Telstra customers can no longer use their mobile phones to make free international calls through Callr. An agreement between Telstra and our network service provider terminated on February 1st, 2011. Because of this, we are no longer able to provide our service to Telstra mobile phones and any other mobile phone companies using the Telstra network.
Callr is disappointed that we could not continue to offer our free international calling service to our Telstra customers. We hope that a new agreement can be negotiated in the future, but do not expect that to happen any time soon.
3 have decided to follow its corporate partner Vodafone and introduce additional fees for calling re-routed services like Callr. Since they are now the same company, we were not really surprised that they went ahead and did this. The fees that 3 are charging to call our access numbers are very similar to the ones that Vodafone is charging.
It is still substantially cheaper to make an international call through Callr as opposed to directly dialling internationally through your 3 mobile phone.
If you are on a contract or prepaid standard calling plan (for instance the $20 to $55 cap plans), you are now going to be charged $1.20 per minute plus a $0.35 flagfall for each call you make to Callr. This is included as part of your cap value for most plans. When I checked the 3 website, I could not find a contract or prepaid plan that excluded this from your cap value. Since a typical Australian mobile call on these plans costs $0.90 with a $0.35 flagfall, you can see how Callr is still a great deal even with these extra fees added.
If you are on an unlimited calling plan. you are now going to be charged $0.60 per minute plus a $0.35 flagfall. This will not be included in your cap value and you will have to pay these additional fees as a separate item on your monthly bill. Again, its not as good as the old days but it beats the pants off of international direct dial.
Callr has worked hard to provide our customers with good service, excellent call quality, and a low cost way of staying in touch with friends and family overseas. We will continue to do this. It is our hope that the mobile operators have worked out any imbalances in their plans, and stop making changes to the terms of their service.
If you are a 3 customer and Callr user, we recommend that you read 3’s website or contact them if you have any questions regarding how they are going to charge you. We have no control over their pricing for calling our access numbers, and their terms may be subject to change.
If you are a Vodafone customer that uses Callr to make free international calls, please read this. As of 7/27/2010, Vodafone is playing the following message to all of its customers who call our access numbers:
“The number you have dialed is a re-routed call service. Depending on your plan you may be charged higher rates for this call unless you hang up now. Visit vodafone.com.au for more information on re-routed calls.”
Nice and scary huh? What Vodafone does not say is which customers are affected and how they are affected.
If you are on the Unlimited Cap Plan, Vodafone is excluding Callr from your unlimited minutes and charging you a $0.35 flag fall and $0.60 per 30 seconds to call our access numbers outside of your cap. This is still a savings over their $2.40 per minute charge for international direct dialing, but a material change in their service.
If you are a Vodafone Standard Cap Plan customer (someone on a $19 to $79 a month cap plan), then the cost to call Callr is $1.20 per minute plus a $0.35 flag fall but these costs are included within your monthly cap value. This is a slight surcharge over a standard mobile rate to call which is a $0.35 flag fall and $0.90 cents per minute, but still a significant savings versus international direct dialing.
Standard Cap Plan customers should realize that because of the bizarre mathematics of Australian mobile plan pricing, you are most likely paying much less to call us through your included cap plan value than the fees listed above.
If you are an older Standard Cap Plan customer, you may not be charged this extra $0.30 per minute at all because the concept of extra fees for re-routed calls did not exist when you signed up for Vodafone. We believe this was introduced in August 2009, but are not positive.
For all of our Vodafone customers, if you have any doubts about what it will cost you to call Callr from your Vodafone plan, please contact them and ask. We have no control over what they choose to charge you, so you need to speak with Vodafone directly.
If you want this information from the horse’s mouth, please visit Vodafone’s rerouted call page. Being a large and confusing telco, that page won’t answer all of your questions clearly, but it is a starting point.
We are obviously disappointed that Vodafone has chosen to segregate some Australian mobile numbers and charge some of their customers extra for calling them. We are particularly disappointed that they have decided to do this to us, and will take action through the appropriate channels much like we have done with Optus. Sadly, the wheels of justice move slowly and a resolution to this may take months.
