Guides > Telephone > Until 01/11/2004

Operators

Savings of up to 81% can be made on local and national calls, 43% on mobile phones and 98% on international calls by using indirect telephone operators:

Operator	Access Number	Web Site	Customer Services	Description
BT	1280	http://www.bt.com	0800 150111	We need this for the line rental (£9.49). Other operators like NTL and Telewest can be used, but some indirect operators won't work on these and charges can vary. The 1280 prefix is necessary here because all our calls are automatically routed through Tele2. You would have to find out what prefix to dial for the provider you use like NTL or Telewest.
Tele2	1271	http://www.tele2uk.com	0800 376 1330 quoting MGM20034443 to qualify for 3 hours of free calls.	All our calls are automatically routed through Tele2 the using carrier preselection service (CPS). The main reason for using this operator is that national and local calls are charged at 2.5p/min during the day and 0.75p all other times, which represents a saving of up to 36% on local and 81% on national calls. Charges are per minute compared to per second for BT, but with such big savings, it still worked out cheaper.
First:Tele	1640	http://www.firsttele.com	0845 3661640	This was used initially used for some local, national and all non-geographic numbers, but it was used less when we started using OneTel and now even less since using Tele2. We might stop using it altogether now that it is only used for weekend calls to Tesco/O2/Cellnet mobile phones.
TeleDiscount	Dependent on destination	http://www.telediscount.com	None	This represents the biggest saving yet with overseas calls up to 98% cheaper, which is even cheaper than OneTel at 78%. You don't have to register to use this one, as the access number is actually a non-geographic number that will be billed through your normal BT account. Remember to prefix it like we have to with the BT access number of 1280 if you use CPS. Make sure you are always using their cheapest access number by signing up for their email newsletter at http://www.telediscount.co.uk/contact.php.
RateBuster	Dependent on destination	http://www.ratebuster.co.uk	None	This works identically to TeleDiscount above.
OneTel	dependent on destination	http://www.onetel.com	0800 9570700	We used this operator for international calls with a saving of 78% to South Africa, but changed to TeleDiscount at 92%. Now we only use OneTel for countries that I didn't think we would need to call so didn't list in the usage guide mentioned later.

Usage Guide

We use the following matrix to decide which operator to use based on type of call and in some cases, time of day:

Call Type	Operator Prefix	Cost			Savings
		Day	Eve	W/E
Local	Nothing(1271)	2.50	0.75	0.75	36%, 25%, 25% or 16% after 01/06/20041.
National	Nothing(1271)	2.50	0.75	0.75	68%, 81%, 49% or 16% after 01/06/20041.
Non-Geographic Local (084 0645 0345)	1280	4.20	1.50	1.00	Tele2 not cheap enough here.
Non-Geographic National (087 03745 05415 07 0836)	1280	7.91	4.17	2.00	Tele2 not cheap enough here.
Premium Rate (09)	1280	Varies	Varies	Varies	0%
Mobile:
Weekend to Tesco/BTCellnet/O2	1640			2.00	15%
Any other time or network	Nothing(1271)	17.00	11.50	4.50	43%, 33%, 42%
International:
Australia Landline	1280 08448 614141	2.00	2.00	2.00	93%, 93%, 93%
Australia Mobile	1280 09119 223 223	13.00	13.00	13.00	96%, 97%, 97%
Hong Kong	1280 08452 442 442	3.95	1.00	1.00	89%, 97% 96%
New Zealand Landline	1280 08452 442442	3.95	1.00	1.00	97%, 98%, 97%
New Zealand Mobile	1280 09115 011150	15.00	15.00	15.00	91%, 98%, 97%
South Africa Landline	1280 08444 621 621	2.00	2.00	2.00	98%, 98%, 98%
South Africa Mobile	1280 0911 5011150	15.00	15.00	15.00	81%, 79%, 78%
USA	1280 08448 610610	1.00	1.00	1.00	95%, 95%, 95%
Other	1878				Generally 78%.
Directory Enquiries (1 number)	118390	27.00	27.00	27.00	Varies
Directory Enquiries (up to 3 numbers)	118288	32.00	32.00	32.00	Varies

Calls made by dialling 3 on 1471 are automatically routed through Tele2, so you can use it if the number appears above with “Nothing(1271)” as the prefix.

I used to list the local area codes so we could distinguish between local and national numbers, but it is no longer necessary, as Tele2 is cheaper for both.

¹ As of 1 July 2004, BT will increase their line rental by £1 to £10.50 and do away with inclusive call time worth £1.80 a month, representing a monthly increase of £2.50 - all in the name of simplification. If you currently use the indirect telephone operators as mention above, then this change only offers a saving if you know you will use local or nation calls for more than seven minutes at a time. In other words, from 1 July 2004, use BT for local and national evening calls if you know the call is going to be longer than seven minutes, as they will only charge you 5.5p for the call for the first hour, when it reverts to charging 3p per minute. You can always disconnect the call before the hour is up and dial again though.