ALL calls 1p/min at w/ends (Telediscount.co.uk)

Member Name: upton66

Product:	Telediscount.co.uk
Date:	15/01/02 (1973 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A bargain for BT customers, No registration

Disadvantages: Charged whether connected or not, Not always cheaper than OneTel or RingItOnLine

Yes it really works - only 1p per minute at weekends to ring Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, USA, many other countries and most of Europe. In the evenings the rates are 1.49p and at peaktimes 3.95p. See the Telediscount website for latest rates to all countries.

The catch, and I suppose this is how they make their money, you are charged as soon as you connect to the 0845 access number rather than for the time you are actually connected to your final phone number. You can minimise this by being well prepared and dialling your destination number plus the # sign as soon as you connected to the access number. You don't need to wait for the full welcome message and instead you will usually just get a very short 'one moment' message before your number rings as normal. If your call isn't answered however you are still charged for your total time on line. This service could also be very useful for businesses with regular contact in Europe, USA and the Far East and also for any fax transmissions.

For the less mainstream destinations Telediscount have set up non 0845 access numbers as personal numbers with rates ranging from 10p to 50p per minute, so they must make money from these, and the rates are as competitive as OneTel or RingItOnLine

The big advantage of this service is that you don't have to register. You just dial the access number from ANY phone and you are charged only for the 0845 local call rate. It may also be worth investigating your mobile phone tariff to see what they charge you for 0845 numbers and see if you can save yourself some money.

From landlines the 0845 call rates are the same from both BT and Cable lines, the big difference though is that whilst BT charge you a minimum 5p for your call, most cable companies now charge 5p connection and then the per minute rate. This is a pity as setting out to make a 5 minute call at the weekend to Australia will be 5p on BT but 5p+5p=10p on
Cable.

A bonus for BT Customers is that you can use the same 0845 number to call any UK landlines at local rate, so national weekend, evening and peak calls will all be half price, local calls will obviously be the same. For Cable customers on the 1p, 2p, 3p tariff only national evening calls will be cheaper at 1.49 instead of 2p.

For peak time international calls it will still be cheaper to use OneTel for some destinations eg 3p to USA, as they don't charge their 3p connection charge on international calls and even cheaper for some destinations to use Ringitonline at 2p to USA. See my opinions.

Summary: