TELECOM 247

BT has today (Friday) made UK weekend call charges a thing of the past
by extending free weekend calls to UK landlines for its 10.8 million
Option 1 customers.

The move takes effect from today and will mean that, for the first
time, all 14.8 million BT households - the majority of those in
Britain - will no longer have to pay for weekend calls.

BT says the giveaway is the first step in a revision of its prices
that will also see the cost of its two most inclusive calling plans
slashed from 1 April. BT says the move will undercut its closest
rivals for such standalone plans.

The main changes are:

* Unlimited Weekend Plan (replaces BT Together Option 1): This
plan is free with customers paying line rental only. From today,
customers on this plan will receive free weekend calls without having
to do a thing. If they take a 12-month renewable contract, they will
also get free evening calls, saving them a further Ł32.40 a year on
top of the savings they will enjoy through receiving free weekend
calls

* Unlimited Evening & Weekend Plan (replaces BT Together Option
2): BT is cutting the price of this plan, which offers free calls at
weekends and evenings, by 22 per cent from Ł3.45 to Ł2.70 a month. The
monthly cost of this plan has now fallen by more than 50 per cent in
two years

* Unlimited Anytime Plan (replaces BT Together Option 3): BT is
cutting the price of this plan, which offers free calls at all times,
by 25 per cent from Ł7.95 to Ł5.95 a month. The monthly cost of this
plan has now fallen by almost 60 per cent in two years. The plan
includes discounts of up to a third on calls to mobiles as well as 200
inclusive texts.

BT says customers will enjoy further savings from April with the
launch of a new International Saver calling plan. This offers highly-
competitive rates for calls to all international destinations for just
Ł1 a month.

This is the third time in the past two years that BT has slashed the
price of its inclusive calling plans. A recent report from Ofcom
estimated that a typical basket of fixed-line calls had fallen in
price by 30 per cent since 2002 and that fixed-line prices are now
lower in the UK than in France, Germany, Italy and the US.

BT Retail consumer managing director Gavin Patterson said:

Sunil Sood wrote:

Pardon me for being suspicious from price announcements that come from BT,
but:


OK, so thats replacing weekend calls at 6p/call. Unless you make lots and
lots of weekend calls I doubt its going to make a huge difference.


Here it comes...


Not such a big deal - though that is about the same as 12 weekend calls
under the old system. I wonder if on average people make more than 12
weekend calls to landlines a month?


Aha! Thats an 18% rise on daytime calls. Will probably wipeout any saving
on the weekend calls if theres ever anyone at home during the day.


Ouch! Evening calls under Option 1 were previously 6p/call. Thats now a
huge increase to 1.5p/min. If you make even a few evening calls youre
likely to be worse off as theyll wipeout any saving on weekend calls. You
have to make 180 mins of evening calls per month (excluding setup costs) to
justify the 2.70 extra for Unlimited Evenings & Weekends, but if youre
locked into a 12 month contract you have to pay it every month.

Think Ill stick with CPS myself...

Theo

On Fri, 1 Feb 2008 03:01:43 -0800 (PST), Sunil Sood
wrote:




In essence, its a case of I give you a pound but you give me 5 in
exchange

On Feb 1, 11:38 am, Theo Markettos
wrote:

Weekend calls were 4.5p for up to an hour.


The line rental increase is cost neutral if you have online billing
but I suspect the number of people who make more than 3/4 landline
calls a weekend is considerable.


Evening calls under Option 1 were 4.5p/call (upto an hour)

Now including set-up charges, I make the break even point between
Option 1 and Option 2 (@Ł2.70/month) 36 evening calls/month (if
you ignore other things like free texts etc)

However, if you agree to a 12 month line rolling rental contract you
basically get Option 2 for free.

Regards
Sunil

Sunil Sood wrote:

[snip]

Full text at:
http://www.productsandservices.bt.com/consumerProducts/dynamicmodules/pagecontentfooter/pageContentFooterPopup.jsp?pagecontentfooter
popupid#771
or http://tinyurl.com/3yp67y

Allan

In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
Sunil Sood wrote:


I dont think so! Where does it say *that*?
--
Cheers,
Roger

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On Feb 1, 3:17 pm, Roger Mills wrote:

From my original post.

Unlimited Weekend Plan (replaces BT Together Option 1): This plan is
free with customers paying line rental only. From today, customers on
this plan will receive free weekend calls without having to do a
thing. If they take a 12-month renewable contract, they will also get
free evening calls, saving them a further Ł32.40 a year on top of the
savings they will enjoy through receiving free weekend calls

and from the last para:

The price of evening calls for Unlimited Weekend Plan customers is
also changing to 1.5p a minute. Those customers can enjoy these calls
free if they sign a 12-month contract which will then operate on a
rolling basis. This means they will enjoy free weekend and evening
calls as long as they stay with BT.

Regards
Sunil

In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
Sunil Sood wrote:


Yes, I saw that - but couldnt find any mention of it on
http://www.productsandservices.bt.com/consumerProducts/dynamicmodules/pagecontentfooter/pageContentFooterPopup.jsp?pagecontentfooter
popupid#771

And in the PDF document cited in that link, it says:
From 1st February 2008 customers who sign up to a new 12-month renewable
contract on BT Together Option 2 will receive free Evening calls (in
addition to their free Weekend calls) to all UK geographic numbers.

Note the reference to *Option2* (not 1) - big deal!

So how does that all stack up? I cant find anything (apart from the press
release or whatever it was you quoted) which suggests you can get free
evening calls for just the basic rental. I hope Im wrong!
--
Cheers,
Roger

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monitored.. Messages sent to it may not be read for several weeks.
PLEASE REPLY TO NEWSGROUP!