I have spent the last 45 minutes on bt.com looking for an answer to what is the minimum call charge.

I understand it is 6p, however on my latest bill (BT Option 2) I have a call to an o2 mobile of 1 second but been charged 11.5p is this a minimum charge, or is BT charging for rounded minutes.

I've found the BT Price List which breaks down the world and his wife, but is not specific about charges on Options tariffs with regard to minimum fees, does anyone know if it changes dependant on what service you are calling?

from http://www.serviceview.bt.com/list/p...tm#0001-d0e219

Duration Rounding - All Residential Customers

The duration of the following call types will be rounded up to the next whole minute

Inland geographic Calls (including g21 rate and ISDN64k calls)

Calls from Northern Ireland to the Irish Republic

Calls to Channel Islands

Fixed-to-mobile calls (excluding ISDN 64k)

International Calls (including calls to international mobiles but excluding ISDN 64k and satellite calls e.g Inmarsat)

The above call types from Private Payphones

The above Call types via Operator Assistance (specially assisted)

All other call types will be rounded up to the next whole second unless otherwise stated in the relevant section of the Price List.

So, your 1 second call will be billed as if it is 60 seconds.

The price per minute for calls to fm1 is 11.063 pence, and then in that same document I linked to

Call Charge Rounding - Residential - BT Basic Customers - VAT Inclusive Billing

Each call charge will be rounded up to half a penny except for calls to Number Translation Services (NTS) which will be rounded up to a tenth of a penny. Calls to mobiles using NTS will be rounded up to half a penny. Fixed Fee Prices where duration charges do not apply will be rounded up to a tenth of a penny. The total call bill will then be rounded to the nearest whole penny.

That takes it up from 11.063 to 11.5

Interestingly, I can't see any reason in the price list why the price hasn't been upped to 14.0p because the call set-up charge of 2.55p should have been added to that.

If you have a BT landline, can I recommend using 18185 instead - cheaper at all times (5p connection + 6p/minute weekdays, 3p/minute weekends).

BTW, BT abolished its Minimum Call Charge last year but, cleverly, introduced a Call Set-Up Free of 3p (since increased to 6p) and, for calls to most numbers, changed from per second charging to per minute charging, at the same time.

I'm surprised you made a call via BT to a mobile.

I only make 2 calls a month via BT to ensure free caller display, and I make sure they are both local calls after 6pm.

All I say is no matter what you tell the wife she doesn't listen!!!

I have 2 BT lines. niether I would normally use for calls, I either use my Livebox, or my orange mobile (both I get masses of inclusive calls)

Thanks to Heinz and The Spiz 2: I found all that lot too, but could worki out if the call set up was charged if it was less than the one minute fee.

Just shows what a rip off BT is, unfortunatly I can't get rid of the 2 lines I have, however one of them I'm about to move to Orange (I have BB from them anyway on that line) The other I may get disconnected but that is a number I have had for some time, and the setup of my house means both lines come in to the same junction box, but the master sockets are in totally different areas.

Keep your BT lines and get an Orchid. That way you can make use of 18185, etc for much cheaper calls. BT is the only provider required to allow the use of these services.

http://www.orchid-electronics.com/Diallers/v4.htm

No room for diallers in my set up, I don't want anymore than 1 socket in the room, just picky, I don't like to muck stuff cluttering things up.

I have moved 1 line from BT today to orange, the line rental is pennies lower, but they have free E&W calls.

The other line I can't move yet, as I'm still in contract with BT.

If free E&W UK 01/02 calls was all you wanted, I wish you'd asked before doing that because moving your line rental away from BT prevents you using the likes of 1899, 18185 and 18866.

You could have kept those options and got free E&W UK 01/02 calls for no monthly charge by just opting for Primus Saver Options 2 CPS and, with the Penny Mobile 2 add-on to that, calls to any UK mobile (incl. '3' mobiles) capped at 20p for up to 20 minutes.

I am currently with Virgin and maybe thinking of going back to BT, am I right in saying that BT have a per call connection charge the same as Virgin or am I going mad!!

Help!!

IIRC, VM has a 7p connection fee for all chargeable calls.

BT has a 6p 'Call Set-Up Fee' for all chargeable calls but that doesn't apply to evening and weekend UK 01/02 calls of up to an hour for those on BT Together Option 1 - which cost a flat rate 4.5p.

Thanks for that Heinz, makes it a lot clearer now, decisions decisions now

Perhaps my 6-steps post will help you decide.

From 1st April evening calls are charged at 1.5p per minute with a 6p set up charge

TRUE, but I still have one BT Line and the other with Orange.

I have free calls via the Livebox anyway, use that an awful lot really, including international and pay nothing.

I mainly use my mobile for call when at work, many are landline calls that I get free with my Orange talk plan. So currently I spend:

Mobile £35 (and no extra for calls)
Internet & Home phone £15 (Calls included) Line 1
BT Line £10.50 ( and very rarely make calls) Line 2

£60.50 per month for communications, can't see how much lower I could get it. Any Offers??

Who's this with?

BT .. .. .

What I can't work out is what you get charged if you go over the hour on a BT calling plan. When I asked their customer service, they said that I only get charged for the bit of the call that was over the hour e.g. for a 75 min call I should get charged for the last 15 mins. But I suspect they actually charge for the whole call. My latest bill shows a charge of £10.12 for 9 UK (not local) calls that went over the hour, total duration 11 hours 39 mins. By my reckoning that's 6p a min if I only paid after the first hour (i.e. for 699 mins -540 mins) or 1.5p a minute if I paid for the whole of each call (i.e. all 699 mins).

Hi Kumquat2,

I think I can help you with this. Your calls will be free up to the first hour. After that they are charged at the rate of 6ppm. I will be happy to check the bill for you if you wish. Ill drop you a PM and we'll take it from there.

Ta

David

BT Support

BT's website is deliberately (imo) unhelpful when calculating the price of calls. A simple three stage operation would be wonderful,

1. Insert the phone number you are calling from
2. Put the called number in
3. Press Enter

Would look at the line and analyse the call packages on it then apply the relevant price structure and produce the result in a tabular format. Maybe put the mechanism behind the customer online facility for security and the deal would be done.

Hi DVB Cornwall,

That is good feedback, thanks! I will pass it on to "the forces above". I imagine the majority of people do know what plan they're on and whether the number they are calling is a landline, mobile, etc, so (whilst it's not as advanced as your suggestion!) the below links may be of some help.

Info on cost of calls to 0845/0845, landlines, and mobiles is available at:

http://www.productsandservices.bt.co...rsonal/pricing

Info on calling international numbers is at:

http://www.productsandservices.bt.co...?topicId=25500

If you have a query on a specific number let me know and I will double-check the cost with you.

All the best,

Stephanie
BT Support