BT the UK's largest telecoms provider is singing the praises of 'capped calls' and selling call plans on the basis of the savings these deals seem to offer - are these capped deals really that good or is this a financial smoke screen?.
Trying to gather call rate information for this task was rather awkward to say the least - BT's website and search facility seemed to make this task 'difficult' to say the least. In my experience the best way to do this is call.
Upon successfully uncovering the call rates for BT & most major UK telecoms operators I needed to establish the UK's average call length.. Telecost performed this task a few years ago by analysing 2 million call records (2278614 to be precise) of 100 different companies in different parts of the UK. There was a wide range of company types in the study including high volume users such as: recruitment agencies, debt collection and media companies. It is of course difficult to know how representative the sample is however I don't expect BT will dish this out willingly. The results are shown below:
Average length of call to mobile (07 numbers) - 110 seconds.
Average length of landline call (01 numbers) - 112 seconds.
Average length of call to landline (02 numbers) - 121 seconds.
I am therefore going to assume that the average call length is 2 minutes hence:
A 2 Minute call through BT Standard Rate to mobile would cost 45p and to landline would cost 15p (inc call setup fee).
A 2 minute call on BT's 'Business Plan' to mobile is 25p(capped) and a 2 minute call to landline is 8p on a 1 year contract.
A 2 minute mobile call using BT's 'Oneplan' is 20p (capped) and a 2 minute landline call is 5p (capped) on a 2 year contract with additional BT services required.
A 2 minute mobile call using Westlake LCR is 18p and a 2 minute landline call is 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 mobile call using Gradwell VOIP would cost 20p and a 2 minute landline call would be free (on all inclusive tarif) with 3 month contract.
Based on the above information above being correct the conclusion therefore is:- if your business makes average length calls then LCR or VOIP providers offer you the best overall call savings. If your bunsiness makes long phone calls on a regular basis then BT will be the better choice, but then...
The most efficient way to handle business calls is to use a telephone system such as Asterisk which is able to route calls via the most efficient methods: ie. route all national calls through VOIP hence take advantage of free calls and unlimited outbound trunks. Route mobile calls through GSM gateways to benefit from free calls to staff mobiles & mobile call rates of 4.5p. It is also not a bad idea to have a few BT lines on Oneplan to route long calls. This method also allows gives the user the benefit of mutiple failovers.
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. - 15224
Trying to gather call rate information for this task was rather awkward to say the least - BT's website and search facility seemed to make this task 'difficult' to say the least. In my experience the best way to do this is call.
Upon successfully uncovering the call rates for BT & most major UK telecoms operators I needed to establish the UK's average call length.. Telecost performed this task a few years ago by analysing 2 million call records (2278614 to be precise) of 100 different companies in different parts of the UK. There was a wide range of company types in the study including high volume users such as: recruitment agencies, debt collection and media companies. It is of course difficult to know how representative the sample is however I don't expect BT will dish this out willingly. The results are shown below:
Average length of call to mobile (07 numbers) - 110 seconds.
Average length of landline call (01 numbers) - 112 seconds.
Average length of call to landline (02 numbers) - 121 seconds.
I am therefore going to assume that the average call length is 2 minutes hence:
A 2 Minute call through BT Standard Rate to mobile would cost 45p and to landline would cost 15p (inc call setup fee).
A 2 minute call on BT's 'Business Plan' to mobile is 25p(capped) and a 2 minute call to landline is 8p on a 1 year contract.
A 2 minute mobile call using BT's 'Oneplan' is 20p (capped) and a 2 minute landline call is 5p (capped) on a 2 year contract with additional BT services required.
A 2 minute mobile call using Westlake LCR is 18p and a 2 minute landline call is 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 mobile call using Gradwell VOIP would cost 20p and a 2 minute landline call would be free (on all inclusive tarif) with 3 month contract.
Based on the above information above being correct the conclusion therefore is:- if your business makes average length calls then LCR or VOIP providers offer you the best overall call savings. If your bunsiness makes long phone calls on a regular basis then BT will be the better choice, but then...
The most efficient way to handle business calls is to use a telephone system such as Asterisk which is able to route calls via the most efficient methods: ie. route all national calls through VOIP hence take advantage of free calls and unlimited outbound trunks. Route mobile calls through GSM gateways to benefit from free calls to staff mobiles & mobile call rates of 4.5p. It is also not a bad idea to have a few BT lines on Oneplan to route long calls. This method also allows gives the user the benefit of mutiple failovers.
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. - 15224
About the Author:
The author has been a voip phone system consultant since 2003 - please refer to Cheap Business Calls for more information about latest UK Call Rates & Charges.
