Phone to UK capped

We want to phone UK and Telecom talks about "capped". $4.50 capped. What do
they mean please? These are pages of answers to questions, but I can't find
an answer to that. It's 33 cents a minute, I think.

There used to be special prices at different times, but I can't see anything
about that either, on their website.
It's from a home phone, not a mobile.

Thank you
Geopelia

 

Presumably, that means the maximum charge per call is $4.50.
So after 14 minutes or so at $0.33 per minute, you can keep talking for
free.

 

I think it means your call will cost 33 cents a minute up to a maximum
of $4.50 for a call of UP TO two hours.

 

Thanks to all, that clears it up.

But who on earth would want to stay on the phone for two hours?

And it's a bit confusing. $0.33 is 33 cents, isn't it? You are up to $4.50
after 14 minutes.
So after 14 minutes, you can just waffle on for up to two hours for free?
Get the whole family lined up!

Geopelia


Unless a whole big family lines up in turn.

 

As others have said, this means that you pay 33 cents per minute until
you've spent $4.50, then you pay no more.

However, if you regularly call the UK, I suggest that you buy a Compass
"Kia Ora" phone card from your local dairy and load, say, $10 on it.

You will be able to call anywhere in NZ, Australia, UK for (I think the
current rate is) 2.9 cents per minute including gst. Several other
destination cost the same rate.

Telecom capped rate will cost you $4.50 for about 14 minutes, then extra
time is free.
But if you want to talk for 14 minutes, the phone card will cost just over
40 cents. To spend $4.50 on the card you would need to talk for about 2.5
hours.

Get the brochure at the same time, which explains the various features.

We have the compass access number and our card's code number programmed
into our phone (you can do this with most modern phones), and the numbers
of regularly called family stored in the card company's system.

So, after being asked to dial in the number we want to call, we just enter
1# or 2# or 3# depending on which of our offspring we want to talk to.

Voice quality is good - I've never been able to detect any difference
between the phone card and Telecom's direct system.

Cheers,

John S

 

Aren't they resellers? I believe that you use the same phone system.

Cheers,

Cliff

 

Thank you.

I've got the phone and the computer's broadband on the same plan. I don't
think our phone uses cards, aren't they for mobile phones only?

We don't usually phone UK, we just use email.

Geopelia

 

I used to have my girlfriend call me when I was at a house party. We just
passed the phone around after having a good chat It is good when you
have people to hand off to and also some stuff to discuss.

 

No, they are not cards that you insert into your phone. They are cards
with a number which you enter into the land line phone (and maybe
cellphones too) before the phone number that you dial. It switches
somewhere in the network to send your call through the provider's
network rather than the telcos.

Cheers,

Cliff

 

Thank you. I'll save that in case we ever start phoning overseas regularly.
Just now it's about once a year.

 

Which is why Telecom wants you to call the UK more often, as it is more
profitable for them. They want one to get used to the idea that $4.50, which
is less than $5, is a great value to call the other side of the world. Which
is rather silly when, for instance this message goes to Germany before being
sent on, and I get heaps of data, from where ever it is on the planet for
the same price.

 

Wh really cares? Same quality at a much lower price. Yes I expect that the
some lines/hardware are used.

Brings up the question if they can do it for 2.9cents then Telecoms 33 cents
is a bit of a rip off. Well, why they can offer the $4.50 cap.

 

Of course it depends how much money one has to live on. It could be worth it
now and then to hear somebody's voice, which is why we phone sometimes. But
just for day to day communication email is good enough - and much better
than snail mail.

 

Someone expressed surprise that the quality was the same as through the
normal channels.

Compass are selling 'bandwidth' that Telecom would not normally sell, If
too many people start to use Compass and similar services or Skype
Telecom will lower prices and probably increase prices to resellers.

Cheers,

Cliff

 

If the person you are calling has a computer and broadband and you have the
same you could also use skype

skype allows you to use your computer like a phone you just need a
microphone at each end and you can chat for free, and its not that hard to
use.

 

That might be an idea. Now I send the email to her son, and he phones it to
her. He sends her email to us.

She used to email us herself, but then got a laptop and couldn't manage
using it for emails. It seems there are a few more steps which make it
complicated for elderly folks. Her email used to get lost when she tried to
send it.
I just press "send" from my computer.

The marvels of modern technology!
(Mine is 11 years old, still on XP).

 

Sorry, I should have explained better.

You can use the phone card with any phone (even make calls from someone
else's phone if you are away from home).

What you get with the card is a code number specific to that card, plus a
list of "access numbers" from which you select the one for your
geographical area. For example, our access number is the one we dial in
the Whakatane area to get into the Compass system.

If you were away from home, in another city, you would just look up the
access number for that city and use it.

After dialling the access number, you are asked (by a robot voice) to key
in the code number for your card on the phone's dial pad, then you are
asked to dial the number you want to call. The system tells you the cost
per minute (2.9 cents per minute in our case if calling the UK), and the
amount of time you can talk, based on the remaining balance on your card.

Obviously this requires more dialling than if you were just using the
Telecom system, but once you have it programmed in to your phone it is just
a matter of pushing a couple of buttons.

As you have your phone service with Telecom, any call you made with the
card would be regarded by Telecom as a local call to your local Compass
access number (that is why Compass have a list of access numbers for round
the country, so all their customers can access their service as a local
call).

I believe Compass transfer the calls off the Telecom system and onto VOIP -
ie carry the calls over the internet protocol. In the early days, VOIP
qualilty sometimes wasn't the best, but it seems to be excellent these
days.

With our card, I just call up the Compass system and use my credit card to
top up the balance now and again. I never put more than $10 at a time on
the card, and $10 seems to last us for ages.

cheers,

John S

 

Thank you, I'll save that. If we start making a lot of calls it could be
useful.

Geopelia