MoneyMagpie is behind Terminate the Rate
by Jasmine Birtles ~ August 26th, 2009. Filed under: Campaign Supporters, Terminate The Rate.Thank goodness for Terminatetherate.org. It’s about time these needless extra charges were challenged and removed.
We are all depending more and more on our mobiles for all kinds of communications. It’s urgent now that mobile phone companies are forced to charge fairly.
I am particularly keen for mobile operators to be challenged about the prices they charge for premium rate and, worse, free phone numbers. More and more people now only have a mobile phone, they don’t have a landline. In particular, poorer and young people on low incomes have no other means of communication other than their (usually pay as you go) mobile phone. In fact the regulator Ofcom says that more than a quarter of households in some of the poorest areas of Britain have a mobile phone but no landline.
It’s entirely wrong that mobile phone companies should charge users for phoning freephone numbers. Why should they be penalised?
One of the forum users on my website, Moneymagpie.com, is Lynda Robinson 41 from Bromley in Kent. She says that her mobile phone bills rocketed during the seven months that she was unemployed. “When you first sign on you have to have a telephone interview with the unemployment people for about an hour,” she says. “I used my mobile to phone them and they charge for 0800 numbers. It cost me a lot to have that interview.”
Then there are the charges for using 0845 and 0870 numbers. I loathe these numbers anyway as they charge offensive rates even from landlines but from mobiles insult is added to injury. It costs stupid amounts to phone them from some mobile operators.
The latest shocking revelation is that Jobseekers Direct, the Jobcentre Plus service run by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to help anyone looking for work, can only be called using an 0845 phone number. So now thousands of newly unemployed people are being charged up to 40p per minute for calls to this helpline, depending which mobile operator you use!
Keep the pressure up! I’ve already called on my readers to sign the petition and I will be spreading the word elsewhere.
I find it amazing that BT and 3 have got together to complain about unfair mobile charges when I get charged 16p a time on my BT phone bill to NOT get through to a 3 mobile, which is a regular occurrence due to the flakiness of the 3 network. What a joke.
I just got an email from my MP, Matthew Taylor, Saying the he’s now signed the petition!
RE: [FindYourMP] Terminate The Rate
Many thanks for drawing my attention to this.
I have now signed it - I hope it helps.
Matthew taylor MP
O2 is waste a time and has a very slow unprofessional costumer services
Is it not a little strange that BT and 3 campaign about unfair mobile charges when they are the ones making the charge. The world has gone potty!
My question: if these rates come down - does BT promise to reduce the cost of a call to a mobile by the same amount as the reduction? or will they keep the saving as extra profit for themselves?
My second question: Three is complaining about these termination rates but, I am told, that they charge a higher termination rate than any other operator… if that is true, aren’t they hypocrites?
Hi John,
1) BT is aiming to do away with the fear felt by some customers when it comes to calling mobiles from landlines. Low termination rates would enable them to do this because they could include calls to mobiles in all packages.
2) That is exactly why 3 want MTRs reduced. If this happens they will be in a position to offer consumers the best price they possibly can.
Regards
Tom