BT to Offer Free Internet Calls 195
gnoos writes "The BBC is reporting that BT is to start offering customers free internet telephone calls if they sign up to broadband in December. The offer will be limited to the first 50,000 people who sign up and users will need to use BT's internet telephony software, known as BT Communicator"
Third Post! (Score:1)
I'd much rather have a service like Vonage [vonage.com]. It's simple to use, has a nice web GUI, is incredibly clear, and can work seemlessly with your existing telephone number.
Why use a PC headset? (Score:2)
Surely a digital handset that plugs into an Ethernet port would be a much simpler option, as well as being completely OS-independent?
Re:Third Post! (Score:2)
God Bless Flat Rates.... (Score:4, Insightful)
The American business model for telco service has always been charge a little extra for flat rate local calls and save thousands of dollars in not having to itemize billing for something that costs jack squat. BT has clearly acknowledged that this is the only way to compete with the booming mobile phone industry is to go VoIP and following the American standard but because it's a new technology they don't have to say America was right.
Re:God Bless Flat Rates.... (Score:2)
Re:deus ex machina? (Score:2)
Er, no, they haven't. Ofcom [ofcom.org.uk] investigated mobile termination fees, the fees that mobile networks charge other phone companies for calling them. Ofcom ordered them to cut prices, by 2005, so no prices have changed yet. Remember, these are fees that some phone companies charge other phone companies, so no prices that you or I pay have to change.
To directly quote from the Register article [theregister.co.uk] on the subject:
Re:deus ex machina? (Score:2)
Re:God Bless Flat Rates.... (Score:2)
Re:God Bless Flat Rates.... (Score:3, Interesting)
I have a land line with BT but it's really only there as a way of getting ADSL in to the house. I seem to remember that the actually cost of calls on that line last month were around a couple of dollars. In fact the usage of the land line has just increased a little as I recently invested in a set of cordless (DET) phones for the landline which means I can wander around the house (and the yard) and use the landline instead of my mobile.
But even then I have an free off-peak call quota bundled
Re:God Bless Flat Rates.... (Score:3, Funny)
Dollars? backyards? cellphones?
I didn't know BT ran phone lines all the way across the atlantic. No wonder they aren't making any money!
Re:God Bless Flat Rates.... (Score:2)
God Bless ACs who are couldn't be more wrong... (Score:3, Insightful)
And this crap is modded insightful? How sad.
easy tiger (Score:2, Informative)
With a smile, I wonder why you didn't get modded flamebait.
Re:easy tiger (Score:2)
Re:God Bless ACs who are couldn't be more wrong... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:God Bless ACs who are couldn't be more wrong... (Score:2)
The $ has tanked vs other currencies over the last year or so and it's at £1.00:$1.84 right now, and it's been weaker than that recently.
So £546 million for six months equates to £1,092 million per year, or $2,009 million.
And if we're talking about per second profits, that's £1,092,000,000/(365*24*60*60) or £1,092,000,000/31,536,000, which is £34 per second.
Like I said, they've shelled o
2nd quarter, not half year... (Score:2)
£68 profit per second: they're hardly "losing money" like the AC that I originally replied to was suggesting.
Re:God Bless Flat Rates.... (Score:3, Interesting)
BT operate huge trunk routes AND have a mobile phone network to run as well. So they generate turnover from *all* segments of the market.
It's been widely recognised that every major telco carrier has to move *all* their traffic to IP else they will go the way of the dinosaurs. Currently BT are running older digital voice switches along side new IP switches and in terms of capacity and f
Zowee! (Score:1)
and they lost most of their customer base here (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:and they lost most of their customer base here (Score:2)
BitTorrent? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:BitTorrent? (Score:1)
Re:BitTorrent? (Score:2)
Much simpler to just make an mp3 file of your point of view, send it and await their considered reply....
Re:BitTorrent? (Score:2)
You might be good enough at extemporaneous speaking to record an mp3 in one go, but I can't. I would have to at least think about, and probably write down, what I want to say before I record, lest I sound like a bumbling fool. I
Re:BitTorrent? (Score:2)
Re:BitTorrent? (Score:2)
Re:BitTorrent? (Score:2)
Re:BitTorrent? (Score:3, Interesting)
Actually, that's true.
Skype's NAT traversal works by using a non-firewalled 3rd party... which means (in real terms) anyone running Skype who is not firewalled is a candidate to act as a "server" for the two firewalled people talking. I assume these servers are chosen randomly among Skype users, or are those with the best bandwidth / least latency.
Re:BitTorrent? (Score:2)
No, only when you call tech support. And Pakistan isn't technically "across the country".
Dont trust them. (Score:3, Insightful)
Their ADSL service is fine up until layer 3, at which point it becomes crap. Their web service will only let you download two simultaneous files, and given half a chance they will cap your downloads. Service is unreliable. I have several remote sites using VPN's - one uses BT at the moment, and VPN is up and down like a yoyo.
If you want broadband in the UK and you live in an area where you can get cable, use Telewest [telewest.co.uk] (I have a 3Mb line which is 1Mb faster than the fastest BT offering) or if you can't get cable and can only have ADSL, use Demon. [demon.net]
Oh and don't use BT for regular telephone lines - they are overpriced.
In fact, don't use them for anything.
Re:Dont trust them. (Score:5, Interesting)
I have found DSL to be much more reliable than (NTL) cable, although it is true that trusting BT to do the ISP side of things is a very bad idea (they seem just as clueless as NTL). I used to use Demon for my dialup, but when I switched to DSL a couple of years back their network was in pieces and was generally quite flakey so I moved to PlusNet [plus.net] who have done a excellent job of running a very stable DSL line. I think it's gone down a total of twice in 2 years - once was a very short outage caused by an equipment failure at PlusNet and the other was about 4 or 5 hours which was BT's fault (and also took out most of the DSL lines in the South-East of the UK).
Admittedly I only use them for the connection, I run all the services (mail, DNS, etc) myself because I frankly don't trust any consumer ISPs to know as much as me about networking.
I have also heard good things about Bogons [bogons.net] if you want an ISP with a clue and they're aparantly happy to do almost anything with a DSL line (moving portable IP addresses onto it, multi-channel bonding, etc).
Re:NTL are better than BT (Score:2)
Using BT lines isn't as bad as you might think - they generally run the DSL network itself quite well, it's just that the ISP site is useless. So if you use another ISP over the BT DSL line you don't have to put up with it. I would *never* advise getting the actual ISP services off BT since they really are clueless.
Their customer service has
Re:NTL are better than BT (Score:2)
No, it's worse. In order to get DSL from any ISP in the UK, you need to have a BT phone line. I don't have a BT phone line, nor do I want one. So, I am stuck with NTL cable. Who have been pretty reliable, it has to be said.
I used to have to hang on the phone for anywhere between 45 minutes and 90 minutes before my call was answered
Yeah, seen that myself, but not recently. The solution is the same as any other busy call-centre; don't call during th
Re:NTL are better than BT (Score:2)
>>I used to have to hang on the phone for anywhere between 45 minutes and 90 minutes before my call was answered
>Yeah, seen that myself, but not recently.
I can't say I've had this sort of problem with NTL, but it's been a while (1999?) since I was last with them. However, it's precisely this sort of behaviour - from BT - that means I'll avoid BT whereever I can. Unfortunately, since 1999 I've only lived in areas where there's no cable.
Re:Dont trust them. (Score:3, Interesting)
Telewest are actually very good. (Score:2)
I have only noticed one 20 minute outage in the time I have had the service. Their custome
Re:Dont trust them. (Score:2, Insightful)
Sadly, if you want ADSL, you don't have a choice. I really resent having to pay ~ £15 a month to BT for a phoneline I don't use, just so I can have ADSL.
Re:Dont trust them. (Score:2)
Re:Dont trust them. (Score:2, Informative)
Their ADSL service is fine up until layer 3, at which point it becomes crap
I absolutely agree. I don't know what layer 3 is to be honest however my old job had ISDN 64k and then BT Broadband 512k. They charged £80 a month(!) for the 512k and it would hang on for about 20 mins then die, and even when hanging on the datarate was appaling, listening to even low bw radio was just dire.
It frequently neede
Re:Dont trust them. (Score:2)
Re:Dont trust them. (Score:2, Funny)
Me: the router isn't connecting and says authentication error
Tech: can you please restart the router
Me: I've done that and it
Re:Dont trust them. (Score:2)
The guy was trying to get a DSL card working with a Slackware box. BT: "the internet doesn't support linux".
*groan*
Re:Dont trust them. (Score:2)
FWIW, it just took me 5 minutes of talking to one of their staff [FX: call centre, Indian accents] just to cancel my old dial-up account. They wanted all sorts of background information about why I was cancelling, but I think they got bored after something like "unreliable service, cuts me off randomly, you changed the Ts & Cs unacceptably since I signed up, capped hours on-line in an 'unmetered' service, your web site doesn't work properly with non-IE browsers, your web server is configured incorrectly
Re:Dont trust them. (Score:2)
Re:Dont trust them. (Score:2)
There's no such thing* as non-BT ADSL in the UK, if you get Demon or some other ADSL, it's really BT ADSL with the Demon name on it, and you still have to pay BT for the phone line.
*It is now possible to pay Bullldog [bulldogbroadband.com] for your phone line and your DSL without paying BT in a very limited number of places, but it is still sort of BT, since Bulldog has to put their equipment in a BT exchange and pay BT rental for the line
Re:Dont trust them. (Score:2)
Also, Kingston Communications does UK DSL which doesn't involve BT in any way. Admittedly only in their telco area, but still.
LLU (Score:2)
I have been frequently checking the Homechoice [homechoice.co.uk] website to see when I can get unbundled broadband with video on demand but it's still only in London.
Re:LLU (Score:2)
Re:Dont trust them. (Score:2)
Ah, I see. Some more details then.
The normal way to do things, is you would rent your line from BT (They now force you to take one of their BT together options for between 10.50 and 25.50 pounds per month) and then you would pay an ISP for your ADSL. BT could also be your ISP, but it would be a separate payment, so you would pay one part of BT for the line rental and another part for the internet. On top of that, you can choose to pay someone else for your phone calls, and you can choose to route some
Free phone in France (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Free phone in France (Score:5, Funny)
Not broadband minitel?
Re:Free phone in France (Score:2)
So, what would be the benefit of this for me?
Re:Free phone in France (Score:2)
People on BT together option 1 can save 3p per minute in the daytime and 5.5p per call off peak by making calls through BT communicator.
People on option 2 get free evening and weekend calls, but can still save 3p per minute by making their daytime calls through BT communicator.
People on option 3 get all their calls to landlines included, but they can save 15 pounds per month by dropping their line rental and making all their calls to landlines through BT c
But it's already free... (Score:3, Interesting)
What's next? Free web access if you pay for broadband. Free email if you pay for broadband. Free virus protection if you pay for broadband.
Might as well go wild and give free access to Slashdot.
Re:But it's already free... (Score:3, Insightful)
Oh except - the free calls do not include calls to mobiles, non-geographical numbers such as 0870, premium numbers or international numbers.
Re:But it's already free... (Score:2)
How do you work that one out? The 31st of January 2006 is well over a year away.
Re:But it's already free... (Score:2)
Re:But it's already free... (Score:2)
Sigh. I guess no one actually read the article. I saw it myself before it was on slashdot. From the article
So, basically this is a trial to get people using their service, where after some point, they start to charge for it. And as BT makes money off the old telephone system that will be replaced by VOIP in 10-20 years. They are seeing the way the market is goin
MS only... (Score:3, Informative)
In short, Windoze only, and needs Internet Exploder and Flash as well. So tough if you're using any kind of alternatives with, say, a better security record.
Thanks BT, but not very much.
Minimum requirements
Multimedia PC with 700MHz processor or faster *
Microsoft Windows 98/Windows 2000/Windows Millennium/Windows XP operating system (XP recommended)
Minimum 128MB RAM (256MB recommended)
256-color VGA or higher resolution graphics card (SVGA recommended)
Microsoft Internet Explorer version 5.01 or later
Macromedia Flash version 5.0.25 or later (Flash version 6+ recommended).
Re:MS only... (Score:2)
Re:MS only... (Score:2)
Tech: "Does your computer have a VGA card running in at least 256 colours?"
Customer: "WTF? How on Earth should I know?"
Tech: "Sorry, unless you can confirm it does, we cannot support you. Goodbye."
This type of thing is here! (Score:3, Interesting)
Considering the amount of low key recruiting they did I'd say they plan on it working. They actually plan on kicking normal home phone service out of their homes completely.
Not bad for a city that is said to live twenty years behind the rest of the world [twainquotes.com].
Skype (Score:1)
Re:Skype (Score:3, Interesting)
Until then, I'm happy getting service from NuFone and letting Asterisk do all the work.
Limited = Stupid (Score:3, Interesting)
Doing it for only the first X makes it just a gimmick. [spits]
BT will let me ... (Score:3, Interesting)
I should bloody well hope so.
I remember working at one company where we ordered a BT business ADSL line
And then we discovered BT blocked *every* incoming port to the ADSL router. Very useful that was.
HOW-TO setup a soft-VPN system:
1) rent ADSL service from ISP that know's the f*ck what it's doing
2) connect penguin box
3) install, configure, start service
4) go for a cup of tea
5) fire twat who ordered BT ADSL Busy-being-idiots Service.
BT is an ISP?
My arse.
how to advertise for free..... (Score:4, Funny)
To put it another way:
Avoid BT like the plague (Score:4, Informative)
Of all the corporates I've ever dealt with in the UK BT are by far and away the worst, and that includes the various rail companies. No other company comes close for their attitude of not giving a toss about their customers, indeed they are the only corporate I know which actively seems to go out of their way to treat their customers with contempt.
Avoid.
Re:Avoid BT like the plague (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Avoid BT like the plague (Score:2)
You will also find a lot more intelligence at the Data help desk on 156 than from the standard customer services drones.
Re:Avoid BT like the plague (Score:2)
Yeh? (Score:2)
We will lock you in.. (Score:2)
(after the monthly bill of course with its submarined things in there)
Why mess around with the other free guys and use free software for free internet telephony on free free, why be open when you can be closed, why pay when you can be free? No, why be free when you can pay. Why? Because free. And we will go out of business shortly. Thanks for staying on the line.. someone please hang up the phone? It's free!
PAY for VOIP? (Score:4, Insightful)
Unless they somehow sabotage world networks, all voice traffic can easily squeeze in right next to the bittorrent traffic.
Pay for VOIP? Are you mad! I hope they don;t try and neuter DSL connection in the future to stop voice calls, one day, everyone will have a compatible voice software, and I think it will be within 4 years.
4 years telcos. Wise up.
The most pointless thing i've ever seen. (Score:4, Interesting)
To have BT Broadband you must have a BT Landline
I have a walkabout phone for round the house so i can be in any room, in the garden, garage etc. But my PC is tied to the wall. Even if you had a laptop do you really want to lug that around?
So I pay the same for a net call and get less 'features' than my landline. Sounds like a bargain!
Re:The most pointless thing i've ever seen. (Score:2)
Re:The most pointless thing i've ever seen. (Score:2)
Why would I want to feck about with IP? It doesn't offer me any useful additional features. It would use the broadband bandwidth I already pay for, my wireless bandwidth, disk space, cpu, cause my machine to start up slower, having to feck about unpluggin my headphones/speakers to put in a headset... or i can spend £30 on
Re:The most pointless thing i've ever seen. (Score:2)
What about calling other people with IP phones? That's free. If all your friends have broadband why not?
Why would I want to feck about with IP? It doesn't offer me any useful additional features. It would use the broadband bandwidth I already pay for, my wireless bandwidth, disk space, cpu, cause my machine to start up slower
Out of the goodness of their own heart.. NOT! (Score:3, Insightful)
First I heard of this was when I was prompted to 'upgrade' my version of Yahoo Messenger to the U.K. version (sponsored by BT, there name was all over it). It nagged me everytime at start-up, so off I go and click Yes.
Turns out the new version is just like the old version, except with all chatrooms and voice chatrooms *removed*. (Apparently Lycos UK have carved these up into a separate enterprise, some sort of godawful web-based "U Come here to flirt! A/S/L! Kisses! Love online" 'service')
But there is one extra button to make up for this. It is "BT Communicator". Make voice calls over the internet to a normal phone! If you are on BT interent. I am not.
But it is free!
FOR THE FIRST MONTH ONLY.
All it is, is some trial offer trying to hook you in so you can be charged at a later date. So beware!
Re:Out of the goodness of their own heart.. NOT! (Score:2)
For all the people asking "so what?" (Score:4, Informative)
BT communicator is just Yahoo messenger with VoIP software in it, that's nothing new. BT offers a gateway to the real phone network that they have been charging to the customers household phone bill at standard rates. That's nothing new either.
What is new here and news worthy is that BT is giving away FREE PHONE CALLS TO THE REAL PHONE NETWORK from the VoIP phone until the 31st January 2006. That is what makes this story interesting.
Steve.
VoIP services (Score:2)
Re:Not to mobiles, though (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Not to mobiles, though (Score:1, Interesting)
Power loss doesn't really effect cell phones, either. Hell, there could be a complete cable, phone and power outage at your house but your cell phone would still have reception. I'd think that they'd have the best reputation!
- dshaw
Re:Not to mobiles, though (Score:4, Interesting)
Why can't people realize there are advantages and disadvantages to both types of phones. I will not make many important calls on my cell phone in certain areas(my dorm at my school for the last two years) because reception is just that bad at times. Its never at a dependable level. But that is what I have where I live so land lines are the best option. My friends in UF only have a cell phone because they are rarely in their apartment and reception is near 100% no matter where they are.
Slowly though, cell phones are moving to replace most land line uses, but for now, cell phones aren't the end all answer for everyone out there.
Re:Not to mobiles, though (Score:2)
but living next to the wrong building(my sister's apartment) doesn't make your landline useless.
Re:Not to mobiles, though (Score:3, Interesting)
oh yes it does (Score:3, Interesting)
handily, under GSM emergency calls are meant to get priority and disconnect plain voice calls, but t
Re:Not to mobiles, though (Score:2, Informative)
Yes.
Re:Not to mobiles, though (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Not to mobiles, though (Score:2)
Re:Not to mobiles, though (Score:1, Funny)
You're breaking up. Can you call back when you get better reception? Or when you get to a real phone?
Re:Not to mobiles, though (Score:2)
Cellphone service is spotty at best in Silicon Valley. You'd think a major tech hub would have decent technology. San Francisco and San Jose also got DSL a year later than Atlanta, Chicago, and St.Paul/Minneapolis.
Perhaps 1 out of a 1000 people here don't have a land line. (that's 0.1%)
I'd be happy if I could just get the ADSL service without the vestigial phone service.
If you don't like the phone server you can get SDSL. Also some place have unbundled ADS
Re:Please tell me.. (Score:1, Funny)
Re:Please tell me.. (Score:2)
Me: "I'm trying to connect to your FTP server but it says 'Connection Refused'."
Tech: "What FTP client are you using?"
Me: "FTP. Command line FTP."
Tech: "Er... hold the line a moment..."
Re:Please tell me.. (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Please tell me.. (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Please tell me.. (Score:2)
Too much time on your hands? You know EXACTLY what the parent means, stop acting like a teen aged ass.
Oh! Sorry! You ARE a teen aged ass!
Re:Am I the only one... (Score:3, Funny)
I did too...then I thought "Aww crap, all this technology just so I can come back to using a party line"
Sera