Scargill

You have to wonder about good old BT…  in the middle of the worst recession for years and with a potential for 25% of the population to be off sick with the flu, BT decide to put up their daytime rates by a whopping 17% – which will apparently bring the cost of a daytime call to a minimum of 5.25p.  They have to be NUTS.

Personally I’ve not used BT for years and if it were not for the need to install a BT line initially when moving to some new houses, I’d never use them again.

Most folk out there will be familiar with Skype – though it never ceases to amaze me that there are still some who’ve never heard of it. Skype on the surface of it is a simple PC program for sending messenger-type messages to other Skype users or perhaps talking to other Skype users via microphone and speakers (or headset) – but in fact it is far more than that. At the first level you can buy “Skype out” credit and make calls to real phones – and at the second level you can pay a quarterly fee and have an incoming number – and that’s what I chose to do some 3 years ago now.  I use this for all my calls and have never looked back.

SkypeIn and SkypeOut
Of course you don’t need a PC to use Skype, you can buy dedicated Skype phones and so in my office in the UK I have one of the better Logitech cameras with built-in mic – and over in Spain I have a USB unit that plugs into the laptop over there and lets me make calls over a wireless phone – I think it was about £29 at Maplins – you can also get dedicated phones that need no computer at all, just a wireless connection.  I think I pay about £2 a month for the privilege of all-inclusive landline calls all day and all night, paying only for calls to mobile phones – and even then the cost is quite low.

So – did the BT announcement annoy you as much as it did me? Yes? then do something about it!! GIVE THEM A MISS.