SAYNOTO0870.COM - BT's Low-User Scheme Blocks 18899,1899 Etc.

4PetesSake

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Re: BT Light User Scheme and Onetel Block
Reply #15 - Dec 21^st, 2006 at 5:00pm

Martin_S wrote on Dec 19^th, 2006 at 9:33pm:

Hi. My grandmother is on the LUS. I bought her an Orchid dialler and programmed the routing table. Shes used this no problem for 6 months. Today she gets a message, "Please cease your membership of the light user scheme". I intially thought BT have barred the 1899 etc numbers but when I got her to dial manually they still work. Edit: It seems to be only the 0800 9571877 onetel number that is being barred. Will this affect all diallers? Has anyone else got problems with this?

I know I might get a few replies back saying this is unethical but so is BT's expensive line rental for OAP's. Besides she is 86 and doesn't use the phone that much anyway. But when she did her calls on the LUS scheme were very expensive!

Would appreciate any replies.

Someone at BT may have finally noticed that nearly most of your calls are to the same 0800 number.
My mum uses the the 0808 number provided by 1899 and has done for years and is still able to remain on the LUS. She has the 0808 number programmed into one of the One-Touch Memory buttons on her phone so it is very easy to use.

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« Last Edit: Dec 21^st, 2006 at 5:03pm by 4PetesSake »

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bbb_uk

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Re: BT Light User Scheme and Onetel Block
Reply #16 - Dec 21^st, 2006 at 6:07pm

4PetesSake wrote on Dec 21^st, 2006 at 5:00pm:

Martin_S wrote on Dec 19^th, 2006 at 9:33pm:

Hi. My grandmother is on the LUS. I bought her an Orchid dialler and programmed the routing table. Shes used this no problem for 6 months. Today she gets a message, "Please cease your membership of the light user scheme". I intially thought BT have barred the 1899 etc numbers but when I got her to dial manually they still work. Edit: It seems to be only the 0800 9571877 onetel number that is being barred. Will this affect all diallers? Has anyone else got problems with this?

I know I might get a few replies back saying this is unethical but so is BT's expensive line rental for OAP's. Besides she is 86 and doesn't use the phone that much anyway. But when she did her calls on the LUS scheme were very expensive!

Would appreciate any replies.

Someone at BT may have finally noticed that nearly most of your calls are to the same 0800 number.
My mum uses the the 0808 number provided by 1899 and has done for years and is still able to remain on the LUS. She has the 0808 number programmed into one of the One-Touch Memory buttons on her phone so it is very easy to use.

If the usage is low then anyone using this is more likely to get away with it. If the usage is high, etc then obviously it increases the chances that they'll get caught because BT are more likely to notice a lot of freephone numbers on the bill.

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a very nice man Supreme Member Offline Posts: 705 England Gender:	Re: BT's Low-User Scheme Blocks 18899,1899 Etc. Reply #17 - Dec 22^nd, 2006 at 11:09pm As I've already mentioned in replies 9 & 12, you could initiate a callback from one of the voip companies. The connection fee would be about 3p for up to 1 hour of calling (to UK, others need to be verified) This would be treated as an inbound call by BT.
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darkstar Newbie Offline Posts: 49 Gender:	Re: BT's Low-User Scheme Blocks 18866,1899 Etc. Reply #18 - Dec 23^rd, 2006 at 9:41pm I love the irony....a website based on stopping people being 'scammed' by companies has people advising on how to scam the companies.
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4PetesSake

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Re: BT's Low-User Scheme Blocks 18866,1899 Etc.
Reply #19 - Dec 24^th, 2006 at 5:01pm

darkstar wrote on Dec 23^rd, 2006 at 9:41pm:

I love the irony....a website based on stopping people being 'scammed' by companies has people advising on how to scam the companies. Grin

This is nothing compared with what is available over on the MSE site.

Checkout these 2 threads about Tesco.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=3770766#post3770766
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=3770753&posted=1#post37707...

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Delta

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Re: BT's Low-User Scheme Blocks 18866,1899 Etc.
Reply #20 - Dec 28^th, 2006 at 11:49pm

I've used Onetel 0800 957 1877 for at least 5 years. Today found it blocked.
To be honest surprised it has taken BT this long to log and block it.
Anyone know an alternative Onetel number?

Before using Onetel I had a pay-up-front account with Alpha Telecom.
They would issue new freephone numbers.
They did increase connection charge but looking at website looks like current UK rate is 3p/min and no connection charge.
Is anyone using them now?

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4PetesSake

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Re: BT's Low-User Scheme Blocks 18866,1899 Etc.
Reply #21 - Dec 29^th, 2006 at 6:12pm

Delta wrote on Dec 28^th, 2006 at 11:49pm:

I've used Onetel 0800 957 1877 for at least 5 years. Today found it blocked.
To be honest surprised it has taken BT this long to log and block it.
Anyone know an alternative Onetel number?

Before using Onetel I had a pay-up-front account with Alpha Telecom.
They would issue new freephone numbers.
They did increase connection charge but looking at website looks like current UK rate is 3p/min and no connection charge.
Is anyone using them now?

Your best bet is to sign up with 1899 or 18185 where you will pay a 4p connection charge and 1p a minute.
If you are on the LUS you will have to use their freephone 0808 prefixes.

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bbb_uk Global Moderator Offline Posts: 2,041	BT's Low-User Scheme Blocks 18899,1899 Etc. Reply #22 - Dec 31^st, 2006 at 2:17pm It has been mentioned to me that BT are going to remove the Light User Scheme (LUS) and In-Contact Plus (ICR). They will be replaced by BT Basic. More details here.
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Delta

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Re: BT's Low-User Scheme Blocks 18866,1899 Etc.
Reply #23 - Jan 2^nd, 2007 at 10:57pm

4PetesSake wrote on Dec 29^th, 2006 at 6:12pm:

Delta wrote on Dec 28^th, 2006 at 11:49pm:

I've used Onetel 0800 957 1877 for at least 5 years. Today found it blocked.
To be honest surprised it has taken BT this long to log and block it.
Anyone know an alternative Onetel number?

Before using Onetel I had a pay-up-front account with Alpha Telecom.
They would issue new freephone numbers.
They did increase connection charge but looking at website looks like current UK rate is 3p/min and no connection charge.
Is anyone using them now?

Your best bet is to sign up with 1899 or 18185 where you will pay a 4p connection charge and 1p a minute.
If you are on the LUS you will have to use their freephone 0808 prefixes.

Surely 1899's and 18185's 0808 ****** numbers will be on BT's blocked list for LUS scheme subscribers same as Onetel's number now is.

Also have heard nothing about ending of LUS from BT.
No mention on their website page either
http://www.bt.com/Pricing/pis_info.jsp?PRICE_OPTION=Residential/PIS_Other_Call_S...

I would not qualify for BT Basic so if this is true will be forced to pay £12 / month as I pay cash rather than DD. Currently only pay about £15 quarter and usually have not paid more than £5 quarter to Onetel as peak calls 2.5p/ min rather than 8p/min.

I would Join Talk Talk broadband & phone including line rental for £20.99 / month but know someone who initially signed up in October but has still to be connected. They have a date now 16th January, but they were first given a date in November followed by 3 in December.
I dread to think what support will be like if they have a problem when they eventually get connected.

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4PetesSake

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Re: BT's Low-User Scheme Blocks 18866,1899 Etc.
Reply #24 - Jan 3^rd, 2007 at 5:18pm

Delta wrote on Jan 2^nd, 2007 at 10:57pm:

Surely 1899's and 18185's 0808 ****** numbers will be on BT's blocked list for LUS scheme subscribers same as Onetel's number now is.

Also have heard nothing about ending of LUS from BT.
No mention on their website page either
http://www.bt.com/Pricing/pis_info.jsp?PRICE_OPTION=Residential/PIS_Other_Call_S...

I would not qualify for BT Basic so if this is true will be forced to pay £12 / month as I pay cash rather than DD. Currently only pay about £15 quarter and usually have not paid more than £5 quarter to Onetel as peak calls 2.5p/ min rather than 8p/min.

I would Join Talk Talk broadband & phone including line rental for £20.99 / month but know someone who initially signed up in October but has still to be connected. They have a date now 16th January, but they were first given a date in November followed by 3 in December.
I dread to think what support will be like if they have a problem when they eventually get connected.

I can assure you that BT have not yet blocked the 0808 numbers that allow you to use 1899 and 18185. If they do I will find out soon enough and will post it on here.

I too had not heard about BT doing away with LUS and replacing it with BT Basic but I would trust bbb_uk if he says that is what BT are going to do.

I have also heard so many scare stories about talktalk that I think they are worth avoiding.

One other option that still allows you to use a normal phone is to take NTL Broadband and make all your calls via your computer using a voip provider such as voip.co.uk This way you will not have to pay any line rental to anyone.

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Delta

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Re: BT's Low-User Scheme Blocks 18866,1899 Etc.
Reply #25 - Jan 3^rd, 2007 at 6:40pm

4PetesSake wrote on Jan 3^rd, 2007 at 5:18pm:

Delta wrote on Jan 2^nd, 2007 at 10:57pm:

Surely 1899's and 18185's 0808 ****** numbers will be on BT's blocked list for LUS scheme subscribers same as Onetel's number now is.

Also have heard nothing about ending of LUS from BT.
No mention on their website page either
http://www.bt.com/Pricing/pis_info.jsp?PRICE_OPTION=Residential/PIS_Other_Call_S...

I would not qualify for BT Basic so if this is true will be forced to pay £12 / month as I pay cash rather than DD. Currently only pay about £15 quarter and usually have not paid more than £5 quarter to Onetel as peak calls 2.5p/ min rather than 8p/min.

I would Join Talk Talk broadband & phone including line rental for £20.99 / month but know someone who initially signed up in October but has still to be connected. They have a date now 16th January, but they were first given a date in November followed by 3 in December.
I dread to think what support will be like if they have a problem when they eventually get connected.

I can assure you that BT have not yet blocked the 0808 numbers that allow you to use 1899 and 18185. If they do I will find out soon enough and will post it on here.

I too had not heard about BT doing away with LUS and replacing it with BT Basic but I would trust bbb_uk if he says that is what BT are going to do.

I have also heard so many scare stories about talktalk that I think they are worth avoiding.

One other option that still allows you to use a normal phone is to take NTL Broadband and make all your calls via your computer using a voip provider such as voip.co.uk This way you will not have to pay any line rental to anyone.

Thanks for confirmation that 0808 numbers used by 1899 and 18185 are not being blocked for now.
About to go and look at their websites.

Also for info about NTL and VOIP. However don't really want to be dependant on PC for phone calls, and what about incoming calls?

Just read about new Tiscali broadband, phone & line rental package here
http://www.saynoto0870.com/cgi-bin/forum/YaBB.cgi?num=1164034300
but note same as I have heard support is poor.

Maybe a reliable broadband provider will come up with a similar scheme soon or even BT to stop customers moving.

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LeeUK Newbie Offline Posts: 36 NE UK Gender:	Re: BT's Low-User Scheme Blocks 18899,1899 Etc. Reply #26 - Jan 3^rd, 2007 at 9:15pm Funny how you can't get ADSL if you're on the Light User Scheme. So, when I wanted to get ADSL I had to move up to the Option 1 tariff. Strange how I was put back on Light User when my next bill came in and have been since, With ADSL.
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4PetesSake

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Re: BT's Low-User Scheme Blocks 18866,1899 Etc.
Reply #27 - Jan 3^rd, 2007 at 10:16pm

Delta wrote on Jan 3^rd, 2007 at 6:40pm:

Thanks for confirmation that 0808 numbers used by 1899 and 18185 are not being blocked for now.
About to go and look at their websites.

Also for info about NTL and VOIP. However don't really want to be dependant on PC for phone calls, and what about incoming calls?

Just read about new Tiscali broadband, phone & line rental package here
http://www.saynoto0870.com/cgi-bin/forum/YaBB.cgi?num=1164034300
but note same as I have heard support is poor.

Maybe a reliable broadband provider will come up with a similar scheme soon or even BT to stop customers moving.

With companies such as Voip.co.uk or Vonage you connect your normal phone to your computer and you then use the phone is the same way as normal. There is no problem receiving calls. I believe that with vonage you can even choose your own phone number.

I have also heard some of the complaints about Tiscali, however my brother and father in law are with them and have always found the CS to be very efficient.

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« Last Edit: Jan 3^rd, 2007 at 10:21pm by 4PetesSake »

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Delta Newbie Offline Posts: 5	Re: BT's Low-User Scheme Blocks 18899,1899 Etc. Reply #28 - Jan 6^th, 2007 at 12:04am Joined 18185. 0808 number working with LUS for now. Maybe because 0808 ******* mainly dial-up internet which, unlike brandband, is allowed with LUS. Also 1899 and 18185 have same contact address hence presumably same company.
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4PetesSake

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Re: BT's Low-User Scheme Blocks 18899,1899 Etc.
Reply #29 - Jan 6^th, 2007 at 5:10am

Delta wrote on Jan 6^th, 2007 at 12:04am:

Joined 18185.
0808 number working with LUS for now.
Maybe because 0808 ******* mainly dial-up internet which, unlike brandband, is allowed with LUS.

Also 1899 and 18185 have same contact address hence presumably same company.

I have often wondered about that as their pricing for calls is quite different with 18185 now being better value to nearly all destinations. Perhaps someone with more knowledge about the companies will be able to answer this question?

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