Re: 0800 callthrough

Peter <drop.all.mailANTISPAMMERS@gmail.com> wrote:
[0800 VOIP DID numbers]
> When you dial an 0800, the recipient of the 0800 call pays some fee
> per minute, and while you indicate you can get an 0800 that charges
> only 2p/min (who, by the way, that's an impressively low fee), that
> does not mean the companies you have used or wish to use will pay a
> similar fee. They may have locked in for several years at 8p/min.

Fair point. That may be the case for the local plumber on a long contract.
But if anyone's setting up a callthrough company the whole business model
depends on these charges being low, otherwise nobody would use them. They
don't care about changing numbers, so they'll pick the cheapest incoming
tariff.

Don't forget the price of receiving the call doesn't include the cost to
forward (eg to a mobile). But for VOIP termination there is no transit
cost. Some examples of people providing 0800 DID numbers:

2p/min plus 5 pounds/month (tenner for connection) was the first hit on
Google for '0800 voip':
http://www.voiptalk.org/products/080...ne+VoIP+Number
2p/min plus 65 quid connection:
http://www.voipon.co.uk/0800-uk-voip...ber-p-483.html

This one looks like a fiver connection plus 2p/min with no monthly fee, or
500 mins for 4.50/month:
http://0800.uk2numbers.co.uk/0800-Numbers.cfm
That might just work for me... anyone have any experiences of
uk2numbers.co.uk? Are they connected with uk2.net?

[Followups set to uk.telecom.voip]

Theo

Ivor Jones <ivor@thisaddressis.invalid> wrote:
> On 22/07/10 18:38, Theo Markettos wrote:
> > That might just work for me... anyone have any experiences of
> > uk2numbers.co.uk? Are they connected with uk2.net?
>
> I have a couple of numbers with them, but not had them for long enough
> to make much in the way of comment. They're ok if you don't want to
> change the divert destination very often, but it gets expensive if you
> want to do it more than once a month or so.

Interesting. Is that diverting to another PSTN number? Or VOIP?
Do they charge per config change? Does CLID come through OK (and can you
reject calls if you don't like the CLID and not be charged?)

It looks like they claim to do VOIP, but in fact divert to a PSTN number
which may or may not be attached to a VOIP account. Sounds rather braindead
to me...

Theo

Ivor Jones <ivor@thisaddressis.invalid> wrote:
> The basic no-monthly-rental account charges £9.95 every time you change
> the destination number, but £19.95 if you do it more than once a month.
> If you need to change it more often then you have to sign up to their
> "Unlimited Redirect" service which is £59.95 per year.

Ah. Nice that they mention this on the website. Is the first time included
in the initial setup fee?

> No idea about rejecting calls, I'm afraid. I suspect not as it seems
> quite a simple service but it's adequate for my use and cheap enough for
> the low call volumes I get.

I wasn't asking for anything fancy: just I was hoping that if I don't answer
the call that I won't be charged. I can decide who to answer by CLID as
long as that is passed through, and I don't care what happens to callers who
aren't on the pass list, as long as they don't cost me.

> One thing they don't mention on their website is that although it's
> 2p/min for incoming calls, there's a 5p minimum charge so it's not quite
> as cheap if you get a lot of short calls.

Sigh. Another thing they omit to mention. In my case that hopefully
shouldn't be a problem. It /is/ a minimum charge, not a connection fee?

Theo

Theo Markettos <theom+news@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:
> Ivor Jones <ivor@thisaddressis.invalid> wrote:
> > The basic no-monthly-rental account charges £9.95 every time you change
> > the destination number, but £19.95 if you do it more than once a month.
> > If you need to change it more often then you have to sign up to their
> > "Unlimited Redirect" service which is £59.95 per year.
>
> Ah. Nice that they mention this on the website. Is the first time
> included in the initial setup fee?

I mailed them, and got a quick reply:

<quote>
The 0800 number registration fee (starting at £4.95) is a one off cost and
it has nothing to do with incoming call charges. The £9.95 monthly Call Plan
rental is related to incoming call charges and it applies to each calendar
month.

The 5 pence minimum call charges includes the first 2 minutes and 30 seconds
of each received call and this applies to all 0800 numbers with diversion to
UK land line numbers.

You will be able to identify caller's telephone number the same way as if
they have dialled your land line number directly.
You will not be charged for calls which are not picked up and incoming call
charges are calculated only after the call is answered.

Our full services price list is available to download at:
http://www.uk2numbers.co.uk/download...ceList0609.pdf
</quote>

Which looks reasonable (though it implies setup is 14.90 not 4.95). If only
they had said all that on the website...

Theo