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.
Armed with call rates call rates for BT & a few other telecoms prividers, I had to to establish the average call length - BT were not forthcomming with this information. Luckily for me Telecost performed this task in 2002 - they studied the phone records of 100 companies around the UK in various industry sectors. In total some 2 million records were analysed - of course some time has gone by and without a bigger study it is difficult to be certain - but here are the results:
Average length of call to a mobile (07 numbers) - 110 seconds.
Average duration of national call (01 number) - 112 seconds.
Average length of call to landline (02 numbers) - 121 seconds.
Assuming that an average UK call length is 2 minutes then:
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 mobile call using Midland LCR to mobile is 16p and a 2 minute landline call is 1.8p on a 1 year contract with a minimum call 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.
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 the best 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 route 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 take advantage of free calls to staff mobiles & lowest possible mobile call rates(1.45 -4.5p/min). It is also a good 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 is guide to help UK companies make a more informed decision about their comms - the information above was obtained on Sept 08 hence e&oe. - 15790
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.
Armed with call rates call rates for BT & a few other telecoms prividers, I had to to establish the average call length - BT were not forthcomming with this information. Luckily for me Telecost performed this task in 2002 - they studied the phone records of 100 companies around the UK in various industry sectors. In total some 2 million records were analysed - of course some time has gone by and without a bigger study it is difficult to be certain - but here are the results:
Average length of call to a mobile (07 numbers) - 110 seconds.
Average duration of national call (01 number) - 112 seconds.
Average length of call to landline (02 numbers) - 121 seconds.
Assuming that an average UK call length is 2 minutes then:
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 mobile call using Midland LCR to mobile is 16p and a 2 minute landline call is 1.8p on a 1 year contract with a minimum call 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.
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 the best 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 route 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 take advantage of free calls to staff mobiles & lowest possible mobile call rates(1.45 -4.5p/min). It is also a good 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 is guide to help UK companies make a more informed decision about their comms - the information above was obtained on Sept 08 hence e&oe. - 15790
About the Author:
The author is an established VOIP 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.