Talk is cheap

By SALLY HAMILTON
Updated:

 

LET'S face it . . . it's embarrassing asking friends and family abroad to phone us in the UK because of sky-high international call charges here. But times are changing. Fierce competition on international tariffs has forced BT to respond with new deals to reduce the cost to many international destinations.

From September 1, BT customers can choose to pay £1 a month, then a flat rate of 5p a minute for calls to 17 countries, which, it says, will cut typical bills for overseas calls by up to 82% on its Together tariffs and 89% on its standard tariff. It admits, though, that some popular destinations such as South Africa are not included.

Tesco is also entering the fray next month with partner Cable & Wireless. They will offer a new service that they claim will be 'significantly cheaper than the main players'.

Jon Miller, head of operations at comparison service uSwitch, says: 'There are still huge savings to be made with alternative suppliers to BT. People who phone abroad a lot can save as much as 90% by moving from a standard tariff.'

Strong marketing and huge apathy stops many BT customers from making a move.

Understanding the tariffs is a nightmare for most people, but services including uSwitch and mycallsavings help compare typical bills and potential savings.

Rival services typically work in one of two ways. If they are cable services - such as Telewest - a new line will have to be installed in your home - if the network is available in your area.

The alternative is to keep a BT line and number, but route calls through an another service provider. This can be done automatically at the exchange, through a box plugged into your phone socket or by dialling a prefix every time a call is made.

It takes up to ten days to move to a new provider. The main problem is that there is still a standing charge to pay BT, which means that customers receive two bills.

But this is a small price to pay, say Ann and Alan Wight from Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, who cut their phone bills by 70% by moving from BT to Talk two years ago.

The couple, who have two children, James, 8, and Jenny, 5, grew increasingly unhappy at the cost of using BT to call America, Ann's homeland. Ann, 36, says: 'I call my grandmother, who is widowed and lives in Niagara Falls, once or twice a day. I call my mother in the same area and my sister in Chicago. Our quarterly bills were £300. With two kids to bring up, this was too expensive.

'It was distressing for us to ask my family to phone us, even though it is much cheaper for them.'

Alan, a solicitor, used uSwitch to track down a better deal and came across Talk, a service that aims to select the cheapest carrier for each call. Ann says she phones the US more than ever, yet the bills have shrunk to £90 a quarter.

She says: 'In two quarters we can save enough for a holiday.'

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