Good tariff, but promotions ring short (BT Cellnet Tariffs)

Member Name: chinnyli

Product:	BT Cellnet Tariffs
Date:	04/06/01 (143 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Free mins can be used anytime, No monthly line rental

Disadvantages: Only available with upfront deals, Only 50 mins free call time per month, External billing companies disorganised with promotions

Anyone reading this should note that this tariff doesn't seem to be available in the shops anymore - I assume because BT (and various other mobile operators) are trying to cut down their debts and reduce heavily subsidised 'unprofitable' deals, notice how much more expensive pay-as-you-go phones have become? However, read on if you're still interested in BT Cellnet in general, or Net 100 to which this tariff is quite similar.

Net 50 was only ever available as part of 'upfront' deals sold by mobile phone retailers which use their own billing company - BT Cellnet's own customer services weren't even aware the tariff existed! I bought my phone from Carphone Warehouse, and so am billed for my calls by Value Telecom.

I was attracted to buying an upfront package because I didn't want the hassle of paying at least £12 line rental monthly (especially as I don't make many calls), but neither did I want to keep buying top up vouchers every time I ran out of call time.

You pay for 12 months line rental in advance but at a cheaper rate than normal (if you halve Net 100's monthly line rental, this would normally be worth £9 per month), and you still get free inclusive calls with the tariff. If you use more than this quota, you simply get billed for the rest.

No matter which tariff you use, including monthly line rentals, you have to pay bills monthly by direct debit, if you don't there's a £3 premium every month!

I chose to use BT Cellnet because most of my friends complained about the call charges and reliability of other networks. I also chose it because it is currently cheapest for landline users to call BT Cellnet mobiles than other mobile networks.

I was also tempted by an offer they were running when I bought my phone, of an extra three months free line rental, plus 500 mins per month free WAP calls using Genie for the first three months. It was also the only upfront
tariff I could find with inclusive calls which could be used anytime, and which had a phone I liked included (Siemens C35).

Only two upfront tariffs were available with BT Cellnet, Mytime Net 200, or Net 50. Net 50 only offers 50 mins per month, but daytime calls once you've used up the free time is 18p per min compared with 36p on Mytime Net 200. However, if you don't use up all your free minutes, they can't be carried over to the next month like with Orange or Vodafone.

The free calls can be used for any UK landline number, WAP calls (including Genie), calls to other BT Cellnet users, voicemail, and 0800, 0500, 0845, and 0870 numbers.

They can't be used for calls to mobiles on different mobile networks, text messages, or international calls. Annoying as anyone owning a mobile, is most likely to use it to call other friends on mobiles, but this rule applies on all networks anyway.

You might also note that once you've used up all your free minutes, freephone numbers like 0800 and 0500 aren't free at all, but will be charged at the standard UK call rate.

The normal charges if you're not using your free minutes are the same as Net 100 and 200 (per minute inc VAT):
7am-7pm/ 7pm-7am/ Weekend
Any UK landline: 18p/ 5p/ 2p
Voicemail: 18p/ 5p/ 2p
BT Cellnet mobile: 18p/ 10p/ 10p
Other mobiles: 50p/ 30p/ 30p
Genie WAP (91500): 10p/ 10p/ 10p
0800, 0500, 0845, 0870 numbers:
18p/ 10p/ 2p
SMS: 12p/ 12p/ 12p
International: very expensive!! And they charge per min for receiving calls abroad!

Like other networks, you're charged per minute for accessing your voicemail even if you just change your greeting. However, you can switch the voicemail off by phoning 1760 free.

I've generally found the network to be quite reliable, being able to get coverage in most places. However, occasionally, I get a problem where the recipient can't hear me
when they pick up their phone, or I can't hear them when they call me. I can't tell if this is a network problem or something to do with my phone.

What also happens occasionally, are mislaid text messages. There have been quite a few messages I've tried to send, or people have sent to me, which have never gotten to their destination - a waste of money each time! I've complained to BT Cellnet about this once, but they aren't able to do much as they can't track the messages. However, I've been given advice to stick in *0# (star, zero, hash) plus a couple of spaces before typing a text message - this lets BT Cellnet track the message you're trying to send, and you'll get a free receipt from your friend's mobile to confirm that it's been sent successfully. If you don't receive one, call customer service and complain!

Getting through to BT Cellnet's customer service (dial 100 on mobile) is as bad as BT's landline version - you get put through an automated service, type various numbers trying to get to the right department, then wait ages for the call to be answered to find no-one can help!

With Value Telecom, you're not billed monthly from when you start a contract - but from the beginning of every month. If you start a contract say 23rd Oct, they'll send you a bill for 99p for itemised billing in Oct, and then wait until the end of Nov before sending another bill for calls made during the period Oct 23-Oct 30, rather than Oct 23-Nov 22 as I'd expected, plus another 99p for itemised billing despite it being less than a month since I'd been billed. Quite sneaky I thought, as I thought I still had loads of free call time left at the time.

In the meantime, I had problems with my "free WAP calls" - it took two weeks before I found out how to set up my phone to use Genie, and that was after spending about £5 calling Value Telecom, and then being told to call
Genie's premium rate number.

I was then barred from using the network after two months before I'd received any of my itemised bills, to be told when I got through to Value Telecom that I had gone over my credit limit of £14. I found out that they had billed me for all my WAP calls as well as my normal calls in the first (half) month of the contract. They billed me again the second month, but due to the slow process at which they print and post statements out, I didn't realise this until I was barred from the network nearly two months after I bought the phone and was forced to phone Value Telecom to find out what was going on - apparently the same problem has occurred with a few other accounts.

Luckily, the guy I spoke to there was sympathetic and credited my first bill, and told me to contact him again if I had the same problem with the next bill.

I did end up having to call a second time, but wasn't able to speak to the same person. The second person asked if I was certain the offer hadn't expired on my account already! She finally offered £7 inc VAT to cover the WAP calls, but I explained to her that from what I'd calculated on my bill, I'd used at least £8 ex VAT. She told me she'd call me back about it, before agreeing to credit me that amount. I'm not sure why they bother offering free WAP calls if they can't administer it properly, particularly as I'm sure some people would be keen to use their full £50 worth of free WAP time every month.

I didn't bother using WAP in the third 'free' month!

Concerning WAP - it is incredibly slow to use, so if you use Genie which is charged at 10p per minute, you can quickly waste pounds before finding anything useful. You should also note that WAP charges you from the minute your phone dials the WAP number, even if it doesn't succeed in connecting to the server.

I personally didn't find much use for WAP, I che
cked it occasionally for football scores, train times or playing WAP pets :) but have since given up - it's easier to use the internet if you have access, or phone and ask! If you have to use WAP, use Genie only at peak weekdays, and for evenings and weekends use cheaper services which charge at 'locall' rates such as Mviva - they won't break the bank as much!

I seem to have listed all the bad points of the network! Don't be put off by what I've said, like I earlier said, I've found BT Cellnet to be generally very good and hassle free and except on trains, have never had a problem with reception when I want to make a call. I've also been able to keep my phone bill low, to below £3 per month!

I would be more worried about which billing company you get, as problems are more likely to involve your bill, especially if you join as part of a promotion (Check your bills carefully if you've taken advantage of recent promotion "double minutes for 12 months"!). However, any problems are only likely to occur at the beginning, or until the promotion runs out! I haven't experienced any problems with my bills since the WAP offer stopped on my account.

And as long as you never have to call customer service, you'll be OK!

I would recommend this tariff for any light user, although that is a defunct comment if the tariff isn't even available anymore! If the tariff did exist, I would definitely continue it.

If the line rental weren't so high, I would also consider switching to Net 100 after my contract finishes - however, I don't think getting 100 mins free every month for spending £18 per month purely on line rental is good value, particularly if I end up spending extra on mobile-to-mobile calls. I'll stick to this tariff for as long as I can, then jump ship to pay-as-you-go!

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