SMS Text Phonecards: How they work

SMS Text Phonecards

Question

I regularly phone India from my mobile. I have an o2 pay monthly mobile. I have looked at the cost of calls to India on your website which is 1.5p per minute. Could you let me know any other information i.e. is there any hidden costs, what access number I need to use etc. A fee of £5 or £10 is charged – is this charged to my monthly account?

Answer

If you are on a monthly call plan with inclusive minutes, a £5 or £10 charge for a text message to 80077 or 67400 will appear on your normal o2 phone bill.

When you have had the confirmation text, you are able to call using the 0208 497 8844 (national access) .

You would normally need to pay whatever rate your telephone provider charges to phone the 0208 number from your mobile. However, if calling from a contract mobile, you will be able to call the 0208 access number from your inclusive contract minutes.

This would apply for calls to the above access numbers and would normally be added to the 1.5p per minute charge to India.

For example, if you call to India from an O2 phone with inclusive minutes using the 020 access number you pay 1.5p per minute for us to connect you to India. If you have exhausted your inclusive minutes you will pay 1.5p/min plus the normal cost of calling the 020 number.

There is a connection charge, which is equal to twice the outbound rate (i.e. 3p for 020 access number). This is a connection charge per call and NOT per minute. All phone companies including BT have a connection charge for all calls that they connect. The BT connection fee per call is currently 10.9p per call.

How is the service charged?
When you send the text message, your phone provider will bill you for GBP5/GBP10 plus the cost of the text message to buy the cheap call credit. If you have a mobile phone with free text messages, you will only be charged the GBP5/GBP10 for the call credit.

When making the call, you will be charged by your phone supplier for calls to the access number. If you have free network minutes, the call to the 0208 access number will be taken from the free network minutes.

For example, to make a 10 minute call to an India landline using the text credit service, you will be charged:

10 * 1.5p/min = 15p; plus connection fee of 3p = 18p

The total charge that will come off your calling card credit is 18p for your 10 minute call.

As stated before, calls to the 0208 access number will be taken from your free minutes or will be charged at your service provider’s standard rate per minute to 0208 numbers if you have exhausted your free minutes.

Tell all your friends and enjoy great savings usings this convenient calling method.

Click Here for details and terms of Calling Cards by text message