Some  Call Providers have started to make changes to the way that they provide calls to their customers, these changes will affect the 1280 service and result in higher bills for certain call features.


http://www.calls.bt.com/1280/

How can they do this if you pay line rental to BT?
I thought that was the reason for continuing to pay line rental to BT, as BT are obliged to allow calls via other suppliers!

Plus,IF they can do this, why are they allowed to do it covertly?

Or are BT scaremongering?

BT Wholesale is now flogging "Wholesale calls line independent". This is a scam. Sky (or whoever) steals control of all calls, but the hapless customer goes on paying BT Retail for a "call plan" including calls he can't make. BT Retail has meanwhile had the nerve to purport to amend their t&c for telephony to say that 1280 may not work.

We are telling BT Retail that we do not accept this unilateral and unfair attempt to change our contract with them. They are contracted to route each call as we specify by a prefix, or, if we specify no prefix, to our CPS provider. I am also complaining to Ofcom, whose first response mistakenly claimed that Sky were switching their customers to WLR (which would require the customers' informed consent, of course).

If the BT Group is allowed to get away with this, the effect is that BT Wholesale is sure of the wholesale profit on all calls, and Sky etc add whatever retail margin they like, and the likes of Finarea are squeezed out of business.

bbb_uk wrote on Sep 17^th, 2008 at 11:32pm:

Is it the CPS provider which is blocking the 1280 prefix (and other prefixes) or is it BT?

bbb_uk wrote on Sep 17^th, 2008 at 11:52pm:

This shows the lengths that some CPS providers will go to in order to close down any alternative call providers. BT is simply providing services to its customers (Sky Talk etc), so I don't see that it is doing anything wrong. It is surely the CPS provider who is doing wrong by subscribing to such a service.

If you get a speeding fine, it is hardly the fault of the manufacturer of the vehicle you were driving at the time for providing that vehicle to you, now is it?

This is just typical Sky behaviour. It's strange how the BT bashers come out of the woodwork, as too do those who consider the BBC licence fee unfair, but yet happily accept the monopoly that is Sky.

I guess the answer is not to use CPS, and always dial a supplier prefix, or get a dialer box to do it for you.  Although I subscribe to a couple of indirect suppliers, as well as the VoIP we normally use, I've never been tempted to hand over that much control of my calling paterns to a third party.    Some, of course, will only operate on the basis of CPS, to try and lock you in.

I guess CPS was introduced at the request of the other carriers to save the cost of distributing dialer boxes,  and to try and catch more of the calls being made.  This latest initiative is just a logical extension of that.

(as an aside, I've been an indirect customer since the days of Mercury 2300, when you had to dial 131 and a ten digit account number, which I knew {and still know} off by heart as I could never afford the vast amount of money for a dialer in those days!  It turned out to be very handy, as you could use it from any phone, even payphones, and be charged home phone rates!)

I was using 1280 for making 0844 calls to make international calls, last month all my calls were charged by sky. I thought I made calls without 1280 prefix. Sky didn't tell me about the change. This is really annoying. Who is reponsible for all these changes? Is it sky or BT? 

I was using 1280 to make minimum calls to qualify free caller display from BT, now i have to pay BT for my caller display.