No sign of Cheap Calls from BT - LCRs & ITSPs Attract Business
Posted by: Lee Gibbins in Communication, tags: CommunicationAs the ‘credit crunch’ strikes down even more corporate victims & consumer spending hits an all time low, outlook looks bleak for many British businesses, except for British Telecom the UK largest communications company who has increased call setup fees, line rentals & call charges.
BT line rentals today vary from £12.23GBP per PSTN line, £15.92GBP per ISDN channel on a one year contract. VOIP service providers have widened the price gap with SIP line rentals of £1.50 per month per trunk with unlimited outbound channels on a 3 month contract.
A telecoms industry favourite money spinner is the connection fee which has not escaped the recent price hikes with some BT connection charges up 25% to £299GBP(ISDN2) on last year. BT’s usual strategy is to offer free or reduced connection fees for customers willing to enter into long term agreements or call plans. UK VOIP telecoms providers answered back with free connection to all services and contract lengths of 1 to 3 months.
Hidden charges such as minimum call fees are not always transparent in published call pricing information. BT has a 6p call setup fee which is due to increase on the 16th September 08 to an astonishing 7p. BT says these fees are in line with their competition - although I am not sure as to who they are referring? VOIP service providers charge 1.5p - 2p minimum call fee, no setup charges and per second billing - I guess BT doesn’t consider these operators as a competitors.
UK mobile rates vary from 8p per minute through LCRs on long term contract and large minimum spend to BT’s 19p standard rate. Minute rates to national numbers vary from 0.8p to BT’s 4p. UK ITSPs appear to be the most competitive again with minute rates of 9-11p to mobiles & 1.25-1.5p to landlines, without any long term or spend commitment.
‘Oneplan’ by BT offers 5p capped calls to landlines & 20p capped calls to mobiles for 1 hour. To qualify for this plan customers require 2 other BT services on a 2 year contract. The plan is good value to businesses that make higher than average length calls - however a recent survey of 2 million calls carried out by Telecost suggests that the average call length is less than 112.seconds - therefore for most companies lower per minute rates would make more economic sense.
For maximum telecoms savings companies should insure that their phone system is GSM ready. By incorporating GSM gateways UK companies can achieve free office to staff mobile calls & rates of 1.47p per minute to other mobile networks. These deals are more suited to companies with higher call volumes as some development & negotiation is required.
To migrate your telecoms to VOIP ITSPs you will need the following:
- phone system that supports SIP or IAX
- reliable internet service
- adequate bandwidth to carry the required number of simultaneous calls.
- structured cabling and IP phones
- consult a telecoms professional with a good references in VOIP telecoms
Entries (RSS)