Call Pricing

[#1]

The world of telecoms pricing leaves me totally bewildered. I use my phone very little and my main use is to call my ageing father in Europe. For some time I have been using 18185 to reduce costs. They charge 8p/min to overseas mobiles. The other day I used the standard Plusnet line and the cost of the 24min call was £8.87, a staggering 37p/min. As Plusnet is part of a larger conglomerate, one assumes that their  charges  for accessing an overseas system is the same as 18185; one also assumes that access costs to the local exchange etc is the same as for 18185,  so why is the call charge 360% greater with Plusnet than 18185? Such a differential makes no commercial sense. Can anyone explain? I've heard it's all about Ofcom and competition,    but this doesn't square with the idea that competition should drive prices not inflate them.
Before anyone sidetracks the issue into  one about cheaper call packages,  let me say that 18185 don't charge any other fee other than the call charge, and like any organisation, they don't go into business to make a loss either!

[#2]

Depending on where in Europe you are calling have you considered this tariff  Talk Anytime International 300
http://www.plus.net/support/phone/home-phone-faq.shtml

[#3]

Oldjim
Thanks for your reply, but it doesn't really answer the point of my post ie. why the discrepancy?
If one supermarket sells packet of custard creams for £1,  then would the supermarket down the road expect to be able to sell a similar/same product for £4.60, of course not. The second supermarket has two basic options, compete on price for the same quality product or decide not to sell custard creams.

Thanks for your suggestion about the International 300. Unfortunately, I spend 4 months/year abroad looking after my father and so am only using my phone and Internet for 2/3 of the year.

[#4]

Hi alyraqs60, I can't go into too much detail because your question throws us right into the middle of commercially sensitive data about wholesale costs and profit margins. However, if you let me know which country you're calling I can look into it and flag it to our Commerical team if our price appears to be significantly higher than the competition.

[#5]

Quote from: alyraqs60

Thanks for your suggestion about the International 300. Unfortunately, I spend 4 months/year abroad looking after my father and so am only using my phone and Internet for 2/3 of the year.

Assuming you are away for full months and not just 1 week in 3 then go for the International 300 tariff for the period when you are in the UK then drop back to the Evenings and Weekends tariff when you are abroad. You can change it one a month

[#6]

Ben, Thanks for your reply. I obviously wouldn't expect to be told the detailed ins and outs of commercially sensitive info and fully understand that each company makes decisions about its own pricing. What mystified me wasn't the actual price but the massive discrepancy in the pricing, and this left  me pondering whether some obscure competition regulation at Ofcom  was behind it. Anyway, I didn't really want to centre this post around me as I intended it to be a general question, but since you asked: I phone Spain frequently (18185= Fixed line 1p/min: Mobile 8p/min) and Canada -less frequently- 18185 to mobiles and fixed = 0.5p/min.
Of more interest may be the fact that 18185 only charge a connection fee (4p approx) to UK landlines and no cost/min even during the day. I'm sure your commercial dept. is on the ball and knows all  this, but just in case, have a look here http://www.18185.co.uk/index2.php !
Oldjim, thanks for your advice and the info about being able to change plans once per month. That may prove useful in future.
Kind regards