sochmil1 wrote on Mar 10
th, 2007 at 9:46am:
I am paying a fortune to ring 0870 numbers from my BT Option 1 line. Is it worth signing up to 18185?
At one time, I think that the answer was a resounding 'yes'.
Now you may still save on a longer call, which 0870s tend to be. Definately use BT during the weekday evening and weekend.
During the weekday daytime BT charges 7p/min charged to the nearest second with a 3p connection charge. 18185 charges 6p/min charged to the next whole minute with a 4p connection charge.
By charging to the nearest whole minute rather than second, the charge for the call will be, on average, longer by half the length of 1 minute charge. As an example, see
here. This is for BT's charges of geographical numbers and shows how changing from per second billing to per minute has actually increased charges.