118180 provided by BT?

[m419]

It seems as so the 118180 directory service is provided by BT and not by Virgin Media itself or Cable and Wireless, after using the service, she said thanks for calling 118500 and then the automated voice that reads out the number you require is the same as the voice that does BT 152 customer service.

So therefore, whilst Virgin Media customers, non Virgin Media customers are ringing BT 118500 for the same service paying £1.18 per minute!!!!!

So in a way BT is much more expensive than Virgin Media, I even have Anonymous Caller Rejection and i'm saving £2 alone per month on that plus i'm getting £7 retentional discount on my phone service, and received a letter telling me i'm getting an upgrade from 20mb to 60mb in a few months,

BT sod off with your constant junk mail, you can't even offer them speeds even with infinity and you can't offer what Virgin Media offers, BT Vision which they tried to sell does not meet anywhere near what Virgin Media offers! It is a joke that BT even tries to compete with Virgin Media or even Sky's service!

[djmagnifique]

I uesd to work for directory enquires back when it was 192 and BT used to provide the service for 20-30 different companies and I had to record the greeting for each one.

[Zee]

BT can offer speeds better than what VM can, and also offer far better upload speeds than any other provider.

VM cant seem to get things right, its all great announcing double speeds, but what is the point when these speeds cannot be offered.

Just yesterday on my VM line i wanted to test out 50Mb gave it a shot and was getting about 33-34Mb, max i got was 37Mb, plus there is so much congestion on their network, let alone the fact that streaming is damn poor.

[m419]

You won't be saying that if you lived round here, BT infinity goes up to 13mb round here as comfirmed by BT themselves, the cabling in this building is shocking, it's ancient,hanging out everywhere and when you contact them, it is like talking to a brick wall, they don't seem to know much about there own products! At least with my connection to Virgin Media, i'm getting pretty much of the gauranteed speed.

It is only a matter of time before BT slow speeds down at busy times, in fact they did with the normal ADSL service, I don't care what they say, in my friends house, 6pm comes and the speed drops from 8mb to about 2.5mb

But back to the subject, I know BT and Cable and Wireless operate most of the directory enquiry services especially for smaller ones, you'd think Virgin Media would keep it in house.

[AndyCalling]

Originally Posted by djmagnifique

I uesd to work for directory enquires back when it was 192 and BT used to provide the service for 20-30 different companies and I had to record the greeting for each one.

Wow, now that's a great job for the CV. You're famous! I bet you made a mint on the PRS fees alone!

Can I have your autograph? {Swoon...}
~

[djmagnifique]

Originally Posted by AndyCalling

Can I have your autograph? {Swoon...}
~

Yes of course you can, just send me your address to send it to you.

[Arthur Hucksake]

Ahh good old 192. Had a stint of doing that myself.

"Got the time please?".....

No wonder they started charging stupid amounts for the service.

[m419]

118118,BT 118500 and 118888 are all now costly and I think it is time Ofcom investigated the possibilities into introducing price caps and possibly put them in a premium rate category as well make it compulsary to have a free recorded message telling you the price before being connected to these numbers.

The days 192 with BT and Cable and Wireless was free and now, it can cost up to £2 to find a number!

I think the whole 118 idea was the worst idea ever for the UK

[AndyCambs]

I always use the internet to search for a phone number now.
Have you also noticed what few phone boxes we have left - none have phone books anymore?

[AndyCalling]

Originally Posted by m419

118118,BT 118500 and 118888 are all now costly and I think it is time Ofcom investigated the possibilities into introducing price caps and possibly put them in a premium rate category as well make it compulsary to have a free recorded message telling you the price before being connected to these numbers.

The days 192 with BT and Cable and Wireless was free and now, it can cost up to £2 to find a number!

I think the whole 118 idea was the worst idea ever for the UK

Of course, it is free with VM if you call 118180 from a VM phone line.

---------- Post added at 14:10 ---------- Previous post was at 14:08 ----------

Originally Posted by AndyCambs

I always use the internet to search for a phone number now.
Have you also noticed what few phone boxes we have left - none have phone books anymore?

When BT removed phone books from their boxes they made directory enq. free from phone boxes. I don't know if that's changed, but it probably hasn't as making it hard to make a call doesn't tempt people to spend money in your phone box.

[m419]

Originally Posted by AndyCalling

Of course, it is free with VM if you call 118180 from a VM phone line.

---------- Post added at 14:10 ---------- Previous post was at 14:08 ----------



When BT removed phone books from their boxes they made directory enq. free from phone boxes. I don't know if that's changed, but it probably hasn't as making it hard to make a call doesn't tempt people to spend money in your phone box.

No free 192 from BT telephone boxes ended in 1999, they go on about the usage of phone boxes is dropping, they keep increasing the minimum call charge, it is now 60p! no wonder people won't use them.

They make a lot of money from advertising and in my area, through 0500,0800 and 0808 numbers, when you call them numbers, payphone companies get 8.1p per minute (payphone access charge) and a lot of migrants round here use calling cards with freephone access numbers.

There are 3 main street payphone companies:

BT
Spectrum Interactive
Infocus Public Networks(Formerly Infolines/IPM-Interphone/Mercury)

The main income for the sites is through advertising, Infocus have there minimum call charge set to just 10p! and you can use 5p coins as well