BT the UK's largest telecoms provider is dangling the carrotof caopped calls as a means of persuading customers to enter into 1 or 2 year agreements. I have written this article to find out if 'call capping' actually benefits the average business.
The problem with trying to decide if BT's deals are good or bad is the difficulty in obtaining information - BT's website does not seem to give call rates up easiliy - their pricelist points visitors to 58 mult-page documents hence, information is not made easy to find. The helpless search utility provided also proved equally challenging at delivering any form of reasonable data - email contact also proved tough hence calling was best way.
The next task was to establish UK's average call length. Telecost performed a study in 2002 of 100 UK businesses ranging from high users such as call centres to small enterprises at variuos locations. Over 2 million calls were analysed - results shown below:
Average duration of mobile call (07 number) - 110 seconds.
Average length of call to landline (01 numbers) - 112 seconds.
Average duration of national call (02 numbers) - 121 seconds.
Assuming that the average call length therefore is 2 minutes:
A 2 Minute call at BT standard rate to mobile would cost 45p and to landline would cost 15p (inc call setup fee).
A 2 minute mobile call using BT's 'Business Plan' is 25p (capped) and a 2 minute landline call is 8p on a 1 year contract.
A 2 minute call on BT's 'Oneplan' to mobile is 20p(capped) and to landline is 5p(capped) on a 2 year contract with 2 extra BT services required.
A 2 minute call using Westlake LCR to mobile is 18p and to landline 2.5p on a one year contract.
A 2 minute call using Midland LCR to mobile is 16p and 1.8p to landline on a 1 year contract with minimum spend requirement.
A 2 minute call through Gradwell Business VOIP to mobile would cost 20p and a 2 minute call to landline would be free (on all inclusive tarif else the call would cost 2.5p) on a 3 month contract.
The conclusion therefore is:- if your business makes average length calls then you are probably better off with LCR or VOIP, however if your business calls are typically long then BT offers good value, however...
To benefit from maximum call savings customers should consider using voip phone systems such as Asterisk which will can be programmed to take the most efficient route. For example: - you can route all national calls through VOIP hence take advantage of free calls and unlimited outbound trunks and make savings on your line rentals, you can route mobile calls through GSM - hence achieve free calls to staff mobiles & mobile tarifs of 1.45p 4.5p - use BT Oneplan to route long calls.
This article is merely a guide to help UK businesses make up their own minds - the call rates were obtained in Sept 08 hence may or may not be accurate at the time of reading.
The problem with trying to decide if BT's deals are good or bad is the difficulty in obtaining information - BT's website does not seem to give call rates up easiliy - their pricelist points visitors to 58 mult-page documents hence, information is not made easy to find. The helpless search utility provided also proved equally challenging at delivering any form of reasonable data - email contact also proved tough hence calling was best way.
The next task was to establish UK's average call length. Telecost performed a study in 2002 of 100 UK businesses ranging from high users such as call centres to small enterprises at variuos locations. Over 2 million calls were analysed - results shown below:
Average duration of mobile call (07 number) - 110 seconds.
Average length of call to landline (01 numbers) - 112 seconds.
Average duration of national call (02 numbers) - 121 seconds.
Assuming that the average call length therefore is 2 minutes:
A 2 Minute call at BT standard rate to mobile would cost 45p and to landline would cost 15p (inc call setup fee).
A 2 minute mobile call using BT's 'Business Plan' is 25p (capped) and a 2 minute landline call is 8p on a 1 year contract.
A 2 minute call on BT's 'Oneplan' to mobile is 20p(capped) and to landline is 5p(capped) on a 2 year contract with 2 extra BT services required.
A 2 minute call using Westlake LCR to mobile is 18p and to landline 2.5p on a one year contract.
A 2 minute call using Midland LCR to mobile is 16p and 1.8p to landline on a 1 year contract with minimum spend requirement.
A 2 minute call through Gradwell Business VOIP to mobile would cost 20p and a 2 minute call to landline would be free (on all inclusive tarif else the call would cost 2.5p) on a 3 month contract.
The conclusion therefore is:- if your business makes average length calls then you are probably better off with LCR or VOIP, however if your business calls are typically long then BT offers good value, however...
To benefit from maximum call savings customers should consider using voip phone systems such as Asterisk which will can be programmed to take the most efficient route. For example: - you can route all national calls through VOIP hence take advantage of free calls and unlimited outbound trunks and make savings on your line rentals, you can route mobile calls through GSM - hence achieve free calls to staff mobiles & mobile tarifs of 1.45p 4.5p - use BT Oneplan to route long calls.
This article is merely a guide to help UK businesses make up their own minds - the call rates were obtained in Sept 08 hence may or may not be accurate at the time of reading.
About the Author:
The author is a VOIP phone systems consultant and has been involved in VOIP telecoms since 2003. Please check out the latest UK Call Rate Comparisons.
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