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Caller display and ring back

clownfish
Rising Star
Posts: 84
Thanks: 8
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Registered: ‎13-11-2007

Caller display and ring back

Hi,
Thinking of switching to home phone with plus net.  At the moment I am on BT option 1 and pay the basic £10.50 line rental and calls.  Nothing else and no other additional services paid for.
When we receive a call from someone whose number we have programmed into the telephone handset, the LCD on the handset will display the name.  I assume this means the number of the incoming call has been transmitted and the handset has done the translation.
Is this caller display or something simpler?
I basically want to get the same service we get with BT at plus net and that is:
1471 (which I know is cheaper with plus net)
Ring back ( dial 5 when the number is engaged)
And the display I discuss above.
Are the last two included in the evening and weekend packages basic price of £9.99? 
Dave
24 REPLIES 24
Mand
Grafter
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Registered: ‎05-04-2007

Re: Caller display and ring back

Hi there,
What you describe sounds like a combination of caller display and a 'contacts' list in your handset.
To get what you need from us will require you to have caller display and the ring back service, which will cost you £2 per month in addition to your subscription cost.
acr
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Registered: ‎06-04-2007

Re: Caller display and ring back

What you have is the Caller Display service which BT provide for free as part of 'BT Privacy at Home' provided you make a minimum of 6 chargeable calls in a quarter. 
They also give you the option of using the Ring Back service for 15p per call rather than paying a fee of £1.75 per month.
paulby
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Registered: ‎26-07-2007

Re: Caller display and ring back

What Mand has quoted is the price including *unlimited* use of ringback (i.e. not chargeable per use).  Going by your line rental cost to BT you have the standard configuration which is pay per use.
To get caller display only added would cost £1.50 i.e. total would be £11.49/month which is still way cheaper than BT together Option 2 (which is the equivalent call package including evening and weekend calls. You also still get pay per use ring back with PlusNet).  In fact even including unlimited use of ringback to bring your cost to £11.99/month this is still almost £2 cheaper than BT's £13.95/month (plus another £1.75/month for unlimited use of ring back).
So, comparing like with like:
PlusNet E+W with caller ID and unlimited ring back = £11.99
BT Together Option 2 with "free" caller ID and unlimited ring back = £15.75
Remember that your basic £10.50 line rental to BT doesn't include evening and weekend calls (IIRC they're charged at 5.5p for 60mins) so you'd also have to factor your call costs in to any comparison.
Not applicable

Re: Caller display and ring back

Quote from: Paul_B
*unlimited*

[SHUDDERS]
[me=James_H]thinks that word is banned around these parts ;)[/me]
clownfish
Rising Star
Posts: 84
Thanks: 8
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Registered: ‎13-11-2007

Re: Caller display and ring back

Quote from: Mand
To get what you need from us will require you to have caller display and the ring back service, which will cost you £2 per month in addition to your subscription cost.

I assume that is because you are saying unlimited ring back and caller display can be had for a total of £2.
Looking at my last six months BT bills the total cost for all ring backs including vat was £1.20.
I would have had to pay plus net £12 over the same period to in effect get caller display.  That is more than I would save due to the free evening and weekend calls being free on plus net. (Cost for those over that period was £8.53 inc vat)
So how much does ring back cost on a pay-per-use basis?  I can't find it in the tariff pdf document.  Is it cheaper than ring back on BT?
Dave
clownfish
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Registered: ‎13-11-2007

Re: Caller display and ring back

Quote from: Paul_B
What Mand has quoted is the price including *unlimited* use of ringback (i.e. not chargeable per use).  Going by your line rental cost to BT you have the standard configuration which is pay per use.

Yes I do and our usage is very low.
Quote
So, comparing like with like:
PlusNet E+W with caller ID and unlimited ring back = £11.99
BT Together Option 2 with "free" caller ID and unlimited ring back = £15.75
Remember that your basic £10.50 line rental to BT doesn't include evening and weekend calls (IIRC they're charged at 5.5p for 60mins) so you'd also have to factor your call costs in to any comparison.

Well I am comparing plus net to our current costs - which isn't the option 2 cost but option 1 where we do pay for evening calls.  Option 2 is not cost effective given the number of calls we make so its whether or not plus net can beat our option 1 costs.
Our costs for ring back have averaged out at a mere 20p a month over the last six months.
Our evening and weekend calls only £8.53 (inc vat) over six months so I reckon if you add line rental, ring back costs and evening and weekend calls together that comes to £12.12 on average a month for those services.
Looking at our daytime calls I was surprised to find that they are where our highest cost lies.
Over six months it has been £19.51 or an average of £3.25 a month (inc vat).
So I reckon that means our monthly cost for line rental daytime, evening and weekends, caller display and ring back is on average £15.17 a month (when the friends and family discount is applied).
That doesn't include costs to mobiles £1.13 average per month)  or the 1471 charges (negligible).
I think that means given we don't do £5 of daytime calls the plus net anytime package is not cost effective so its whether or not the evenings and weekends package is cheaper overall.
Plus nets costs to me would be:
£11.49 (for evening and weekend plus caller id display)
Then whatever our day time call costs would be (cheaper than BT I assume though not sure due to the way plus net rounds calls up).
Then whatever ring back costs there would be (cheaper???)
So I think I would be better off with plus net but it isn't as big a saving as I expected mainly due to the annoying £1.50 a month charge for caller id which knocks £9 off any cost savings over the six month period I have looked at for comparison.
Dave
Mand
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Registered: ‎05-04-2007

Re: Caller display and ring back

Hi there,
Each individual use of ring back costs 10p, which is pretty similar if not the same as BT IIRC.
Daytime landline calls cost 3p per minute.
edit: from BT's website:
Ring Back costs 12.7p per use ex VAT. Or, if you prefer, you can rent this Calling Features for £2.00 per month and have unlimited ring backs.
paulby
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Registered: ‎26-07-2007

Re: Caller display and ring back

Quote
Then whatever our day time call costs would be (cheaper than BT I assume though not sure due to the way plus net rounds calls up).

Plusnet daytime calls 3p/min + 4.5p call set up fee
BT daytime calls 3.25p/min + 6p call set up fee (BT Price List)
Call times are rounded to the next full minute by both PN and BT.
BT rounds individual call costs to the nearest 1/2p
PN rounds individual call costs to the nearest 1p
BT ringback = 15p per use
PN ringback = 10p per use
itsme
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Registered: ‎07-04-2007

Re: Caller display and ring back

Are you sure that BT charge a setup fee? Below is quoted from the link supplied
Quote
Call Set-Up Fee - All Residential Customers
(except for, Light User Scheme, BT Basic and
BT Standard Rate Customers)
A Call Set-Up Fee of 5.10 pence (exc VAT), 6 pence (inc VAT)
will apply to the following Call Types:

No call types have been specified. Looking at my last BT bill dated 3rd November I have several short duration call charged at 3.8p ex VAT. So a setup charge could not have been applied unless this is a recent change to BT billing.
paulby
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Registered: ‎26-07-2007

Re: Caller display and ring back

Quote
Are you sure that BT charge a setup fee?

Yes, they do. 
See this link also.
The "following call types" in the original link refers to the data on the next page (not very clear).
I've definitely been charged the 6p set up on my bill as no chargeable calls cost less than 9.5p (even one of less than 1 minute duration).
Are you sure your short calls weren't part of the Option 1 evening and weekend charging band - i.e. 4.5p/hour (no set up fee)?.  The 6p charge applies to calls outwith that time. (3.8p ex. vat = 4.5p inc. vat)
clownfish
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Registered: ‎13-11-2007

Re: Caller display and ring back

Quote from: itsme
Are you sure that BT charge a setup fee? Below is quoted from the link supplied
Quote
Call Set-Up Fee - All Residential Customers
(except for, Light User Scheme, BT Basic and
BT Standard Rate Customers)
A Call Set-Up Fee of 5.10 pence (exc VAT), 6 pence (inc VAT)
will apply to the following Call Types:

No call types have been specified. Looking at my last BT bill dated 3rd November I have several short duration call charged at 3.8p ex VAT. So a setup charge could not have been applied unless this is a recent change to BT billing.

3.8p is what they charge for evening and weekend calls.  You get a flat rate of 3.8p ex vat for the first hour.  Add vat to that and it works out at 4.5p which is what it says the charge is for evening and weekend calls on BT option 1 on the BT web site.
Where the call set up fee comes in is for daytime calls.
My last bill which is older than yours (we are due the next bill next week) has all daytime calls of less than one minute charged at 5.5p ex VAT up until August when all such calls after 1st August are charged at 8p ex VAT.
For evening and weekend calls, all calls regardless of duration were charged at 4.6p ex-VAT and this dropped to 3.8p as of August.
So clearly they reduced the flat rate call charges for evenings and weekends but did something to increase the cost of short daytime calls.
Given one minute costs 3.25p inc VAT that is 2.77p ex vat.
So if you have a 5.1p call set up fee and add 2.77p to that for a call of one minute or less you get 7.87p which BT round up to .8p which is what I see on my bill (ex vat).
I have a call of exactly two minutes on the bill and that was charged at 11p which is  5.1p + 2.77 + 2.77 = 10.64p but it gets rounded up to 11p by BT (ex vat).
So there is a 5.1p (ex vat) call set up charge for BT daytime calls.
Dave
clownfish
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Registered: ‎13-11-2007

Re: Caller display and ring back

Well I have done myself a spread sheet now to compare my typical BT bill costs with how much the same calling pattern would cost  with PN.
To make sure this is as accurate as possible can anyone confirm where the plus net call set up of 4.5p applies?
Is it basically everywhere?  That is daytime calls, 0845, 0870, mobile calls (day and evening), calls that occur as a result of ringback (5) and call return (1471)?
Or does the call set up fee vary e.g. for mobile calls?
Do BT apply their 6p call set up to the same calls (so that is the 6p call set up fee applies to everything above except evening calls)?
Dave
paulby
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Registered: ‎26-07-2007

Re: Caller display and ring back

It applies to all calls that are not inclusive - as per your list.   
It doesn't apply to calls made by dialling 3 using 1471 if that call is made during the inclusive call times - likewise for ringback (you'd still pay the 10p ringback charge though).
It also doesn't apply to free (0800, 0500, 0808 etc. calls) or to "fixed fee" calls where you pay per call rather than per minute (some 118 nos. for example).
BT use the same regime.
From PN's help pages
The follow[sic] call types will be subject to a 4.5p set up fee:
Non-inclusive 01/02 landline calls
0845/0870 (NTS) calls
UK Mobiles
International Mobiles
Premium rate services
The following call types do not attract a set up fee:
Fixed fee calls
Calls starting with a fixed fee
clownfish
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Posts: 84
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Registered: ‎13-11-2007

Re: Caller display and ring back

Did the spread sheet and it works out about £1.86 a quarter cheaper with plus net given our calling pattern (with caller id) £6.36 cheaper if we forgo caller id.
Thanks to all who replied to my questions.
Dave