BT the UK’s largest telecoms provider is selling ‘capped calls’ and call plans on the basis of the savings – are these capped deals really that good or is this a financial smoke screen?

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.

The next task was to establish UK’s average call length. Telecost performed a study in 2002 of 100 UK businesses ranging from high users such as call centres to small enterprises at variuos locations. Over 2 million calls were analysed – results shown below:

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

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

Average length of call to landline (02 numbers) – 121 seconds.

Assuming that an average UK call length is 2 minutes then:

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

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

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

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

A 2 minute call using Midland LCR to mobile is 16p and 1.8p to landline on a 1 year contract with minimum spend requirement.

A 2 minute mobile call using Gradwell VOIP would cost 20p and a 2 minute landline call would be free (on all inclusive tarif) with 3 month contract.

The conclusion therefore is:- if your business makes average length calls then you are probably better off with LCR or VOIP, however if your business calls are typically long then BT offers good value, however…

The most efficient way to route business calls is to use a telephone system such as Asterisk which is able to route calls via the most efficient methods: ie. route all national calls through VOIP hence take advantage of free calls and unlimited outbound trunks. Route mobile calls through GSM gateways to take advantage of free calls to staff mobiles & lowest possible mobile call rates(1.45 -4.5p/min). It is also a good idea to have a few BT lines on Oneplan to route long calls. This method also allows gives the user the benefit of mutiple failovers.

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

Technorati Tags: business, communication, economics, Finance, internet, savings, technology, Telecoms, VOIP

BT the UK’s largest telecoms provider is dangling the carrotof caopped calls as a means of persuading customers to enter into 1 or 2 year agreements. I have written this article to find out if ‘call capping’ actually benefits the average business.

Trying to gather call rate information for this task was rather awkward to say the least – BT’s website and search facility seemed to make this task ‘difficult’ to say the least. A few hours of calling to the abyss of extentions and I had the figures I wanted.

The next task was to establish UK’s average call length. Telecost performed a study in 2002 of 100 UK businesses ranging from high users such as call centres to small enterprises at variuos locations. Over 2 million calls were analysed – results shown below:

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

Average duration of national call (01 number) – 112 seconds.

Average duration of national call (02 numbers) – 121 seconds.

Therefore, if the average call length is approximately 2 minutes then the following is also true:

A 2 minute call on BT Standard Rate to mobile is 45p and to landline is 15p inc BT’s call setup fee.

A 2 Minute call with BT’s ‘Business Plan’ to mobile would cost 25p (capped) and to landline would cost 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 2 extra BT services required.

A 2 minute call through Westlake LCR to mobile would cost 18p and to landline would cost 2.5p on a one year contract.

A 2 minute call using Midland LCR to mobile is 16p and 1.8p to landline on a 1 year contract with minimum spend requirement.

A 2 minute call using Gradwell VOIP to mobile would cost 20p and a 2 minute call to landline would be free(subject to acceptable usage otherwise would cost 2.5p) on a 3 month contract.

The conclusion therefore is:- if your business makes average length calls then you are probably better off with LCR or VOIP, however if your business calls are typically long then BT offers good value, however…

The best possible way to route business calls is to use a VOIP phone system such as Asterisk that is able to route calls via the more efficiently. For example customers may route all 01 numbers through VOIP to take advantage of the all inclusive tarif and unlimited outbound trunks, use GSM gateways for free calls to staff mobiles (a big chunk of a typicall business phone bill) & achieve mobile call rates as low as 4.5p. It is also not a bad idea to have some BT lines on ‘Oneplan’ – for long length calls (users can have buttons on their phones that say long calls or can be made to press a button before dialling out)

This article is merely a guide to help UK businesses make up their own minds – the call rates were obtained in Sept 08 hence may or may not be accurate at the time of reading.

Technorati Tags: business, communication, economics, Finance, internet, savings, technology, Telecoms, VOIP