Shocking phone call charges with Virgin

mjw123 · 21-10-2009, 15:17

Guys,

I've only recently move to Virgin from Pipex and in the main am happy with the service however the phone charges are disgraceful. I simply cannot believe how high they are.

We rarely use the phone and try and make evening calls but it seems to make no odds, with pipex we'd struggle to make Â£10 worth of calls each month, now with Virgin it's nearer Â£25 a month for the same type of calls

. Can anything be done, do they not offer any free calls or friends and family ?

All of a sudden the reasonable TV / Broadband deal is no longer so by their rip off phone call costs.

Are any of those prefix numbers worth a Try if Virgin themselves won't reduce the costs ?

tia,
MJW

webcrawler2050 · 21-10-2009, 15:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by mjw123

Guys,

I've only recently move to Virgin from Pipex and in the main am happy with the service however the phone charges are disgraceful. I simply cannot believe how high they are.

We rarely use the phone and try and make evening calls but it seems to make no odds, with pipex we'd struggle to make Â£10 worth of calls each month, now with Virgin it's nearer Â£25 a month for the same type of calls

. Can anything be done, do they not offer any free calls or friends and family ?

All of a sudden the reasonable TV / Broadband deal is no longer so by their rip off phone call costs.

Are any of those prefix numbers worth a Try if Virgin themselves won't reduce the costs ?

tia,
MJW

What kind of calls are they? 0870, 0845? Local National etc etc?

VM Charge Â£11.00 for line rental - so are you paying Â£25 + Â£11 or Â£25 all in all?

Gary L · 21-10-2009, 15:41

You can save a small fortune.

http://www.1899.com/mobilerates.php

m419 · 21-10-2009, 16:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by mjw123

Guys,

I've only recently move to Virgin from Pipex and in the main am happy with the service however the phone charges are disgraceful. I simply cannot believe how high they are.

We rarely use the phone and try and make evening calls but it seems to make no odds, with pipex we'd struggle to make Â£10 worth of calls each month, now with Virgin it's nearer Â£25 a month for the same type of calls

. Can anything be done, do they not offer any free calls or friends and family ?

All of a sudden the reasonable TV / Broadband deal is no longer so by their rip off phone call costs.

It is an attempt to move people off the Standard phone tariff(Free weekends plan/M Phone package) and encourage people to move on to Talk Evening and weekends,Talk unlimited and Talk Anywhere.

If you are calling mobiles,0845 and 0870 numbers regularly but not excessively then Talk Anywhere is for you.

For Â£20 per which is including telephone line rental(Â£11) Virgin Media can give you 200 minutes of talktime to call UK landlines, UK mobiles,International mobiles and landlines as well as 0845 and 0870 numbers.

If you don't use up your minutes, they roll over to the next month.

So this plan is similar to mobile phone tariffs. So by being on Talk Anywhere 200, it is the equivalent of paying 4p per minute, thats quite good if you are calling mobiles.

So Â£11 line rental plus Talk Anywhere(Â£9) means your phone costs including line rental won't be over Â£20.

0500 and 0800 numbers remain free.

Are any of those prefix numbers worth a Try if Virgin themselves won't reduce the costs ?

tia,
MJW

mjw123 · 21-10-2009, 18:04

Thanks - the near Â£25 is just for calls so phone rental and calls=Â£36 per month which is a farce.

That talkanywhere for Â£9 seems interesting, is that likely to be chepaer than the 1899 prefix ?

TIA
Mike.

webcrawler2050 · 21-10-2009, 18:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by mjw123

Thanks - the near Â£25 is just for calls so phone rental and calls=Â£36 per month which is a farce.

That talkanywhere for Â£9 seems interesting, is that likely to be chepaer than the 1899 prefix ?

TIA
Mike.

What kind of calls are they?

0870, 0845, local, national, mobiles etc?

mjw123 · 21-10-2009, 18:11

Mainly local with a few mobile calls and the odd short call to Oz - try to avoid 0845 from home.

webcrawler2050 · 21-10-2009, 18:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by mjw123

Mainly local with a few mobile calls and the odd short call to Oz - try to avoid 0845 from home.

When you say odd? how long and often?

I would *personally* avoid international from landline and use skype

This will be handy:

http://allyours.virginmedia.com/pdf/...tober%20V5.pdf

http://allyours.virginmedia.com/pdf/...phic-calls.pdf

http://allyours.virginmedia.com/pdf/...december08.pdf

Taf · 21-10-2009, 18:44

I've just moved to http://www.firsttelecom.com/ as they specialise in cable phonelines.

I was with Onetel for years but their rates (and connection charge) just got silly.

Both use a box you put in series with your normal telephone line... no extra numbers to dial, etc... and you only pay for what you use after you used it.

My monthly bill used to around Â£4... the same calls will now cost around Â£2...

nodrogd · 21-10-2009, 20:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by Taf

I've just moved to http://www.firsttelecom.com/ as they specialise in cable phonelines.

I was with Onetel for years but their rates (and connection charge) just got silly.

Both use a box you put in series with your normal telephone line... no extra numbers to dial, etc... and you only pay for what you use after you used it.

My monthly bill used to around Â£4... the same calls will now cost around Â£2...

This only works with a BT line, it won't work on VM.

From their website Q & A:

Can anyone register?

Yes - so long as you have a BT telephone line. If you have call barring with BT or are on their Light User Scheme please ask BT to change your service to 'standard line rental' before you register with first:telecom (call BT on 150 to do this) or alternatively switch your line rental to us and just receive the one bill.

bonzoe · 21-10-2009, 20:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by nodrogd

This only works with a BT line, it won't work on VM.

From their website Q & A:

Can anyone register?

Yes - so long as you have a BT telephone line. If you have call barring with BT or are on their Light User Scheme please ask BT to change your service to 'standard line rental' before you register with first:telecom (call BT on 150 to do this) or alternatively switch your line rental to us and just receive the one bill.

Look again, there is a Cable saver plan for VM users.

http://www.firsttelecom.com/resident...monthly-CS.htm

mjw123 · 21-10-2009, 21:34

Damn - just gone with their talk unlimited plan for about Â£7.95. Oh well probably wouldn't be much cheaper at 1sttelecom.

page3 · 28-10-2009, 10:58

Just get a VOIP phone, top up with some pre-pay minutes and use that.

You'll get to choose your number, and get caller ID free.

Our phone bill went from Â£30/month to about Â£5/month

Rik · 28-10-2009, 11:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by mjw123

Mainly local with a few mobile calls and the odd short call to Oz - try to avoid 0845 from home.

If its mainly local calls, why not just add Talk Unlimited Package @ Â£7.95 per month?

Unlimited landline calls 24/7

http://allyours.virginmedia.com/webs...ct.do?id=10258

Taf · 28-10-2009, 11:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by bonzoe

Look again, there is a Cable saver plan for VM users.

http://www.firsttelecom.com/resident...monthly-CS.htm

It pays to read a bit doesn't it ?

I received their little box, plugged it in... now on their system...simples!!

---------- Post added at 10:14 ---------- Previous post was at 10:11 ----------

Yesterday I spotted a Virgin mobile offer that suited my teenage daughter to a T: 200 minutes, 200 minutes to other Virgin mobiles, "unlimited" texts (3000 per month).

Â£10 per month rolling contract.

The posters in the Virgin shop didn't mention the "unlimited" texts on the Â£10 offer, nor the 200 minutes to other Virgin mobiles....