What's New - Site History
Site History from 1996
Version 124 in late June 2008 adds Andrews & Arnold (business and residential), Maxtalk (business and residential), and Primus (residential) and updates BT, FreedomCall (residential), ICUK (business and residential), Jajah (residential), Jersey Telecom (residential), Just Phone (residential), Kent Telephones (business),Sainsbury's (residential) and Voipfone (residential). Gem Telecom has disappeared and been removed. Intelligent Networks (aka CPS Connections) has been removed for old tariffs.
BT has added another new WiFi band and two more directory enquiry bands, so there are now 104 different price bands.
BT is increasing the residential call connection cost from 6p to 7p, from 16th September 2008.
Version 123 in late May 2008 updates BT, 05pence (residential), 123 Call (residential), 4tel Communications (business), Abroadcall (residential), Band Telecom (business), CF1 Telecom (business), Clever Rates (residential), CherryCall (residential), Coms.Com (business and residential), CountryCall (residential), Demon (business), Easy-Dial (residential), Kingston Communications, and Virgin Media (residential). 21st-Century Telecom has disappeared and been removed. BillSmart, Business Communications, BWN Telecom, Cheers International, Connaught Telecom, Daisy Communications and EW Communications have been removed for old tariffs.
BT has added a new WiFi band and another directory enquiry band. BT has increased the minimum call charge for BT Commitment option 1 to 3.5p. Business Broadband Voice inland prices have been reduced to the same as BT Business Plan with £500 spend, so inland drops from 3.5p/min to 2.6p/min, capped at 5p.
Version 122 in early May 2008 adds Call Happy (residential) and updates BT, 0844 Calls (residential), 118185.co.uk (residential), AOL Talk (residential), Budgetcom (residential), Callserve (residential), Carphone Warehouse TalkTalk (residential), Cheapest Calls (residential), Dial Around (residential), DialWise (residential), Discount Dial (residential), First:Telecom (residential), FreeCall (residential), Jersey Telecom (residential), Phone Cheap (residential), Sainsbury's (residential), Sky Talk (residential), TeleTop (residential), Telesavers (residential), Telestunt (residential), TopUpNow (residential) and WebCall Direct (residential). Internet Telecommunications has been placed in administration and has been removed. eZe-Talk, Switch Telecom and Voicenet have been removed for old tariffs, Babble and Sip2Go seem to have disappeared and have been removed.
BT has added two more directory enquiry bands, so there are now over 100, one of which is free of charge.
From 1st May 2008, is changing business international call prices. Many countries have moved to new price bands, and nearly all price band numbers (or letters) have changed as well, but are still different for the three main tariff groups. Costs for BT Standard Business international calls have increased by about 15% so the most expensive countries are now £2.50/min (and the cheapest 30p/min). BT Business Plan sees some call reductions (China down from 60p/min to 15p/min), while BT Customer Commitment sees minor increases (most of Europe up to 9p/min) and some reductions (China down to 15p/min). Strangely, many countries cost more under BT Customer Commitment than BT Business Plan, despite the former being aimed at substantial monthly spend levels. Business satellite call costs have increased, some have doubled.
Two years after it's proposal to reduce the cost of calling 0870 numbers from February 2008, Ofcom has issued yet another consultation document that now proposes the cost should drop to the same as geographic numbers by the autumn, subject to the resolution of a dispute over termination rates. The only real difference with the new consultation is that Ofcom is no longer requiring a pricing pre-announcement by operators that choose to charge more than geographic cost. Ofcom is also extending premium rate service regulation by PhonepayPlus (aka ICSTIS) to 0871/0872/0872 numbers charged at more than 5p/min. BT has agreed that once this regulation is place, it will allow international access to 0844 and 0871 numbers, which it currently blocks due to fraud and other scams.
Version 121 in late March 2008 updates BT, Carphone Warehouse TalkTalk (residential), Direct Save Telecom (residential and business), Pipex HomeCall (residential), Sainsbury's (residential), Sky Talk (residential), Telecom Plus (residential), Telesave (residential and business), Tesco Talk (residential), Tiscali (residential) and Virgin Media (residential). Beaming and Call2Save have been removed for old tariffs.
The Residential Telephone Tariffs - Packages sorted comparison has been improved with new columns for call connection charge, call minimum charge, paper bill charge and non-direct debit payment charge. Because some operators quote monthly line rental including a paper bill (BT and Virgin Media), and others without (TalkTalk), the table now allows direct comparison of monthly cost by direct debit without a paper bill, DD with a paper bill and non-DD with a paper bill. Some of these new costs are still missing, they've yet to be collected from some smaller operators.
From 1st April 2008, BT is increasing basic residential line rental by 75p/month to £11.75/month, but increasing the paper-free discount by the same amount to £1.25/month. But customers must apply for paper-free billing to avoid paying more each month. Those not paying by direct debit are charged an extra £1.50/month.
Residential day time calls are increasing from 3.25p/min to 4p/min (plus 6p connection charge, so 10p for the first minute) and evening calls to 1.5p/per minute instead of being fixed at 4.5p for one hour, while weekend calls are free for the first hour, then 4p/min. BT is renaming most of the residential packages and reducing the monthly cost of BT Together 3 by £1.25/month. BT Together 1 is now Unlimited Weekend Plan at £11.75/month, BT Together 2 is now Unlimited Evening and Weekend Plan at £14.45/month, while BT Together 3 is now Unlimited Anytime Plan at £17.70/month, all including line rental.
BT residential international call costs are increasing by between 1.5p and 15p/min, France is now 11.5p/min off peak, 21p/min peak, USA 11.5p/min off-peak, 17.5p/min peak. Bizarrely, Japan and Hong Kong remain cheaper than any European countries or North America. International Option is now International Saver, still £1/month but now offers much cheaper international calls to all countries instead of just 35. Since many countries are still charged at 60p/min or more by BT, adding International Saver may pay for itself with just a few minutes of calls each month, for instance Israel is 10 times more expensive without Saver.
BT Business is increasing the daytime peak call period by two hours per day to 7am to 7pm (residential became 6am to 6pm a while ago), and increased local and national call costs for standard business lines so a national daytime 01/02 call now costs 9p/min (ex VAT), and increased the call set-up fee to 5p (ex VAT). Most business users should be using BT Business Plan or Customer Commitment where call costs are much lower. The BT Advantage and Business Choices options were discontinued for new supply 12 months and have now been removed from the comparison.
Virgin Media has increased all standard international rates by 5p/min. Other operators are following BT and increasing calling rates, including Carphone Warehouse TalkTalk, Direct Save Telecom Sky Talk and Tiscali. Calls to 0845 and 0870 number also seem to be generally increasing, despite 0870 numbers supposed to have been reduced in February.
Version 120 in late February 2008 adds Localphone (residential), Simply-Fone (business) and updates BT, ACN (residential), Carphone Warehouse TalkTalk (residential), ICUK (business and residential), Orange (residential), PlusNet Home Phone (residential), Simply-Fone (residential), Sky Talk (residential), Britclick, Midas Telecom and Planet Talk have been removed for old tariffs. Pipex Business is now called Vialtus Solutions, the Pipex brand and residential customers were taken over by Tiscali last year.
BT has added a 99th directory enquiry band, and 11th mobile band.
From 1st April 2008, BT is increasing basic residential line rental by 75p/month but increasing the paper-free discount by the same amount. BT is renaming most of the residential packages and reducing the monthly cost of BT Together 3 by £1.25/month. Evening calls will again be charged per minute instead of being fixed for one hour. Full details next month.
Ofcom has proposed a new area code 01987 for Ebbsfleet in Kent, where up to 25,000 homes are being developed.
Version 119 in late January 2008 adds 05pence (residential) and Abroadcall (residential) and updates BT, AbroadTel (residential), Clever Rates (residential), Gradwell (business), Internet Telecommunications (business and residential), PhoneBird (residential), Welcome Telecom (business) and XLN Telecom (business).
BT Together 1 residential customers now have free weekend calls (for the first hour), previously 4.5p for the hour.
BT has simplified the costing of international ISDN 64K data calls, so all schemes now use the same five country bands, down from 10 on some schemes, some prices will have gone up, some down. There are now 98 different directory enquiry tariff bands, the latest of which costs £3.68 for the first minute, then £1.99 each extra minute.
From 20th February 2008, all BT business customers with a single telephone line will start a new 12 month contract on BT Business Line Divert at the same price as a normal business line but including call diversion feature. The new contract means 12 months rental must be paid even if the line is cancelled or transferred to another provider. Such customers should receive a letter in February allowing them to opt out of the new contract and call divert, which they may not need or want.
The planned reduction in cost of 0870 calls due on 1st February 2008 appears to have been delayed by Ofcom and BT due to disputes with various providers that are reluctant to forego the massive revenue such numbers generate, and which have not moved customers onto alternate numbers despite almost two year's notice of the changes. Not a single operator has yet announced a reduction in the cost of calling 0870 numbers.
Version 118 in late December 2007 adds Care Telecom (business) and updates BT, Call2Call (residential), Callserve (residential), Carphone Warehouse TalkTalk (business and residential), Easy-Dial (residential), Kingston Communications, NetCalls4Less (residential) and Pipex HomeCall (residential).
BT has changed all business mobile costs, weekend all up, weekdays up and down, and simplified the cost for businesses without a discount plan by charging the same all week for all the main networks. There are now 96 different directory enquiry tariff bands.
Version 117 in late October 2007 updates BT, 0844 Calls (residential), 18185.co.uk (residential), 1899.com (residential), Budgetcom (residential), Cheapest Calls (residential), Cheapest Chat (residential), Dial Around (residential), DialWise (residential), Discount Dial (residential), FreeCall (residential), Focus 4U (business), ICUK (business and residential), Kingston Communications, PlusNet Home Phone (residential), Phone Cheap (residential), Telesavers (residential), TeleTop (residential), TopUp2Talk (residential), TopUpNow (residential), Virgin Media (residential), Voice Trading (business), VoIP-4U (business and residential), WebCall Direct (residential). Ecomtel has ceased operation in the UK and has been removed. ICUK is now using it's own name instead of the Red Telecom brand.
BT has increased analogue and ISDN business line rentals from 1st November 2007. There are now 94 different directory enquiry tariff bands.
Virgin Media has reduced it's unlimited packages (again) to the same price as BT, increased it's inland call cost to 3.25p/min the same as BT, removed weekend rate for mobile and 0845 calls, and increased it's call connection cost to 7p to keep it higher than BT.
Version 116 in late September 2007 updates CF1 Telecom (business), Liquid Telecom (residential), Orange (residential), Pipex HomeCall (residential), Post Office (residential), Tiscali (residential), Vectone (residential) and Yourcalls.net (residential). Operators that have changed pricing strategy similarly to BT in August (6p connection, no weekend rate for mobiles, etc) include Pipex HomeCall and Tiscali.
Version 115 in late August 2007 adds Coms.Com (business and residential) and Zen Internet (business and residential), and updates BT, ACN (residential), Adept Telecom (residential), AOL Talk (residential), Axis Telecom (residential and business), DrayTEL (residential), Scottish & Southern Energy (residential), Sky Talk (residential), Story Telecom (residential), SuperLine (business and residential) and Tesco Talk (residential). ExchangeXT is now Coms.Net. Operators that have changed pricing strategy similarly to BT last month (6p connection, no weekend rate for mobiles, etc) include AOL Talk, Scottish & Southern Energy, Sky Talk and Tesco Talk.
BT has added two more directory enquiry bands, so there are now a total of 93 tariff bands. BT has extended the retirement date (when service ceases) for Business Highway to 31st March 2008, and improved it's free conversion offer to ISDN-2e to include a free terminal adaptor so basic voice equipment can still be used.
From 1st February 2008, 0870 numbers will be charged by BT in band G21, the same as 03xx numbers, costing the same as 01/02 calls for BT Together and Business Plan. Scottish & Southern Energy has become the first operator to publish a price list that clearly shows 01/02/03 numbers all charged at the same cost.
Ofcom's plan to increase consumer protection for 070 personal numbers this autumn takes effect from 1st September 2007 with BT now playing a free pre-call announcement for calls charged at more than 20p for the first minute warning of the likely call cost and allowing hang-up before charging starts. Other operators are required to do the same.
Version 114 in late July 2007 updates BT, 0844 Calls (residential), 18185.co.uk (residential), 1899.com (residential), Budgetcom (residential), Call 18866 (residential), Carphone Warehouse TalkTalk (residential), Cheapest Calls (residential), Cheapest Chat (residential), Dial Around (residential), DialWise (residential), Direct Save Telecom (residential and business), Phone Co-Op (residential), PlusNet Home Phone (residential), Red Telecom (business and residential), Resource Utilities (residential), Simply-Fone (residential), Telediscount (residential), Telesavers (residential), Telestunt (residential), Tesco Talk (residential), Tiscali (residential) and TopUpNow (residential). Note the price of using all 08xx or 09xx call through services has increased by 3p/call due to the BT call connection charge increase, see below. TNBN (business) has been removed for old tariffs. Tiscali has acquired Pipex residential voice and broadband customers, which includes Bulldog, HomeCall and Toucan.
From 1st August 2007, BT is making a radical billing change, abandoning weekend rate for mobile and 0845/0870 calls and instead charging weekday rates at the weekend. The connection charge for all timed calls doubles to 6p per call (the same as Virgin Media) with some rates dropping slightly to compensate. Inland peak rate will increase from 3p/min to 3.25p/min, evening and weekend calls drop 1p to 4.5p/call. Removing cheaper weekend calls leads to significant price increases, a three minute Saturday morning mobile call increases in price from 18p to 43.5p (up 142%) and Saturday evening to 28.5p (up 58%). Although peak mobile cost has dropped 0.5p/min, the new 6p connection means only calls longer than six minutes will be fractionally cheaper. Peak 0845/0870 calls each drop 1p/min (but now apply at the weekends) and evening rate drops to the old weekend rate, but due to the higher connection charge only calls longer than thee minutes will be cheaper. Other operators are changing pricing strategy similarly, including Carphone Warehouse TalkTalk, Direct Save Telecom and Tesco.
BT has added new low cost premium bands at 6/7/8/9p/min and national rate, presumably so that services using 0870 and 0871 numbers can be migrated when they become regulated as premium numbers.
Finarea SA has started adding a web page SMS service for 1p/message worldwide to it's Call 18866, 18185 and 1899 account based services.
The main tariff tables have been updated to show the cost of fixed price calls in brackets, ie (4.50) means 4.5p/call, instead of just being shown in the Packages table. The Location Independent tariff band (G21) used for 03xx numbers has been moved up the tables to be near to National Rate which it is effectively replacing early next year. This band is blank for most operators since only a small number currently have specific G21 pricing, and only BT is currently charging G21 the same as inland calls.