of course, http://www.saynoto0870.com/calls.php still shows OneTel as providing a free Directory Enquiry service - which has not been the case for many months now.

Hi Cruz,

Just checked on Discout Dial's website at www.discountdial.co.uk/index2.php and indeed it's showing as 4ppm from landlines to mobiles.  Looks like the SayNoTo0870 list is out of date!

Nifty list is showing that people have experienced recent prblems with the following.......


Number                      Time                                           Cost     Company     Problems
18185                Weekends 00:00 Fri to 00:00 Sun      2p        18185                 3
0844 428 90 90      All times                                               4p      Discount Dial      9
0844 452 00 05      All times                                               5p      Abroadtel       3
18185                  Weekdays Mon to Fri                            5p      18185             3
0844 452 2473      All times                                               5p      Phonebird      4

Thanks for that info.  The Discountdial offer does indeed seem to be current, so I shall try the number when I next need to call a mobile.

I just used 18185 for a 30 minute call to a mobile yesterday and voice quality was excellent unlike 18185 and 1899 service to some phone lines lately where I am getting regular problems lately with hearing echoing of my own voice back on calls.

Its a bit like Ryanair with these cheap phone call providers really.  The service is not always as reliable or good quality as BT's (although most of the time it is fine) and there is no way at all to complain if things go wrong but when the price is so much cheaper then who cares and unlike Ryanair there is at least unlikely to even be a risk that the cost cutting of these cheap providers could kill or serious injure you. ;)

www.phonecheap.co.uk 0844 462 00 02 now 2p a min Landline to Mobile.

wrote on Apr 13^th, 2006 at 4:34pm:

www.phonecheap.co.uk 0844 462 00 02 now 2p a min Landline to Mobile.

I wish I had known about that on Wednesday when I made a 30 minute call to a mobile using 18185. :'(

Great spot JP!!

Who keeps the Cheaper Calls page at www.saynoto0870.com/calls.php updated and is there anything we can do to get it updated quicker with more current details?

Red Dave wrote on Apr 13^th, 2006 at 4:58pm:

Great spot JP!! Who keeps the Cheaper Calls page at www.saynoto0870.com/calls.php updated and is there anything we can do to get it updated quicker with more current details?

That's a bit like asking who verifies the Unverified numbers and when any of the Unverified numbers will ever be verified here? :-?

You could also check the info at www.niftylist.co.uk for info on cheap uk and overseas calls, although sadly that also no longer seems to be updated very often either. :'(

The main problem is that who's cheapest is prone to changing so often.

Another site similar to niftylist is http://www.cheapcallguide.co.uk/
Appears to be up to date.

a very nice man wrote on Apr 13^th, 2006 at 8:51pm:

Another site similar to niftylist is http://www.cheapcallguide.co.uk/ Appears to be up to date.

Thanks a very nice man it actually looks better presented than the NiftyList and with more features.  Although I have a suspicion that it may only include those who pay to advertise their service on it?  Who me cynical? ;)

In any case NiftyList also now seems to have gone down the heavily commercial road too. :o

wrote on Apr 13^th, 2006 at 9:32pm:

a very nice man wrote on Apr 13th, 2006 at 8:51pm: Another site similar to niftylist is http://www.cheapcallguide.co.uk/ Thanks a very nice man it actually looks better presented than the NiftyList and with more features.

At first site, it looks to me as if cheapcallguide covers only international calls, whereas NiftyList also includes UK landline and mobile calls.

wrote on Apr 13^th, 2006 at 4:34pm:

www.phonecheap.co.uk 0844 462 00 02 now 2p a min Landline to Mobile.

Yet another Finarea company!!  ::)
Why do they compete with themselves??   :-/

The Money Saving Experts new call  price checkers, which are updated daily, are very good.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/callchecker/

trevord wrote on Apr 13^th, 2006 at 10:10pm:

Yet another Finarea company!!  ::) Why do they compete with themselves??   :-/

So that they can sucker you in as a new customer and then hope you will stay with them through the forces of inertia if they only put the prices up little by little......................

However at least Finarea dialthrough services tend to work properly most of the time.  Whereas Callax group dialthrough services like Abroadtel don't actually connect the call properly half the time I find.   You dial and then nothing happens.

Finarea's premise is that customers only review all the prices in the market and switch to a new service every so often and that is when they hope to catch them.  Most phone customers are not at all astute and rely on word of mouth from their friends or misleading publicity from the BBC or hardsell at a CarPhone Warehouse shop to make their decisions.  We phone geeks are entirely atypical of how most customers make their choice of telephone service provider. :D

wrote on Apr 13^th, 2006 at 7:48pm:

Red Dave wrote on Apr 13th, 2006 at 4:58pm: Great spot JP!! Who keeps the Cheaper Calls page at www.saynoto0870.com/calls.php updated and is there anything we can do to get it updated quicker with more current details? That's a bit like asking who verifies the Unverified numbers and when any of the Unverified numbers will ever be verified here? :-?

Agreed.  So any ideas of who, when or how?!



wrote on Apr 13^th, 2006 at 7:48pm:

You could also check the info at www.niftylist.co.uk for info on cheap uk and overseas calls, although sadly that also no longer seems to be updated very often either. :'(

Well, I was told off for posting slightly out of date information in the niftylist forum.  The reponse I got was that the site owner prided themself on keeping the site as up to date and current as possible (and that's why they were growing in numbers).  If they do have the right attitude but simply missed this particular list then maybe it'd be worth a post in their forum?

wrote on Apr 13^th, 2006 at 10:11pm:

The Money Saving Experts new call  price checkers, which are updated daily, are very good. http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/callchecker/

I like it!  In addition to displaying a table of all providers listed by price (I'm talking about UK calls), it would also be very useful just to see the cheapest providers for each call type in a single table (which could then be printed?!).

I'm not sure how up to date their prices are though?  Your earlier spot of PhoneCheap being the current cheapest landline -> mobile at 2ppm isn't showing in the MSE list at all :-(

Another partially complete list?!

Thanks for all the replies - and in particular thanks for bringing my attention to Phonecheap, which I had not come across before.  I tried it today on a call to a mobile and it worked as described.

I may be a compete numpty here, but if the 0844 number you dial is listed as 2p/min, doesn't that depend on which service you dial through? I am anticipating a no; I suppose what I am really asking for is for someone to describe how it actually works! Ta.

Wally wrote on May 5^th, 2006 at 10:04pm:

I may be a compete numpty here,

Nope - that's the UK industry trying to make you believe what they say.
0844 charges are set - for BT anyway - and so the 2p/min is what you pay. The operator then takes a portion of that to make their profit on your international call. After all the circuits are that much cheaper now...

Tanllan wrote on May 12^th, 2006 at 11:58am:

Wally wrote on May 5th, 2006 at 10:04pm: I may be a compete numpty here, Nope - that's the UK industry trying to make you believe what they say. 0844 charges are set - for BT anyway - and so the 2p/min is what you pay. The operator then takes a portion of that to make their profit on your international call. After all the circuits are that much cheaper now...

Unfortunately, the cheapest is 3p/minute to call a mobile now.

Having noticed this posted by pricefighter on the MSE forum, it's now possible to call landlines at only 2p/min via a new Finarea company called www.0844calls.co.uk.

Calling their mobile access number of 0844 462 38 38^*, you can now ring mobiles from 2p/min.

I personally can't see this being a long term offer.


^* This is for calls from BT landlines.  Calls from other landline providers, payphones and mobiles, will in most cases, cost more (especially from mobiles where it can cost upto 40p/min).

bbb_uk wrote on Jun 10^th, 2006 at 5:39pm:

I personally can't see this being a long term offer.

They never have been sustainable rates before at this price and also of course its more than 2p per minute due to all the lost 5p connections on calls that don't get through etc and also due to the wasted time in dialling before reaching the person you are calling.

I prefer to stick with 18185 which continues to offer calls at 5p per minute with a Prefix code on a long term and sustainable basis.  Ditto for their excellent long term rates to call unavoidable 0870 phone numbers.

Currently the cheapest BT land line to mobile calls are via PhoneCheap 0844 439 0003.  They cost 3p/min any time.  A 5p minimum charge applies.

lompos wrote on Jun 13^th, 2006 at 3:14pm:

... A 5p minimum charge applies.

BT's minimum charge is now 5.5p inc VAT. See here.

lompos wrote on Jun 13^th, 2006 at 3:14pm:

Currently the cheapest BT land line to mobile calls are via PhoneCheap 0844 439 0003.  They cost 3p/min any time.  A 5p minimum charge applies.

Er, no.

As mentioned by bbb_uk in post #23 above, that's currently being beaten by 0844calls.co.uk with their 0844 862 38 38 access number (http://www.0844calls.co.uk/rates.php#u).  They charge 2p/minute (subject to BT's MCC of 5½p of course).

Hi, I've used Phonecheap for a couple of months now for Moby calling.
It started out at 2ppm.  Then it went up to 3ppm.  I tried it today & it started out saying 4ppm,,,, untill I dialed the moby number,,,, then it came back with 10ppm !!!
I reverted tp 18185 for this one - & for once, the quality was o.k.
What is happening at PhoneCheap ?
Furkin

Furkin wrote on Jun 15^th, 2006 at 9:56am:

I reverted tp 18185 for this one - & for once, the quality was o.k. What is happening at PhoneCheap ?

Both PhoneCheap and 18185 are operated by our Swiss friends Finarea.  The 18185 rate is a long term rate they can continue to afford to offer.  The other rate was just a promo rate designed to lure people into using their services.

Many of Finarea's pricing decisions are fairly hard to understand.  For instance deciding to make their originally cheapest low cost indirect acceess service www.18866.co.uk more expensive than the later launched www.1899.com

Their guiding philosophy is never to have all the cheapest rates on any single one of their call brands and to then hope that customers will be lazy and not shop around all the time...............................

Some interesting information http://doulos.wordpress.com/technical-information/betamax-voip/ on Finarea and Betamax.

Hugh wrote on Jun 16^th, 2006 at 7:58am:

Some interesting information http://doulos.wordpress.com/technical-information/betamax-voip/ on Finarea and Betamax.

That page was only on the Betamax (and there was I thinking it was only a form of video cassette) Voip services they have taken over from Finarea.

However there is another page on the site for Finarea itself:-

http://doulos.wordpress.com/technical-information/finarea/

Looks pretty interesting and well documented stuff.  One of us really ought to offer to take it over, although I'm not sure where he managed to find out so much about Betamax.  I assume only from the fact that ownership of the relevant domain names has perhaps now changed to them?

There don't seem to be any contact details for Wolf Paul on this website though even though he suggests we get in touch if we want to take it over.

The www.0844calls.co.uk. service have now changed access number,and are charging 4p a min to call Uk Mobiles from a BT Landline.

wrote on Jun 19^th, 2006 at 5:06pm:

The www.0844calls.co.uk. service have now changed access number,and are charging 4p a min to call Uk Mobiles from a BT Landline.

Surprise.  What's the betting that next month it changes to 5p per minute!

Personally I prefer to stick with 18185 at a permanent 5p a minute and not pay for calls that I dial but that don't connect and also not  for dead time while I am dialling but not speaking.  Also I don't like the lack of itemisation of the number I have really called on my phone bill...........