Considering that UK is in recession, banks are collapsing, consumers are reducing their spending. BT the UK telecoms giant increased its connection charges, monthly line rentals & call setup fees in the last 12 months.
BT line rentals today vary from 12.23GBP per PSTN line to 15.92GBP per ISDN channel on a one year contract. VOIP service providers have increased the price gap with IP line rentals of 1.50 per month per trunk.
BT ISDN2 connection charge has gone up to SRP of 299GBP which is an increase of 25% to the same time last year. With an 80GBP connection charge per channel on ISDN 30, BT paves the way for VOIP Telecom providers & LCRs many of whom offer free connection without long tie-ins.
BT has raised it's call setup fee from 6 to 7p which means that unless you have opted for a BT call plan or switched your billing to LCR, you will be paying 7p per connection before you start your call - this is quite poor considering large number of calls go to voicemail. UK VOIP providers lead the pack again with minimum call charges of 1.5p - 2p.
UK office to mobile rates vary from 8p per minute to BT's 19p standard rate. Minute rates to national numbers vary from 0.8p to BT's 4p. ITSPs appear to be the most competitive again with rates of 9-11p to mobiles & 1.25-1.5p to landlines.
'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.
Companies that are thinking of switching to VOIP will need the following:
- phone system that supports SIP or IAX
- good quality internet connection
- sufficient bandwidth to cary all required calls
- structured cabling and IP telepnones
- Good advice & careful provisioning - 15246
BT line rentals today vary from 12.23GBP per PSTN line to 15.92GBP per ISDN channel on a one year contract. VOIP service providers have increased the price gap with IP line rentals of 1.50 per month per trunk.
BT ISDN2 connection charge has gone up to SRP of 299GBP which is an increase of 25% to the same time last year. With an 80GBP connection charge per channel on ISDN 30, BT paves the way for VOIP Telecom providers & LCRs many of whom offer free connection without long tie-ins.
BT has raised it's call setup fee from 6 to 7p which means that unless you have opted for a BT call plan or switched your billing to LCR, you will be paying 7p per connection before you start your call - this is quite poor considering large number of calls go to voicemail. UK VOIP providers lead the pack again with minimum call charges of 1.5p - 2p.
UK office to mobile rates vary from 8p per minute to BT's 19p standard rate. Minute rates to national numbers vary from 0.8p to BT's 4p. ITSPs appear to be the most competitive again with rates of 9-11p to mobiles & 1.25-1.5p to landlines.
'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.
Companies that are thinking of switching to VOIP will need the following:
- phone system that supports SIP or IAX
- good quality internet connection
- sufficient bandwidth to cary all required calls
- structured cabling and IP telepnones
- Good advice & careful provisioning - 15246
About the Author:
The author is an established phone systems consultant and has worked in the industry since 2003. Check out UK Call Rates for the latest BT, LCRs & VOIP ITSP tariffs & price comparisons.
