Call18866: Stay away!

[scrotnig]

Having enticed people (including myself) with non-BT lines into using their new service, Call18866 (http://www.call18866.co.uk) has, without warning, pulled the plug on it's 'unlimited landline calls for 1p' deal.

http://www.call18866.co.uk

If you don't use the tarrif announce facility, which is off by default, you will be blissfully unaware until you get your massive bill that calls have gone from being 1p for as long as you like to being 0.5p per minute.

http://www.call18866.co.uk/faq.php#1

Using the excuse that non-BT operators charge too much is cobblers. It's not as though they didn't know the charges beforehand, this is simply a snare tactic to get the business and rip people off. They have my email address but there has been NO notification of this change, which was effective today.

The 1p rate remains for BT lines, but obviously only until they pull the plug on that one as well.

Steer well clear, these people, as I suspected from the outset, are charlatans.

[paulyoung666]

thought i had heard of this (http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/showthread.php?t=9974&highlight=Call18866) before , seemed to good to be true :disturbd:

[scrotnig]

I personally recommend TalkTalk (www.talktalk.co.uk) for people with BT lines (I have both a BT and an ntl one!), 5p per hour for SEVENTY mins off peak (not 60) and that's without paying any monthly rental to them. Free calls to other TalkTalk customers any time of day or night, and competitively priced plans for other levels of calling as well. And their customer service and general efficiency is fantastic.

Failing that, use your providers' own 5p call plan...5p for 60 mins off peak. BT customers have this included now which is why their line rental went up £1 to £10.50 a month, ntl (and, I believe, Telewest) customers can add it on for £1.

[quadplay]

BT Together Option 1 (the £10.50 a month plan) is 5.5p for an hour rather than the 5p charged by the ntl 5p Talk Plan. Telewest do not have an equivalent package. :)

[Shaun]

I personally recommend TalkTalk (www.talktalk.co.uk) for people with BT lines

Mark people with a BT line are unaffected :


(15.09.2004) Tariff changes for calls via access numbers 0808 170 77 88 and 020 7001 9797
Dear customer,
Regrettably we have been forced to change the tariffs for calls via our access numbers 0808 170 77 88 and 020 7001 9797. This is due to higher costs charged by other operators we unfortunately have to pass on.
You can find the new prices

To be honest I'm not surprised, Onetel have been offering calls on their packages from 0800 numbers for a long time, but the mobile companies keep blocking them so they keep starting a new number. Wouldn't surprise me if it was something along these lines (not exactly as people can still make calls on the 0808 number) after all cable/mobile operators don't have to let them have access to their network.

For calls from a BT land line they are still UNBEATABLE. As for calls on the cable networks they are still more than likely the cheapest at 0.5p.

Maybe people should check out 1899.com

Edit - Also the title is a little provocative don't you think Mark? "Stay Away" :rolleyes:

[bo-peep]

i'm using the 1899 service cos it's still free-until the same happens as the sister company.it works out cheaper for me than paying £15.50 a month TU24.plus mobile calls are cheaper than ntl even in the week.

this one comes in handy as well

http://www.saynoto0870.com/search.php

[lone007ranger]

Well...I've just started using Call18866, and I don't know what to make of these comments? I only use the service to ring the Ukriane... at 7p per minute from a UK landline - I'm with NTL.

Any comments ?

[Mike]

I ditched my NTL land line and switched to www.freetalk.co.uk (VOIP) calls to UK land lines zero. Had two bills so far (monthly) £4.61 and £1.27 (calls to mobiles) have not looked back !

mike

[Shaun]

Well the costs are still really competitive.

If calling from an Ntl/TW line the costs are:


UK rates
p/min


UK fixed lines
0.5

UK mobiles (sat/sun)
3

UK mobiles (weekdays)
10

UK (070 Personal)
15

UK (0845 Local)
4

UK (0870 National)
7


http://www.call1899.co.uk/mobilerates.php


UK rates



Destination p/min

UK fixed lines 1

UK mobiles (sat/sun) 4

UK mobiles (weekdays) 14

UK (070 Personal) 20

UK (0845 Local) 4

UK (0870 National) 9
http://www.call18866.co.uk/mobilerates.php

Both have no connection fee.

If calling from a BT line the costs are:


UK rates
pence/min

UK fixed lines
0.0 !!

UK mobiles (sat/sun)
3

UK mobiles (weekdays)
10

UK (070 Personal)
15

UK (0845 Local)
4

UK (0870 National)
7



* 3p connection charge

http://www.call1899.co.uk/rates.php


Destination p/min

UK fixed lines 0.0

UK mobiles (sat/sun) 3

UK mobiles (weekdays) 12

UK (070 Personal) 20

UK (0845 Local) 4

UK (0870 National) 9
*4p Connection charge

http://www.call18866.co.uk/rates.php





Competative comparted to BT/NTL/TW/Bulldog rates.

Saying that if you have a cable modem one of these may be better value to you if you make a lot of UK landline calls.

http://www.freetalk.co.uk/ProdServ_OneYearDetails.aspx



Now may be a good time to also mention that you can now make Landline to Mobile calls for 1p per minuite with this compny:

http://www.cleverates.com/

Who actually offer a rate of UKRIANE - LANDLINE 4p/min ;)



This article over at www.moneysavingexpert.com (http://www.moneysavingexpert.com) explains things in more detail:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?newsid1095003038,99872,

HTH