Dial360 Blog

It now cost just 3 pence per minute to call India from a BT landline if you are on correct option

BT have announced that, from 16th January 2009, calls to numbers starting 0845 and 0870 will be free from a BT landline at certain times. At the present time no other fixed line providers have made this offer.

BT have stated that there is no sign up to get these calls for free and that all of their customers on a calling plan will automatically get them.

The BT call plans that will receive free calls to 0845 and 0870 are:

BT Calling plan	Free in the daytime? (6am to 6pm)	Free in the evening? (6pm to 6am)	Free at weekends? (midnight Friday to midnight Sunday)
Unlimited Anytime Plan	Yes	Yes	Yes
Unlimited Evening & Weekend Plan	No	Yes	Yes
Unlimited Weekend Plan	No	No	Yes
BT Together Local	No	Yes	Yes
BT Working Together	Yes	Yes	Yes
BT Working Together Talk	No	Yes	Yes
Pay & Call*	Yes*	Yes*	Yes*

* Pay & Call customers will be on either the Unlimited Weekend Plan, Unlimited Evening & Weekend Plan or the Unlimited Anytime Plan - free calls to 0845 & 0870 numbers will be the same as these plans.

What are the restrictions?

BT have set a limit of 60 minutes duration for each call and no more than 1,000 minutes of free calls each month. They also limit the total number of free calls to 150 per month. If these limits are exceeded BT customers will automatically be charged standard BT call rates.

BT will continue to charge for calls to 0845 and 0870 numbers that are used for dial-up internet and indirect access. They will also be charging for numbers starting 0871 and 0844 at their normal rates.

BT have not published any details on the 0845 and 0870 that will be excluded. BT state that the customer must know the destination of their call.

The 0870 numbers classed as g2 - calls to internet services are 0870 09, 0870 185, 0870 187 and 0870 188.

What does this mean for Dial360 Access Numbers?

0870 794 XXXX and 0870 996 XXXX are classed as call type National NTS; BT have yet to confirm that these number ranges will be excluded.

Our customers may be able to use 0870 794 XXXX and 0870 996 XXXX as part of their BT inclusive package.

At the moment we are advising our customers that they should still check the rate charged by BT prior to making a call.

Which destinations are available on ?

Calls to Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China inc Mobile, France, Germany, Ghana, Hong Kong inc Mobile, India inc Mobile, Japan , Poland and South Africa can all be called using JDI 0870 794 XXXX and 0870 996 XXXX

We wanted to bring to the attention of our customers that T-mobile are changing the cost of calling numbers beginnning with 0870, 0871, 0844 or 0845.
From the end of July these numbers will no longer be included in the bundled minutes for Flext, Just SIM or Solo tariffs. This will affect the majority of our access numbers. Currently Flext customers pay 10 pence per minute to call these numbers this  jumps to 20 pence.
For Just SIM or Solo tariffs the cost will rise to 30 pence per minute. T-mobile have taken a very obtuse stance on the guidance being offered by Offcom. Currently lots of companies and government bodies use these numbers with the intent of allowing all there customers to pay the same calling from anywhere in the UK. From a BT landline these numbers typically cost just 6p per minute.

Offcom cannot currently force T-mobile to include these numbers in the bundled minute packages.

www.theregister.co.uk

Great News - A reduction in our rate to South Africa Landlines

We've got some great news. We have reduced the rate charged for calls to South African Landlines. Prices changed automatically on Thursday 28th February 2008.

The cost has dropped from 5p per minute to 4p per minute.

For information on our rates to over 200 countries follow this link to our Rate Checker

This a test blog post entered via the wii opera browser.

Chiltern Railways are piloting a scheme that will allow passengers to purchase tickets on their mobile phones.

The new system being piloted by fifty passengers allows users to use their mobile phones to purchase a ticket. After completeing the purchase the ticket is sent to their phone in the form of a barcode that can be read by the electronic gates.

This will only work on more modern phones with colour screens,  Chiltern have had a service in place since January that allowed users to send tickets to their mobile phone, with the addition of the ability to purchase they have taken the complete process to users on the move.

Anyone who has stood in a ten deep queue at a railway station will appreciate this service.

Read the press release here

Voiptalk are offering a new SMS callback service, it works by calling back to your mobile then connecting you to your destination. You must first sign up for their silver pre-pay package then register your mobile phone number. Looking at their website it seems that T-mobile customers in the Uk will get the best value as their callback rate is 20 p/min versus 25 p/min.

If you spend a lot of time abroad in a particular country say for example India, if you purchase and Indian mobile you could save on calls back to the Uk from your mobile using this service. The India mobile callback rate is 7 p/min plus the Uk destination rate of 1.4 p/min comes to a total of just 8.4 p/min. On the Voiptalk site their is a calculator click this link to View the Calculator.

To find out more general information about the service use this link

 

In the autumn of 2006 the Royal Mail launched a new online service aimed at individuals and small business that would like to print their own postage. The system is easy to use, first you register on their website then pre purchase your postage £3.50 at a time using a switch or credit card.

To send a letter click on the "Print Stamps from your Pc " link  you will then see the image below

Click on the button :

You will then be prompted to enter the name address of the letter, you need only enter the person or business name followed by the building number or name and post code, the system will attempt to locate the full address based on this information.

The full address will be displayed on the next page and will allow you to make corrections and enter any additonal information.

When you have the correct address click continue you will be asked how you wish to pay, select your pre-pay account then click continue. You will then be asked to confirm that you wish to send the letter, click continue again.

Finally a screen will be displayed with a message stating your label is being produced, the system generates a pdf document that you can print directly on to an envelope, piece of paper or sticky label.