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Unreal? Well, not if you have Equitalk, and have registered her number as an additional number on your account (as you are there often enough to make it worth it, and she's not interested herself!) - in fact, as long as she doesn't dial 1664 herself before making a call, it will work quite ... Read review
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Cheap calls; free calls when join/refer others; can call from any "registered" BT landline
Disadvantages:
need a BT line to join, can't use with mobile phone
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
How is this for a scenario? You are babysitting for your friend, who has a BT phone line. You have to make an important phone call, but it's not a freephone call - it's a non-geographical call number - so it's not free on her BT tariff. So, you type 1664, then the number you need, and you haven't got to worry about your friend getting a nasty surprise on HER bill next month/quarter.
Unreal? Well, not if you have Equitalk, and have registered her number as an additional number on your account (as you are there often enough to make it worth it, and she's not interested herself!) - in fact, as long as she doesn't dial 1664 herself before making a call, it will work quite well.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ THE CONCEPT ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ If you have a BT telephone line you can save money on calls by dialing another code first [Equitalk 1664] or by having your calls directed through a different system [Equitalk Direct] - so that you only pay BT for your line rental.
Because you are billed "Online" instead of having a bill and reminders sent through the post, you pay lower charges. You are only billed for calls you make - if you make no calls you pay no charges. You sign up to pay by a debit/credit card when you actually sign up, but you are only debited if you owe more than £3 when the bill is generated - otherwise it carries on to the next bill. This reduces costs of processing payments.
BT is still liable for faults on your line - after all, you still have a bill from BT for line rental - but you only pay for calls dialed without the prefix - the rest are billed through Equitalk.
You can earn money toward your bills by referring other people to join Equitalk; you also get £5 free calls when you first join. If I referred you, and you joined, I would get £10 credit towards my phone-calls, and you would get £5 free calls.
If you are more than £20 in credit they will actually pay you on request. [I have not ever been in this position, as no-one referred has yet joined - but I have had both my first £5 free calls and a further £5 as a once-off for referring 5 friends' e-mail addresses to them.]
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ YOUR STATEMENT ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ At the beginning of the month you receive an e-mail telling you what day your statement will be issued. You are also reminded to make sure your debit/credit card details are up-to-date as they will attempt to take payment if you owe more than £3 when the bill is issued.
On the date stated, you receive an e-mail with the statement as an attachment. You open it and it will tell you what money will be taken from your account. You do not have to open the attachment - you can always view your statement "online" by going to the members login and going to your account. You can also view past statements.
If you make very few calls, you pay nothing extra for the months you make no calls - I have had the balance carry over for several months and not had hassle - eventually the balance is high enough for them to charge me.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ONLINE/CUSTOMER SERVICES ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ You can check your calls log anytime you like online - although it is not updated for about three days: on the 5th April - my account showed calls up to 2nd April inclusive.
You can access customer services in two ways - free-phone telephone - 0800 161 3837 (Mon - Fri 9am - 5pm) - e-mail (you will receive an answer within 24 hrs - although in my experience it was within 10 minutes each time I have had cause to contact them.
The managing director is John Burton, and his name is clearly given on the website.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ FORGOTTEN PASSWORD? ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Those of you who have read my AMAZON review know that as a dyslexic I have GREAT DIFFICULTIES with remembering PASSWORDS. This site has a simple way of verifying your identity without revealing your password to anybody.
When you set up your account in the first place, it asks you to choose a memorable question and put your memorable answer. If you have forgotten your password, it asks you for your reference number (three letters followed by three numbers) and you have to click on the "forgotten password" link.
It then asks you the question, you answer correctly, and it lets you into your account.
If I forget my number, I simply go into my "EQUITALK" folder I set up in my hotmail account, and find my account number on any statement sent to me.
I usually get in by the "forgotten password" route - but I sometimes spontaneously remember my password. You can change the password but only if you remember it.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE WITH EQUITALK ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ I joined Equitalk online on 18th April 2002 in response to an e-mail from themutual.net - and received both shares in themutual.net and the joining bonus of £5 worth of calls for doing so. I received a welcome e-mail, confirming my status and informing me that I could start making "1664" calls in approximately 4 hours. [As I was at college, I don't know how quickly it worked; I did not in fact use it for a couple of months.]
They sent me another e-mail on the second of May, reminding me that I had not yet started to use my account, although I was £5 in credit. [My first statement, for April 2002 was sent to me 15th May, and showed a credit of £5.]
I was allowed to add a second BT line to the account by sending an e-mail stating the number I wished to add.
On the 9th of May 2002, I added my friend's number to my account, as I was staying over quite a lot, and often needed to make calls and didn't want to keep track of every call I made [in order to pay after the bill arrived]. [This way, Equitalk would keep record FOR me]. The second number was confirmed in an e-mail to my registered address, and 24hrs later the second number was also available without any problems.
This number is actually the main number I have used with Equitalk, and I have still been able to use it even though my original BT line no longer exists, as it is a registered BT line.
I have been offered several upgrades but I am content to pay the current rate as my main usage is (as I said) on a phone technically not mine. I am content with using the basic 1664 prefix before every call I make.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ PRICE PLAN VARIATIONS ! ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ There are four different programmes which can be used. "UK Hometime" …………………… costs £4.99/month - unlimited off-peak calls ………………………………………….. Don't need to redial number, stays free. "UK Anytime" …………………….. costs £13.99/month - any landline,any time ……………………………………… … … … … … … Equitalk Direct …………………… free of charge - makes direct connection ……………………………………… … you make all calls through Equitalk Equitalk 1664 ……………………….. you dial a prefix number on your calls. ………………………………………….. This is basic but it works.
You are charged by the second with a minimum charge of 5p including VAT.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ CONCLUSIONS ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ I can certainly recommend this as you will get £5 off your future bill when you join, and even if it were the ONLY saving you ever made, it is so rare that any company gives you something for nothing, that I would rejoice and take it!
Advantages: Excellent savings especially on international calls, great referral system enabling you to earn money Disadvantages: None
...get £5.00 when you join Equitalk and £10.00 every time you refer a friend. This is what is brazenly stated on the homepage of Equitalk.co.uk Limited.
However this is not a "get paid" site as some of you might be thinking. This instead is a Internet Phone Community company offering ridiculously low rates for local and international phone calls.
Equitalk.co.uk Limited is a UK company based in Oxfordshire. Their partners and suppliers including Worldcom ... ...not want to use the Equitalk service just don't dial the 1664 code. Simple as that.
One of most convenient factors about this service is that you use your normal BT Line and can still make your calls using BT if you wish to. You also keep all of BT's services, such as Directory Enquiries and Caller Display.
True there are similar companies around offering this service such as Vartec (who coincidentally I have written an opinion about). However ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: Cheap calls, great customer service Disadvantages: Where you get the cheap calls
...(read it carefully) “Craig, join Equitalk online now (in just 3 minutes) then simply dial 1664 from your BT line to save up to 89% on your UK, mobile and international calls.”
Now this to me is looks amazing 89%! Wow! I couldn’t wait to see this so I clicked away and this is what I found: =UK Calls=: You save UPTO 50% on BT prices on UK calls. Here are some examples: -
- if you make a local day call on a BT line it will cost you ... ...cost you 2.00p and with Equitalk it would cost 2p. No saving here. - finally there is ONE saving of 50% and that is local weekend calls where it costs 1.0p with BT and 0.5p with Equitalk.
=Mobile Calls=: You can save UPTO 14% on the various network prices. Here are a few examples of your massive savings:
-it will cost you 19p on BT to ring BT Cellnet (O2) and 19p on Equitalk, and guess what it costs more to ring in the evening on Equitalk 18p when ...
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Advantages: Cheap Calls, Free Calls, Free credits. Disadvantages: None so far
...to be able to use Equitalk you have to have a BT line. *Bummer sigh all the NTL users*.
You will also need access to email as all statements are emailed not posted, but I'm guessing that if you're reading this review then you probably have an email address.
Next thing..
You don't have to change numbers or cancel your BT contract or anything. You keep the same number and you pay you normal line rental with them but you pay equitalk for your calls. ... ...same type of plans from equitalk but cheaper.
What's the cost:
The calls are cheaper than BT, that's the first thing. A few example costs are:-
Calls to mobiles are all 5% cheaper than BT
Local W/end 0.5p, Evening 1p Day 2.5p (prices per minute)
National W/end1.4p, evening 2p Day 4p Save up to 91% on International calls
BT Option 1 - FREE - Save £2
BT Option 2 - Save 37%
BT Option 3 - Save 26%
Rather than fill this review with facts and ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: Cheap National, International Calls, paid when your referrals use the phone Disadvantages: Only available to BT customers
As we all know, everyday we see more and more adverts from new telecoms compnaies offering us cheaper calls here and cheaper calls there. But how many do you know that will also pay you - when your friends / family / associates use the phone service.
I discovered this company yesterday and in addition to offering cheaper National and International calls they also offer you the opportunity to get both money off your phone bill (with them) and get ... ...and I saw there advert on totalise so decided to have a look, basically national calls are a lot cheaper than BT standard rates and International calls are significantly cheaper all you need to do is to put a numeric code in front of the phone number when you dial and there you go - cheaper calls.
In terms of service quality, well I can't comment on this yet as I have not had a chance to sue the service yet, and i will update this opinion when I ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
From the very start I have found them to give excellent customer service, are also quick to respond to my email's.
Call are cheap to the package I am on I pay £3.99 a month and get unlimited Evening and Weekend calls for FREE and daytime is only 2.65p per minute all call are charged by the second. The Evening time slot is from 6pm to 8am the next day 2 hours longer that BT.
You also get £10 for each friend you refer to them and also a percentage ...
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Advantages: Cheap on-net and landline calls, cheap on-net texts, great customer service Disadvantages: No MMS, no GPRS, no photo messaging, no cost benefit cross-network
.... Over the past two months I've had customer service problems with Carphone Warehouse, BT, TalkTalk, Equitalk, Dixons, 'Three' and The Link. With Virgin, I have not had any problems at all.
I've phoned about my account, to order products, and to enquire about services. The staff usually answer within a few seconds and if they're going to put you on hold they tell you how long for, why and ask if it's OK to do so. All advisors really seem chirpy and happy to chat informally about the products, and they have impressive knowledge of their products and their computer sytem - the advice you get is always consistent. If they need to call you back, they tell you how long it will take to do so, and they actually DO call when they say they will.
Calling Customer Services costs a flat rate of 10p from your mobile, or you can call at 0845 rates...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
07.01.2004
