I have always wondered why 0800 calls are not at least less expensive than standard mobile calls since they are subsidised by the callee.

Disputes like this go no way to clarifying matters !!

T-Mobile?

If they are not willing to pay the proper termination fee, then I will not pay the full mobile rate to truphones wither.

How on earth can they refuse to pay the full termination fee and then charge the relevant customers the full fee...

I will also refuse to pay the high roaming charges, when I am in Germany, since they are using their own network and by that merit only have a fraction of the cost.

And for crying outloud, what sort of toothless tiger is Ofcom? They have a license as a telecommunications provider and with that license, that should be legally required to connect to every number unless specifically requested by the phone/line owner!

I weren't one myself, I would just say b^&%*y Krauts, go home... ;-)

... And A Name Change Wont Fix That!

I agree with the post that T-Mobile should practice what it preaches, how can is justify charging customer excessive roaming charges even if the user in on one of T-Mobiles own networks abroad?!

Just a typical example of how its one rule for one company and something totally different for someone else. Why should truphone loose out financially if a call has to be routed through the mobile network?!

This just goes to show what a load of bollocks termination charges are and the amount of crap it causes, and who looses out THE CONSUMER AS F@%@ING USUAL... Its always the same old story!!!!!!

Would someone point me at the guys in the white hats ? Im having trouble spotting the good guys in this one :)

Hi

From what I can gather, they are the only VOIP operator that wants to charge mobile operator termination rates.

If they were to do this properly, they would charge VOIP rates where they were forwarding the call via VOIP and Mobile rates where they were forwarding the call to a mobile network.

The whole 'any network mins' thing operated by mobile manufacturers ceases to work (make them a profit) if everyone were to start charging mobile termination rates. It works currently due to the volume of calls that the networks connect at VOIP and landline rates which helps to ballance the books.

Truephone are being cheeky - and are peeved that someone has worked this out, We can watch the other networks follow suit and connect to them at VOIP rates shortly I suspect.

I dont think that truephone will have any success in court since t-mobile has not refused to connect to them as such, its just said that it will pay VOIP termination fees for what is a VOIP operator!

Nigel

The wheels might come off Ofcom's spineless and rather myopic stance if every other operator starts jumping on this particular bandwagon. I don't fancy having to subscribe to half a dozen providers just to be sure I can call everyone in my address book.

BT, much like the Royal Mail, have to offer a "Universal Service", Mercury/TNT/citilink/talktalk have no such obligation.

BT are obliged to route calls to any accessible line, and to do so within a scale of pricing that is not impaired by political or geographical constraints.

This is why "national" Lands End to John O Groats costs the same as "national" Bristol to Reading. BT loses (or makes less) money routing the extremely long distance calls and cleans up on the short range calls. Other providers can bill based on the actual material cost of routing the call, and can decline to route calls that will lose them money, thereby keeping their rates lower.

T-Mobile have a very strong case in this instance. Since arguably they are losing money by paying the wrong termination rate. (Which in itself is arguably mis-sale of services.) And also have no inclination or oblgation to sacrifice their profits to help an otherwise unsustainable start up. Claiming that T-Mobile are a "monopoly" won't help either.

Slashdot readers, with one hand as ever firmly in their crotch are of course hailing this as some great victory for David over Goliath... Once again demonstrating what happens when Americans try to pass judgement on situations they don't understand... you'd have thought they'd have learned by now...