Be carefully of phone cheap

I Have been using a number from the UK for a few years its called Phone cheap, 08448610001 then the code for Thailand 0066, a voice use to say" Welcome to phone cheap your call costs 1p per minute",But now there is a voice added, saying "plus network charges", does anybody know what the network charges are, and if there is a cheaper option, I have tried to find out from my phone company (BT) but all i get is an automated choice option, I do not want to use a service that i don't know the charges off, and i don't what to find out a month down the line, that they are charging me extortionate amounts , thanks in advance for any usefully information.

Why not try Skype?My wife pays £3 per month and she can call any number in Thailand,land-line or mobile.

Voipdiscount is another good one.

All the charges are on the BT web site but you need to dig. 0844 are about 5p a minute or cheaper depending on your package. However I'm not on BT so thats just my interpretaion of their jargon.

http://www.numbersales.com/phone_call_cost.jsp

Edited May 3, 201115 yr by tso310

Those 'Network charges' would be connection/call charges from BT and the like.

BT are just disgusting:

When making a chargeable call, a 11.5p set up fee applies.

Had the same with Virgin.

Calls VOIP at 1p per minute but a charge to dial the number in the first place. Some numbers 5p connection, others 10p per connection. But still a lot cheaper than the normal rate.

Maybe worth some googling but I recall being told you can dial another number (maybe a prefix number) to avoid those charges. Sorry I cannot remember the details. Maybe someone else here can clarify on that?

I too hate these excess / hidden charges by companies and like to avoid them as much as possible. My money in my pocket where possible

FWIW, i use the services of Localphone.com

Where you can register all and any of your mobile phones and a landline phone.

Fees are 1.1 p a minute, and you use your free minutes of your plan with a mobile, or just pay an additional local call fee to BT, which is the same as calling someone down the road (IE, its NOT the so called "low-call" rate that catches people out)

If you are on any unlimited plan with BT then you just pay the 1.1p call charge to Localphone, dependant on what plan you got (i am on a weekend unlimited, so only use BT then)

HTH

Penkoprod

Edited May 4, 201115 yr by Penkoprod

The network charge has always applied for Phonecheap. I use it when in the UK. Last time was early March and my BT bill shows the following total call prices, to which you should add VAT:

13 mins - 26p

11 mins - 23p

6 mins - 16p

1.5 mins 13p

45 secs 13p

The network charge is a fixed price per call, so for longer calls you hardly notice it but it puts a 13p minimum price on short calls.

I use both Skype and Phonecheap - there's not much difference. You have to put up with the occasional dropped call or bad line whichever

Try rebtel. I've been using them for years. They give you a local number in the UK to dial direct from your landline or mobile. You can then use your free/bundled minutes as part of the UK connection part of the call.

The network charge has always applied for Phonecheap. I use it when in the UK. Last time was early March and my BT bill shows the following total call prices, to which you should add VAT:

13 mins - 26p

11 mins - 23p

6 mins - 16p

1.5 mins 13p

45 secs 13p

The network charge is a fixed price per call, so for longer calls you hardly notice it but it puts a 13p minimum price on short calls.

I use both Skype and Phonecheap - there's not much difference. You have to put up with the occasional dropped call or bad line whichever

New charges came in in April

Edited May 4, 201115 yr by Thongkorn

You can also use someone like 18185 as they also provide a Freephone number. 4p connection fee and 1.5p per minute for calls to landlines and mobiles.

I use icard mobile sim.

Zero connection charge, and 1p to landline and 2p to mobiles.

Ideal for a short call avoiding the connection charge.

ive just paid 23 quid this month using a cheap line to los, she rings about twice a day,i reckon its about 8p to 10p a minute with bt,just got this months bill,going to work out charges and see were i stand.

I use iphone and call via an 0845 number in the UK. calling the 0845 number is free on my office phone. There is a 10p per day service charge and rates are:-

Rates for calling thailand, 0845 access

Unless 'mobile' is stated, the rates are for calling landline phones.

Destination

Phone card

Rate (£5 or £10)

Connection

Thailand

iPhone

0.1 p/min

0 p/call

Thailand

Magic

0.2 p/min

0 p/call

Thailand

Freespirit

0.5 p/min

0 p/call

Thailand

iPhone Poland

0.5 p/min

0 p/call

Thailand

Bubble

0.7 p/min

0 p/call

Thailand

Happy Hours

0.7 p/min

0 p/call

Thailand

iPhone Turkey

2.0 p/min

0 p/call

Thailand

iPhone AfricaCaribbean

2.0 p/min

0 p/call

Thailand - Mobile

iPhone

0.1 p/min

0 p/call

Thailand - Mobile

Magic

0.2 p/min

0 p/call

Thailand - Mobile

Freespirit

0.5 p/min

0 p/call

Thailand - Mobile

iPhone Poland

0.5 p/min

0 p/call

Thailand - Mobile

Happy Hours

0.7 p/min

0 p/call

Thailand - Mobile

Bubble

1.7 p/min

0 p/call

Thailand - Mobile

iPhone Turkey

2.0 p/min

0 p/call

Thailand - Mobile

iPhone AfricaCaribbean

2.0 p/min

0 p/call

Does anyone use a cheap service consistently that never drops the call and never collapses into distorted or severely clipped reception such that it is unusable. Even one that rarely does that would be useful to know. I suspect all VOIP options are in reality 10%-20% more costly than their rate cards due to this factor.

Calling back to the UK I've given up using Skype and mobile phones - particularly for business or personal finance calls. Sometimes you need quality not cheap. I just use my TOT landline on 007. Don't know what the call rates are but it doesn't seem too expensive when I get the monthly bill. You can get a bit of distortion later on in a call but I've never had a call drop.

I always used this No08448612525-0066 remove the 0 from persons number, dial the rest of number. Just 1p a min, occasioanaly had problem with connection.

jb1

I always used this No08448612525-0066 remove the 0 from persons number, dial the rest of number. Just 1p a min, occasionally had problem with connection.

jb1

The same as I use 08448610001 0066, but now BT have introduced charges, and thats the problem i have yet to find out what the charges are . I spent nearly an hour on the phone being put through to India to get some sense , even they could not answer my question , i do not want to chance waiting for my bill then finding out i have been paying extortionate amounts.

Edited May 6, 201115 yr by Thongkorn

I always used this No08448612525-0066 remove the 0 from persons number, dial the rest of number. Just 1p a min, occasionally had problem with connection.

jb1

The same as I use 08448610001 0066, but now BT have introduced charges, and thats the problem i have yet to find out what the charges are . I spent nearly an hour on the phone being put through to India to get some sense , even they could not answer my question , i do not want to chance waiting for my bill then finding out i have been paying extortionate amounts.

Post number #5. Keep up.

If the connection fee is 11.5 p per call and there are no other BT charges except the cheap call provider's cost then it's quite a cost if you only make very short calls. Gets lost in the rounding on a per minute basis for calls of over 20 minutes though.

From some 4 year old spreadsheet I have, when I used to be anal about the relative cost of phone calls from different providers, I estimate that BT's connection charge was about 4 or 5 p.

just checked calls to los /uk by wife on a 08444397397 number, suppose to be 2p a min,but after checking bt bill, coming out at 65p for 17 min, 16p for 1min,7 hours 21 min 27quid,doing my head in this will give it a coat of looking at and see if get cheaper,that skype looks sound.or anyone found a real cheaper alternative to BT.

At least the OP got some warning from Phonecheap, unlike a lot of these other cheap call companies that don't, it would seem

Penkoprod

just checked calls to los /uk by wife on a 08444397397 number, suppose to be 2p a min,but after checking bt bill, coming out at 65p for 17 min, 16p for 1min,7 hours 21 min 27quid,doing my head in this will give it a coat of looking at and see if get cheaper,that skype looks sound.or anyone found a real cheaper alternative to BT.

The iCard SIM mentioned in post #12 looks good. Especially as you can keep a handle on costs and not have to pay anything to BT.

just checked calls to los /uk by wife on a 08444397397 number, suppose to be 2p a min,but after checking bt bill, coming out at 65p for 17 min, 16p for 1min,7 hours 21 min 27quid,doing my head in this will give it a coat of looking at and see if get cheaper,that skype looks sound.or anyone found a real cheaper alternative to BT.

This is why i posted be carefully. Seems many people are being duped by hiden charges.

Deleted duplicate post

Edited May 7, 201115 yr by Thongkorn

Just to put a cap on the debate about Phonecheap's network charge I did an analysis of my BT bill for May and I reckon the connection fee is about 10p inc VAT - no different from my March bill.

I put a fuller analysis on another thread, as follows:

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If you had access to a UK land line it would be considerably cheaper. Dialling Phonecheap, calls are 1p a minute with a network connection charge through BT of about 10p per call. Plus VAT. So your charge for a 15 minute phone call (say) on your BT bill would be 30p inc VAT. See caveat below about additional cost though.

Not as cheap as using your computer and Skype et al, but a useful standby if you have no computer access.

The phone number is 0844 8613838. That is a premium number so unfortunately you cannot use free minutes on your own mobile. 30p using my Orange mobile gets me 3 or 4 minutes (I'm not so clued up on the basis of charging). I use it occasionally for short calls to my wife.

Using Skype, VOIP or the other cheap phonelines like Phonecheap, which are only another form of access to VOIP I guess, is quite a frustrating experience to the sticks of Issaan. It is not unusual for calls to connect but the quality is too poor or for calls to drop. Even engaged calls seem to attract the network charge for having dialled the UK number. In May I made 15 calls that ran their full course; the average time per call was 12 minutes (was probably double that in the early days!) and the average total price of each of those calls was 25p. But if you add in all the low minute calls that represent engaged numbers, wrong numbers by the Thai network, missed connections and dropped lines the average cost per 12 minutes of a good call went up to 46p.

[All the above is up to date and actual per my latest BT usage; prices include VAT - I am on BTs most basic 'unlimited weekend' plan.Anal or what? ]

There are sevral Phonecheap numbers of the 1p per minute plus network charges variety - Thongkhorn's 08448610001 and the one I quote above among them.

Edited May 31, 201115 yr by SantiSuk

When in the UK calling Thailand I always used a phonecard called talk home or talk direct. A five pound card gave you 600 minutes. So an hour was fifty pence. Only good from a landline though as it was an 0800 number.

When in the UK (up until Nov 2010) I used Dialabroad from my mobile daily for 5 months and, used on & off for 2 years previously and Thai wife used the same when in the UK for 6 months. Send them a text - depending on the number you get charged 3quid for 300 minutes 5quid for 500 minutes etc. I think the first time I used them they even gave double minutes i.e. 1000minutes for 5 quid. (the number of minutes (rate) may vary to other countries - but is interchangeable).

You then dial a local number (in my case London so 020) and after a message dial the Thai number (mobile or land). You will however be using up your 'free' bundled minutes from your mobile (I ran over my bundled minutes once - so had additional charges on my bill) - however they also send you a code so you can use your Dialabroad minutes from any mobile or landline.

I would get a connection straight away 90% of the time, but sometimes would need to try up to 5 or 6 times, once connected I never had a problem with either the quality of the call or with it dropping out.

Can't beat Skype for value 30,000 minutes for 8 quid. Some get it for 3 but only if you never cancelled your subscription since before the price change.