BT: Evenings don't start at 6 o'clock any more

[Chris]

According to a round-robin email they're sending out today, the evening now does not start until 7pm. Penny-pinching gits.

EDIT
Grauniad now has the story:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2010...g-calls-change

[Ignitionnet]

Haha. Typical BT

they are having to pay for the network upgrades somehow lol

[Maggy J]

Originally Posted by Chris

According to a round-robin email they're sending out today, the evening now does not start until 7pm. Penny-pinching gits.

EDIT
Grauniad now has the story:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2010...g-calls-change

But they have pushed the cut off up to 7 am..That leads to the question of just whom makes phone calls at that hour of the morning?

[Mr_love_monkey]

Originally Posted by Maggy J

But they have pushed the cut off up to 7 am..That leads to the question of just whom makes phone calls at that hour of the morning?

I make most of my calls at 3 in the morning - you get so many better answers to "What are you wearing?"

[Paul]

Typical stealth move by a company that should know better. Will have to make sure both parents are aware of this as they are both on BT and probably won't realise the change.
It's about time that companies were made to clearly specify the changes instead of being allowed to get away with half a letter full of "No changes to your service" and then a small section of small print tucked away with the real information.

[Sephiroth]

All the 18:00 calls will shift to 19:00 and BT will get Jack Schmitt out of it.

[Cobbydaler]

Plus the call set-up fee (i.e. connection charge) is increasing from 9.3 to 9.6p for all non inclusive calls and the charge for daytime calls is increasing from 5.4 to 5.9p per minute...

[m419]

I always thought the evening period was 7pm to 8am for some reason lol

Vodafone have always had there evening period from 7.30pm to 7.30am and there weekend period used to start from Friday 7.30pm to Monday 7.30am, so those on free weekends could make free calls from then, but now they cut it to Midnight friday to midnight sunday.

NTL used to offer Talk Unlimited local which offered unlimited calls to local numbers(Numbers in your geographical area and surrounding areas) BT should introduce this calling plan because I think its unfair to pay high fees for calling someone in the same neighbourhood.

Soon Virgin Media cable phone service will look more attractive than BT's.

Non-inclusive calls to landlines on Virgin Media now cost 6.36p per minute (Nearly 7p per minute) and the call connection fee for all chargeable calls is now 9.79p per call nearly 10p. and calls to all 08 numbers now cost nearly 10p per minute at all times.

Thats a huge difference to the standard 3-2-1 tariff which offered daytime calls for 3p per minute,evening calls for 2p per minute and weekend calls for 1p per minute and free calls to local cable lines(same cable company only) at evenings and weekends. The call connection fee back then was 5p, then telewest decided to increase that to 6p and then get rid of the free cable calls a year later. The line rental back then was just £10 a month as well.

Telewest then launched Free weekend calls, thats where the disaster started, it offered free calls at the weekend,but then they started charging 4p per minute for daytime calls and then gave them the excuse to increase line rental. All the other phone companies followed suit.

Soon we will be paying 10p per minute for calls........

[BexTech]

I can see VM following suit though.

Cable did move their daytime hours from 08:00 to 06:00 and then a long while later BT followed, then BT change something and cable follow, cable do something then BT follow.

I remember Birmingham Cable when we had it, £6 line rental and half-price of BT calls, then free calls between cable customers.

Might go back to being VoIP only again, if my deal is ever increased in price too much.

[m419]

Before it was Telewest that launched things then NTL followed then BT......

The abolishment of National call rates was introduced by Telewest Eurobell in 1999/2000,NTL followed and both cable companies began offering 3-2-1FREE. Then BT followed from 2003, BT Standard began charging 3p per minute for all calls to landlines during weekdays then 6p per hour in the evening and weekend. This tariff eventually merged with BT Together option 1 and eventually started offering free weekend calls.

The abolishment of Free local inhouse cable calls at evenings and weekends was done by Telewest around 2004, NTL eventually scrapped it in 2005.

An increase of the call connection fee from 5p to 6p was done by Telewest, NTL followed a year after and then 2 years after, BT scrapped minimum call charges in place with Call connection fees.

Free weekend calls was launched by Telewest and then an increase in weekday call rates, NTL followed shortly after but still offered 3-2-1FREE, TalkTalk followed third and BT then caught on.

What BT and most other phone companies haven't caught on is the so-called simplified tariffs which mean all calls to chargeable numbers cost the same whenever you choose to call, so calling an 0845 number or a mobile during a weekday would cost no more and no less then if you was to call at the weekend. Virgin Media have but its costly!

Now its Virgin Media,the shoe is now on the other foot,we've yet to see Virgin Media offer calls to 0845 and 0870 numbers as part of inclusive talktime like BT and TalkTalk. And we've yet to see Virgin Media lower the cost of Talk Unlimited,BT offer it for £4.95.

[Rainman]

I agree the price has increased quite a lot, I never use VM to call land lines or mobile at weekdays. I now have Asda PAYG and use this to call land lines and mobile for 8p a min with no connection charge. I only use VM to call land lines at weekends.
VM take note I know a lot of people that may be thinking of changing to mobile only so sort it out or lose us.

[Chris]

We make very few phone calls, so it's never been worthwhile having anything more than Together Option 1. But those calls we do make are fairly evenly split between daytime and early evening - i.e. between 6pm and 7pm. I'm now looking at getting a basic Skype USB handset for daytime use. Their bundles are looking increasingly attractive and I'm loath to give a single penny more than is absolutely necessary to those underhand, penny pinching swines at BT.

[m419]

I'm not being funny or anything but it is all the landline phone companies putting up there prices.

The main excuse is ''Rolling out better broadband and future services''. Maybe, but people should have thought of that when allowing BT to become privatised and allowing more than 1 or two phone companies. It has proven a failure in benefiting the customer. Back in the 90's there was just 3 choices and in the late 80's there was two,well in the advanced telephone exchanges which supported Mercury's 131 and 132 services. Back then, both BT and Cable firms were able to afford offering low cost line rental and phone services because they had the customers to do so, but since the arrival of One Tel,TalkTalk,Tiscali,Sky Talk/Easynet and a few more, they've stolen BT,Cable and Wireless(Mercury) and Cable firm revenues.

If BT was nationalised and was the only phone service around, it would have maximum subscribers and would have all the revenue it needs to upgrade its network rapidly. But since there are many phone companies licenced to dig up streets and compete with BT, it slows them down.

The cheap calls from mobiles won't last forever i'm afraid, mobile phone companies are under a lot of pressure from Ofcom and the European goverment to offer lower cost international roaming rates and several organisations including some mobile network operators such as 3 are pressurising the industry into abolishing termination rates. Mobile phone companies will then look into looking for other ways to make up for lost revenue and the only alternative is increasing outgoing calls,line rental and increasing costs of using miscellaneous services such voicemail,text messaging and surfing the web on your mobile phone.

With regards to Skype and Voip services such as Vonage, to be honest its not catching on, why because to get the best value you really need Virgin Broadband as you don't need a phone line which means saving money on line rental, however Virgin Media have even caught onto that too, they offer the Broadband alone service very cheaply to new customers BUT only if you take a Virgin phone line,so you can't do right for doing wrong.

Also, once or if voip penetration levels increase, then they will also increase costs.

At the end of the day,its these expensive call costs that fund and maintain phone networks and provide future services. Voip providers don't have to invest in anything and therefore is a threat to the telecoms industry especially on a financial basis.

Nevertheless, the existing phone companies such as BT,Virgin Media,Cable and Wireless and the 5 mobile networks need to look at ways of getting rid or lowering termination rates otherwise it will remain expensive!

[dragon]

Originally Posted by m419

Also, once or if voip penetration levels increase, then they will also increase costs.

Not if everyone follows the standard properly as you'd be able to place a direct IP > IP call.