Paula,

Logically there must be some kind of problem with your 1899 or 18185 account for you not to be able to use their service.  Why not try closing the account down online and then starting up another one using a different credit card with them a few days later (once the closure has gone through)?

Are you sure with a household your size you wouldn't be better off with an All Calls package covering all 01/02 numbers without any prefix dialling so not confusing the rest of the household?    Euphony Talk All Calls is £7.25 per month for all uk 01/02 numbers up to one hour in call length:- www.euphony.co.uk/land_2.htm ; Or Eclipse will do you all 01/02 calls for only £5.99 per month if your broadband is also with them.  And their main broadband services are now only £15 per month.  See www.eclipse.net.uk/index.cfm?id=talk_res ; Or Tiscali will do you all 01/02 calls for only £2 per month on top of their expensively priced £17.99 2MB broadband service.  But Tiscali's broadband is widely reputed to be so bad I wouldn't even begin to consider that last option.

But taking the Eclipse deal £6 = 200 calls per month or 7 per day on 1899 at 3p per call.  Are you sure your 1899 bills are actually averaging under £6 per month in your family environment?

bbb_uk wrote on May 23^rd, 2006 at 4:31am:


Interesting information bbb_uk. However my sister gave me what I thought was going to be a Sipura SPA-3000 ATA but in fact turns out to be a uk specific Linksys SPA-3000 ATA from Microwarehouse (same electronics but more pretty silver box from Linksys although the Microwharehouse website did show it as being the Sipura when the order was placed) for my birthday which I am about to try to get configured with VoipCheap and/or VoipDiscount (VoipCheap seems to have the best prices for onward forwarding to my United Mobile Liechtenstein SIM card when I am away as this charges nothing for incoming calls).   However I see the Finarea Voip brands have now limited free calls to 300 minutes a week which is annoying so looks like I will need to set up VoipCheap and VoipDiscount and keep a book of calls I make.  Perhaps the Primus option would have been less hassle and saved the 65 quid cost of the ATA.

Actually I might sign my mum up on the Primus deal as I'm sure she makes at least 4 calls  a day and Voip is much too fiddly for her.

I'm slightly concerned though that the £5 a month credit is only a credit against the cost of making future calls with Primus though (eg 0870 mobile etc or after the 12 months to 01/02 numbers) and not a credit against the actual monthly cost of the package.  Can you confirm the situation here bbb?

Paula wrote on May 23^rd, 2006 at 11:40am:


Hi Paula,

Well I take your point but in my one person household I manage to get billed for about £4 to £ 5 of calls every month with 1899.   Mind you that's because I moved to the Post Office for the £50 + £15 cashback on line rental so don't have any free evening or weekend calls anymore (used to only be £3 per month previously to 1899) that I used to have with JustDial.  Also I'm at home 7 days a week just at the moment (resting from the world of employment).

I wonder if you add in what the German student is paying to 18185 if the total uk calls bill isn't higher than £7 per month.  You could let the German student make uk calls on the Primus service now but ask him to pay you £1.50 a month for the privilege or something?

The nice bit about the All Calls thing is you don't have to hang up before Answerphones kick or in etc as one tends to do with 1899.

Paula,

I can't believe BT can be cheapest for most things including 0870 (they are cheapest for Caller Display though as its free if you register for BT Privacy).  18185 only charges 4p per minutes +3p per connection to 0870 in the weekday daytime compared to 7.5p per minute with BT (its not 3p per minute for 0870 as you perhaps wrongly thought).  Its true that BT are perhaps no more expensive than one or two other people for 0870 at the weekend but that's not saying much is it.

Phonecheap have the lowest rates to South Africa at 2p per minute but its one of those dialthrough 0844 services where you pay 5p connection even if there is no answer and you don't get a record on the  bill of the actual South African number diallled.  But 18185 and 1899 only charge 4p per minute - is BT really cheaper  than this?

You could have BT Option 1 plus International with Primus's Option 3 thing and then get the BT rates if they are ever cheaper by dialling 1280 on front of any call you want to route with BT instead of with Primus.  I would have thought this might only be some 0844, 0845, 0870 and 0871 calls at certain times though?  At least that's the only time I dial the BT override code.

Anyhow I hope you do manage to get the best deal.  You could of course get one of those ATA thingies to add to the 8 port router that doesn't seem to work properly and then try making all your calls via Voip instead.  In theory uk calls are free with www.voipcheap.co.uk, www.voipstunt.co.uk, www.voipdiscount.co.uk from the Finarea group but they now limit you to 300 minutes of free calls a week on each brand and you have to make a call credit every so often.  And the ATA thingies cost 50 quid or so and it gets more complicated with extensions unless you use DECT phones everywhere in the house..................

The goalposts are always moving on the cheapest deal unfortunately or fortunately depending on how you look at it!

This the link and info
http://www.bt.com/Choices/internet.jsp?content_id=CHOICES-CONTENT-TO3A&obsNoSee=...

     International option
Friends, family or business contacts abroad? Now you can call 30 of our most popular international destinations for just £1 per month. Just add this International option to your pricing option for even more great savings.

    * 3p a minute price whenever you call, day or night to any of the countries below
    * Lower rates to international mobiles : just - 3p per minute to Canada, Hong Kong, and the USA and 30p per minute to the other 27 countries listed below.

           
                             
Choose the International option and call any of the following countries for just 3p a minute:

Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Croatia, Cyprus (not including Northern Cyprus), Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Ireland, Singapore, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain (except the Canary Islands), Sweden, Switzerland, USA and Zambia.

If you sign up to the BT Together International Option before 31st July 06, you don't have to pay the £1 monthly fee for the first three months.

bbb_uk wrote on May 24^th, 2006 at 12:01pm:


Interesting that BT is now starting to become price competitive in some areas, I think as a result of a recent Ofcom ruling no longer forcing them to maintain high international call prices to encourage competition to develop?

Although Phonecheap is only 2p per minute you will pay every time you make a call that does not get through and for time getting through when you are not speaking to the person you are calling and no itemisation of call history of course.  But then again £1 per month which is a 50 minute call at 2p per minute.  It all depends how much people call abroad in your household really.  Obviously the BT option is a lot more convenient than having to dial the Phonecheap number.

All done, chaps!  Have signed up for BT Option 1 with international calls, and have also gone onto Primus Option 3.  I think these options will make lives in this household much easier.

Yup, BBB, your link was PERFECT!   One day I will learn how to do it - my kids will teach me!

Many thanks for all the advice - this website is brilliant.

NGM - will an Orchid dialler manage to organise my husband and kids????  What a superb invention that would be!    Cheers for now.