Well the mobile phone business is not as profitable as it may seem in the UK.
Firstly,mobile network operators have to pay business rates (similar to council tax) plus rent which are both high cost for each mast and any outdoor equipment they have. Then there is VAT on top of the calls we make,plus network improvements,3G licence fees to pay for and retail costs plus all the marketing and this is expensive especially when they send out loads of free sim cards and then there is the reduction termination rates and reduction in roaming costs. And most importantly, employee wages and indian call centre schemes.
How do some of the above problems effect virtual network operators like Virgin?
Well, T-Mobile obviously raises its cost of leasing out its network to help subsidise such costs and therefore Virgin have to raise costs to in order to stay in business.
You may have noticed that landline companies have also raised costs too, below is a summary:
BT:
Replaced 5p minimum call charge with 3p connection charge
Introduced 6p fee everytime you press 3 to return calls on 1471 and then add on 3p when the call is connected.
Raised cost of using anonymous caller rejection to £4 per month
Increased cost of using BT callminder to £2.50 from £2 per month
Increased cost of using calling features by 25p (From £1.50 to £1.75)
Increased line rental by £1 during 2006
Increased non-direct debit admin by £3 meaning it now costs £4
BT has increased minimum call charge to 40p on its payphones, but 40p does give you 20 minutes calltime to 01,02 and new 03 national numbers.
BT increase cost of installing new lines or replacement master sockets from £74.99 to £99.99 and then to a whopping £124.99 and for those paying in £27 installments to £137!!!
NTL/Telewest:
In 2003, they offered calling features and advanced voicemail for £1 each, now they are £1.75 per month, but anonymous caller rejection is also £1.75 which is so much cheaper than BT and TalkTalk. The calling features pack costs just £3.75 where with BT its costs £1 more and doesn't even include advanced voicemail/BT callmider.
5p call connection went up to 6p for calls to 01,02,0845,0870 and mobile calls. Premium rate calls can incurr connecton charges of up to 50p per call. 0844 and 0871 numbers have a 10p connection charge.
NTL and Telewest scrapped 6p an hour evening calls to local cable phone customers.
NTL and Telewest increased cost of calling mobiles directly during 2004
NTL and Telewest raise non-direct debit admin fee to £5 in summer 2006
Telewest introduced a fair usage policy on Talk anywhere plans during summer 2006 for those calling mobiles and international numbers as well as 0870 numbers but not 01,02 or 0845 numbers as these are low cost.
Virgin Media scrap free calls to Broadband helpline via 151 and scrap access via the 0845 number and introduced 25p per minute premium rate number in its place.
Virgin Media lower L and XL calling plan costs and decided to keep free weekend calls on M plan during the review which is good news.
Vodafone:
Vodafone scrap unlimited calls to mobiles on different networks on the free weekends scheme and replace it with 60 minutes per weekend instead. Calls to landlines and Vodafone mobiles remain unlimited.
Vodafone raised minimum call charges around 2 years ago way before roaming charges reduced.
---------- Post added at 18:15 ---------- Previous post was at 18:12 ----------
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jules
They say because of my credit rating, strange thing is it has happened to a lot of other people even though they have no problems getting credit else were, I also know some one that has really bad credit yet they were given a Virgin phone on contract!
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Try and find out whats in your credit hsitory from Experian, I think it costs £12 but you may get a discount if its your first time.
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