0844-prefix at 1 ppm still allowed, probably due to revenue-sharing, whereas 18866 pays BT nothing?

I've used alternative carriers for years and I found the same situation. I registered for the light user scheme and then  used the good old alternatives. They soon cottoned on and wouldn't let me on the light user scheme. Another way, although I didn't try it, may be to use the 0800 numbers that the phone companies give as an alternative.

But Wally said he DIDN'T use the freephone prefix numbers - so he doesn't know whether they would know!  He presumably just used the normal carrier select code, like 1899, and then BT would realise.

Also it could be that BT might decide that you're not a "light-user" if you make lots of freephone calls - they presumably know if you're making freephone calls even if (in theory) they don't know which numbers you are calling. 

I have a friend who has been on the Light user scheme for over 5 years and has used companies with 0800 or 0808 prefixes to make her calls. She initially used the onetel 0800 acess number that is used for cable customers but due to their connection fee she switched to using the 1899's 0808 access number. This was great, especially when their 0808 number was still giving call at 0.0p per minute. Now they are 1p per minute, however her 1899 bill still only works out at about £4 a month therefore each quarter she spend £12 on calls and about £13 to BT for their light user tariff. Total £25 a quarter. That is far better than paying BT £33 a quarter line rental.

This is ideal for BT customers who only want a phone service and is not available if you want ADSL Broadband.

Just googled "BT low user scheme" to see if the scheme was of use to me.
One level down was http://www.bt.com/customerservices/cust_details.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@1436337005....

Quote

Calls

With an In Contact Plus line, you can make the following calls free of charge:
Calls to the emergency services on 999 or 112
Calls to BT on 150 (for Customer Services)and on 151 (to report a fault on your line)
Calls to freephone numbers e.g. 0500, 0800 and 0808

End Quote

So that means you should be able to use 1899 etc 0808 access numbers for a cost of
...............Quarterly rental

BT will send you a bill every 3 months for £10.75 which covers the rental of your In Contact Plus line. If you would like, we can make it even easier for you, by allowing you to pay your bill in advance. Simply ask for a BT Payment Card.

End

£33 normal quarterly rental
£10.75 LUS rental
£22.25 saving

2225 mins or 37 hours and 5 mins using 1899 etc (NOT allowing for connection fees, depends on your call volume) before you reach the same price.
If you used 1899 to a max of 1 hour per call it would cost you 63p per hour, mins + connection.
£22.25 / £0.63p =  max of 35.32 hours. Or 35 hours and 19 mins per quarter.

OR

You could use the Voipstunt (for example) callback service at a cost of €0.05, about 3p per call.
£22.25 would buy you 741 calls to UK and several foreign landlines. Each call permitted up to 1 hour before disconnection.
741 calls / 13weeks = 57 hours per week (using maximum call time)
As this slightly exceeds the 5 hours in a 7 day period allowed by Voipstunt, this wouldn't happen.
So if we assume you're going to get as much as possible for the same money.

5 hours included.    5 * 3p = 15p
extra time is charged at 0.93p per min. Therefore an hour is (60 * 0.93p) + 3p = 58.8p
£22.25 - 15p = £22.10
£22.10 / £0.588p = 37.59 hours
Or 37 hours and 35 mins.

So... If you do less than 741 hours a QUARTER on calls you could be better off using their Low User Scheme

For those who weren't aware, and I've only just read it, of you use over 5000 mins monthly, you can buy UK landlines at 0.6p per min. Doesn't if this is plus or inc vat. If plus, then it's a total of 0.71p
http://www.voicetrading.com/en/rates.html

crashuk wrote on Sep 25^th, 2006 at 12:14pm:
Both Light User Scheme (LUS) and In Contact Plus were really designed for those on really low incomes or older people who need a phone for mostly emergencies so very rarely use the phone.

The t&c for both these services specifically state that calls via indirect operators and those with ADSL cannot use these two tariffs.  In fact, if you have a mobile then you are not elligible neither.

The main reason is that they are designed for emergency contact only (ie those that don't make many outgoing calls at all) and don't really use or have a mobile phone.

These two tariffs are in fact loss-makers for BT and BT have on many occasions tried to get rid of them but Ofcom have said they couldn't.  No other teleco provider could/would do a similar tariff as its not in their own interest.

Although one or two people have reported being successful in getting ADSL or using indirect (cheaper) call providers it is possible that if BT ever found out then they could move that person over to their normal £11 BT Together Option 1.

When BT said they would block people using the indirect cheaper call providers and/or those with broadband, many people complained to Ofcom and BT and Ofcom agreed with BT and decided that because these two tariffs only exist for those that need a phone for emergency contact and/or very, very rarely use then BT were right to block the use of such indirect cheaper call providers and/or broadband use.

For those that have got away with getting ADSL, I can only assume what has happened is that someone at BT hasn't realised when they activated ADSL on the line that they were in fact on LUS and therefore aren't entitled to use broadband or indirect providers.

Now with the likes of Call1899, etc via their freephone number, it may be possible to use Call1899 with LUS and/or InContact Plus simply because BT haven't caught on that these companies use such 0808 numbers.

I suspect that BT have systems in place that monitor abnormal usage of numbers like they do when they start charging for dial-up internet calls to geographical numbers despite being on an inclusive geographical call package.  Therefore, excessive/continued use of Call1899's freephone number may alert BT to investigate this for which BT will then realise that people are using freephone numbers to make cheaper calls and will subsequently block access to these specific freephone numbers.

Hi. My grandmother is on the LUS. I bought her an Orchid dialler and programmed the routing table. Shes used this no problem for 6 months. Today she gets a message, "Please cease your membership of the light user scheme". I intially thought BT have barred the 1899 etc numbers but when I got her to dial manually they still work. Edit: It seems to be only the 0800 9571877 onetel number that is being barred. Will this affect all diallers? Has anyone else got problems with this?

I know I might get a few replies back saying this is unethical but so is BT's expensive line rental for OAP's. Besides she is 86 and doesn't use the phone that much anyway. But when she did her calls on the LUS scheme were very expensive!

Would appreciate any replies.