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The UK telecoms giant BT seems to have adopted the selling of capped calls as part of its call plans - are ‘capped calls’ really offering good value to the customer as call plans usually carry long tie-ins & other obligations?

Call rates are unusually tricky to find on websites, BT’s own website proved awkward to say the least with over 50 long lists to look through I wouldn’t be surprised if many new customers give up the search - or maybe thats the intention? Calling telecoms companies proved a bit more fruitfull athough overwhelming with the variety of products that seemed to offer good rates on one hand and take away with long contract obligations with the other.

Upon successfully uncovering the call rates for BT & most major UK telecoms operators I needed to establish the UK’s average call length.. Telecost performed this task a few years ago by analysing 2 million call records (2278614 to be precise) of 100 different companies in different parts of the UK. There was a wide range of company types in the study including high volume users such as: recruitment agencies, debt collection and media companies. It is of course difficult to know how representative the sample is however I don’t expect BT will dish this out willingly. The results are shown below:

Average length of call to a mobile (07 numbers) - 110 seconds.

Average length of call to landline (01 numbers) - 112 seconds.

Average length of national call (02 numbers) - 121 seconds.

If the average call length is 2 minutes then the following stands to reason:

2 minute mobile call using BT Standard Rate to is 45p and to landline call is 15p including setup charge.

A 2 minute call on BT’s ‘Business Plan’ to mobile is 25p(capped) and a 2 minute call to landline is 8p on a 1 year contract.

A 2 minute call on BT’s ‘Oneplan’ to mobile is 20p(capped) and to landline is 5p(capped) on a 2 year contract with extra services required.

A 2 minute mobile call using Westlake LCR is 18p and a 2 minute landline call is 2.5p on a one year contract.

A 2 minute call through Midland Telecom to mobile would cost 16p and to landline would cost 1.8p on a 1 year contract with a minimum spend requirement.

A 2 minute call through Gradwell Business VOIP to mobile would cost 20p and a 2 minute call to landline would be free (on all inclusive tarif else the call would cost 2.5p) on a 3 month contract.

Based on the above information above being correct the conclusion therefore is:- if your business makes average length calls then LCR or VOIP providers offer you the best overall call savings. If your bunsiness makes long phone calls on a regular basis then BT will be the better choice, but then…

To benefit from maximum call savings customers should consider using smart phone systems such as Asterisk which will can be programmed to take the most efficient route. For example: - you can route all national calls through VOIP hence take advantage of free calls and unlimited outbound trunks hence make instant savings on your line rentals, route mobile calls through GSM - hence achieve free calls to staff mobiles & mobile tarifs of 4.5p & use BT Oneplan to route long calls.

This is guide to help UK companies make a more informed decision about their coms - the information above was obtained on Sept 08 hence e&oe.

Tags: VoIP

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