Zen price changes for homecall

How does this effect the unlimited call option ?
:
Existing Peak Rates (Daytime) Existing: 4.09 ppm

Existing Off-peak Rates (Evening) 1.02 ppm

From 2nd April 2016
All day, everyday rates
4 ppm

hopefully it does not as a near 300% increase of off peak 01 02 03 numbers is not nice..

The email from Zen is classic "big telco". Typical mentions of "people finding the pricing too complicated" and sugar coating a price rise as being "simpler"

I really wonder how we can still exist as a country if people really do find the idea of time-based pricing to be "complicated"?

I'm glad I don't use my phone line for outgoing calls much. Once SOGEA arrives I may even be tempted to move the number to VoIP

agreed, but there are a lot of stupid people out there, and people / companies / politicians appear to be playing to the lowest denominator. really annoying

In reply to a post by AndrewW:

How does this effect the unlimited call option ?

Hi, the quick answer is it doesn't. The call rates only apply to calls outside of a inclusive call bundle.

So if you have a call bundle offering unlimited calls to landlines you only need take note of the updated mobile rates. Meaning calls to mobile during the day will cost a little less and during the evening a little more.

We don't call increasing off peak rates by 300% "a little more".
Speaking personally, I had absolutely no problem understanding the call price structure as it was. This is just a greedy money grab.

While I'm here, are there any changes to (I) per second billing and (ii) no call connection charge?

Edited by deleted (Thu 03-Mar-16 08:20:07)

With mobiles readily available to everybody the concept of a landline for calls is slowly dying (unless you have no signal ) Once we get SOGEA I don't think I will even bother with a "house" number. Nobody ever uses it in our house!

In reply to a post by nrms:

While I'm here, are there any changes to (I) per second billing and (ii) no call connection charge?

We're still offering per second billing and no call connection charges for existing customers.

Although we have increased some off peak rates by up to 2.98ppm we've also reduced some peak rates by up to 3.81ppm.

Your website for Home Line Rental package claims no minimum call charge then has a call connection charge of 16p per call. Surely that is a minimum call charge. Along with the 11ppm landline charge it makes it look as if you don't really want any new customers.

In reply to a post by jphilip:

Your website for Home Line Rental package claims no minimum call charge then has a call connection charge of 16p per call. Surely that is a minimum call charge. Along with the 11ppm landline charge it makes it look as if you don't really want any new customers.

Yeah, I noticed that, got a bit worried, and phoned them up about it. After a few minutes of checking by the guy on the phone (helpful chap), he confirmed that there isn't a call connection charge for normal and mobile numbers coming in April. It only applies to the special numbers mentioned just above it, but it's confusing and really need to be changed, as well as the impression it gives that calls to 01,02 and 03 numbers will be charged 11ppm..

As for the email that was sent, as mentioned, it did come across as typical company Newspeak and an attempt to justify a 300% price hike (too difficult to understand, my Arsenal...).

Really annoyed by this move and the email's tone, and if I used the phone more to make calls, I'd probably leave (I will if they ever introduce connection charges for normal calls, which I detest). I'll probably now be using my mobile more, as it'll be cheaper. Pity I need a phone line for my connection, though...

In reply to a post by ajays:

Hi, the quick answer is it doesn't. The call rates only apply to calls outside of a inclusive call bundle.

So if you have a call bundle offering unlimited calls to landlines you only need take note of the updated mobile rates. Meaning calls to mobile during the day will cost a little less and during the evening a little more.

Happy to see this clarification.

In reply to a post by TrishaH:

In reply to a post by ajays:

Hi, the quick answer is it doesn't. The call rates only apply to calls outside of a inclusive call bundle.

So if you have a call bundle offering unlimited calls to landlines you only need take note of the updated mobile rates. Meaning calls to mobile during the day will cost a little less and during the evening a little more.

Happy to see this clarification.

+1
It wouldn't have hurt Zen to mention this in their email...

In reply to a post by b4dger:

+1
It wouldn't have hurt Zen to mention this in their email...
True - I thought it was just me not quite grasping it!

We don't make a lot of phone calls, but mostly, they're during business hours and to landlines, so it did matter to me.

In reply to a post by ajays:

We're still offering per second billing and no call connection charges for existing customers.

Although we have increased some off peak rates by up to 2.98ppm we've also reduced some peak rates by up to 3.81ppm.

I was thinking of jumping ship from Sky (ex-O2 so phone line still with BT) to Zen.

Although we only use the landline a limited amount, I did see this as a way of clawing back some of the additional cost of the broadband.

I think this news has effectively removed Zen from my list of options under consideration.

Sorry guys.

In reply to a post by sor:

Once SOGEA arrives I may even be tempted to move the number to VoIP

Sorry to appear dim, but what is 'SOGEA'? Is it the ability to transfer a standard landline number to a VOIP provider, with portability thereafter?

If so it's something that could really expand the domestic VOIP market.

In reply to a post by Tacitus:

In reply to a post by sor:

Once SOGEA arrives I may even be tempted to move the number to VoIP

Sorry to appear dim, but what is 'SOGEA'? Is it the ability to transfer a standard landline number to a VOIP provider, with portability thereafter?

If so it's something that could really expand the domestic VOIP market.

It's BT's term for naked FTTC - no phone service (and thus phone line rental) needed, it will be used just for internet access. I'd expect it'll still cost a bit more than the broadband price but less than what you pay now for phone+broadband. Some ISPs will likely use it as a means to provide their own VoIP service as part of the package, instead of paying BT to lease their telephone infrastructure.

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2015/12/bt-conf...

You can normally transfer the number to VoIP anyway, but if you do it BT will disconnect the phone line (and thus the broadband on the same line)

Edited by deleted (Fri 04-Mar-16 20:45:11)

In reply to a post by sor:

You can normally transfer the number to VoIP anyway, but if you do it BT will disconnect the phone line (and thus the broadband on the same line)

Thanks for the info.

I can see the advantages but if you go VOIP only then no broadband and there's no phone; if you live in a poor signal area you could be completely cut off in an emergency. At least on the current system, POTS is likely to be there even if the broadband does go down.

Sipgate will give you a free number with the same local prefix code, along with calls for 1ppm, about the same as Skype out calls. No need to wait for naked BB, pay high call cost or lose your landline.

Edited by professor973 (Sat 05-Mar-16 12:50:03)

In reply to a post by Tacitus:

I can see the advantages but if you go VOIP only then no broadband and there's no phone; if you live in a poor signal area you could be completely cut off in an emergency. At least on the current system, POTS is likely to be there even if the broadband does go down.

Certainly a valid point, but I can get a mobile signal from all of the networks (and your phone should be able to place 999 calls on any available network if yours is unavailable).

I haven't had reliability issues with either my phone or my broadband - at least, not to the point where it is totally broken for an extended period. I could implement some sort of 3G/4G backup in my router and carry VoIP calls over that too.

I guess it depends on the eventual pricing. If it's not a substantial saving I may not bother

In reply to a post by professor973:

Sipgate will give you a free number with the same local prefix code, along with calls for 1ppm, about the same as Skype out calls. No need to wait for naked BB, pay high call cost or lose your landline.

Of course - I already have a number with my chosen VoIP provider, but lots of people have my landline number, so (if SOGEA is a go-er) it'd be nice to take that to VoIP too

Edited by deleted (Sat 05-Mar-16 19:08:15)

In reply to a post by professor973:

Sipgate will give you a free number with the same local prefix code, along with calls for 1ppm, about the same as Skype out calls. No need to wait for naked BB, pay high call cost or lose your landline.

Good point about keeping the landline for emergencies with VOIP via an alternative provider.

Sipgate look quite cheap compared to Voipfone. Call prices are about the same, but the VoipFone packages look expensive compared to the bundled deals from SipGate.