Fone Forum

I have just received an email from an outfit called "Dial-a-Code".  I have no knowledge about them, and cannot vouch for them in any way.

The contents of their email is as follows:-

"Great news if you have a T-Mobile or Orange mobile phone. Now you can make cheap international calls straight from your mobile simply by dialing a new 6 digit short code
The service works on all of these networks and is charged per second by your mobile operator, so no hidden charges.
Take a look below at just some of the 400 available destinations. Or call our automated info line on 0203 171 1717 to have the price and short code for your favourite destinations text free to your mobile phone.
Dial-a-Code; your short cut to cheap international calls on your mobile".

They give a broken link to 'DAC Customer Care', and the following list of short codes and destinations:-

Bangladesh Landlines & Mobiles   6p   29 06 29
Canada Landlines & Mobiles        3p   29 03 29
China Landlines & Mobiles          3p   29 03 29
Ghana Mobiles                       15p   29 15 29
India Landlines & Mobiles           5p   29 05 29
Jamaica Mobiles                     15p    29 15 29
Nigeria Landlines & Mobiles       10p    29 10 29
Pakistan Landlines & Mobiles      8p    29 08 29
Poland Landlines                     3p     29 03 29
Romania Landlines                   3p     29 03 29
Russia Landlines & Mobiles        5p    29 05 29
South Africa Landlines             5p     29 05 29
Thailand Landlines & Mobiles     3p     29 03 29
Turkey Landlines                    4p     29 04 29
Uganda Landlines & Mobiles    10p     29 10 29
USA Landlines & Mobiles         3p      29 04 29

If anyone wishes to give the service a try on a T-Mobile or Orange SIM, please report back on your findings below.  Thanks.

Me got the same email as well. But thought that 5p for India in todays time is too much. Might suit others though.

It's related to Yourcallworld

I read somewhere that it's rumoured Ofcom wants to reclaim the 07755 numbers, so short codes will be used instead.

In fact the Yourcallworld site now also shows these numbers

it says the number is not recognised on my orange sim..

That is strange, as the numbers are now listed on the Orange website, as well as T-Mobile's.        :o

The URL relating to this service is:-   http://www.dialacode.com/ (http://www.dialacode.com/)        ;)

and the short code charges are shown at:-   http://www1.orange.co.uk/service_plans/downloads/PAYG_PriceGuide_v10(20090918).pdf (http://www1.orange.co.uk/service_plans/downloads/PAYG_PriceGuide_v10(20090918).pdf)
and at:-   http://support.t-mobile.co.uk/resources/sites/TMOBILE/content/live/DOCUMENTS/0/DO115/en_GB/MC-25271-0709%20Nonstandard.qxd.pdf (http://support.t-mobile.co.uk/resources/sites/TMOBILE/content/live/DOCUMENTS/0/DO115/en_GB/MC-25271-0709%20Nonstandard.qxd.pdf)

Orange call them "Calls to short codes 2903, 2904....2919" which are charged @ "3p, 4p....19p";

T-Mobile call them "New Special Access Numbers" which are "A range of 6 digit shortcodes in the form 29ppxx", where "the pp digits indicate the price (inc VAT) in pence per minute and the xx indicates the last two dialling numbers of the specific number."

So as far as I can see, these new numbers should work on any Orange or T-Mobile  pay & go SIM.

I appreciate what you're saying but I'm still getting the same message. no worries. I probably wouldn't use this service unless I had struggled with other alternatives

I received a voicemail message from Graham, who had seen an advert in London specifying that the dialacode service only works on Orange and T-Mobile pay & go SIMs.  This is something that I had not seen stated before, but it may explain delaro's experience.        :-\

Were you using a contact mobile perhaps, delaro ?        :-\

aye! orange contract pal 8)

I've just noticed, or rather a friend did, that the YCW short code service can now also be used from 3 (after I told him it could be used from Orange)

This is surprising news, if true, as the original email promotion would surely have mentioned a third network if they were going to be included.        :o

Does you friend claim that it is working on '3' Pre-Pay SIMS only, as on T-Mobile and Orange, or does he believe it will work on '3' contracts also ?        :-\

None of these possibilities.

He read a post elsewhere about using it from Orange (news to him), and when he visited the YCW website to check that he found the use from 3 as well. He won't have checked any actual use as he's in America.

I'm just reading YCW FAQs (and waiting for a power cut here to end so my router comes back on ... *): the short codes can be used from T-mobile contract and payg, Orange payg only, 3 contract and payg

* then a longer power cut, a long phone call, other distractions, and I'm finishing the post a few hours later

Thank you for your interesting reply andy.        :)

I have looked at the YCW website (http://www.yourcallworld.com/services/mobile.aspx), and I was confused to find conflicting information there.        :o


This specifically says that other networks have to use their 07755 callthrough service.        ???

However, when I went to the FAQ pages (http://www.yourcallworld.com/help/faqs.aspx) as you suggested, I found a different account as you reported.        :)

Another mystery is that there appear to be different short codes mentioned on different parts of the website also.  For example, if you select USA to call, it gives short code 29 03 79, but if you then click on "Give me the access number", it displays instead 29 03 29.        :o

I think that such conflicts are a worrying feature of their website, and are very unhelpful to visitors.        ::)

Access from 3 has obviously only very recently been added, and the front page has that information, but you've found that not all the pages are updated

To us, six digits seems redundantly long at first consideration, but they have a number of resellers or affiliates, and it seems to me that the last two digits refer only to that, with perhaps a few of those for their own direct use, while the centre two refer to the tariff.

Without those considerations, even a two digit access would seem to be enough, except that the mobile networks would then have to install the YCW destination and tariff database into their billing platform rather than go much more simply from the different access numbers.

I am sure you are right andy, but I am wondering whether the 29 02 29, or the 29 03 79 short code is for YCW itself, and which for the reseller ?

Any idea ?        :-\

I am unsure about this andy.  According to the shortcode checker on '3', none of these codes are available currently.    :o

See:- http://www.three.co.uk/Help_Support/About_my_mobile/Shortcodes    ;)

For example:


or:

I meant the front of the YCW site. 3's website obviously hasn't been updated.

Two trial calls show the service works from 3, with billing units under a minute, as they cost 2p and 1p.

aside: 3's billing seems pro rata to fractions of a penny. I once tried out a service using data for text message equivalents, getting 7 lots of 1400 bytes per penny.

It's good to have some actual test calls reported here.  Thanks andy.        :)

I regret that I have been 'stung' by charges on '3' after making test calls recently, so I have held off trying so far.        :o

Were your 2 tests conducted on Pre-Pay SIMs, or a '3' contract andy ?        :-\

Also, just out of interest, what was the data for text messages service which you trialled ?        :-\

This was a 3 payg SIM.

I can't actually remember which text service when, as I've tried a range in the past, including Vyke, Voipbuster/Voipcheap (they used to have occasional free offers), and smsbug. It's quite possible that some were also callback triggers which also used about the same amount (or was that 1800 bytes). And most of my messing with these was on O2 though, but I did try a sequence on 3

Nowadays I'd recommend Fishtext, which is reliable and has the lowest tariffs at the moment. Also I think its amount of data per message is a bit lower, but I haven't quantified it exactly as the log on the most recent phone doesn't specify down to bytes.

The case for me getting a 3PAYG SIM grows every day! I went through my very large box of SIMs and unused SIM packs from pretty much every UK operator, and was surprised that I have never had anything from 3! 

The functions and abilities of YCW has always been a bit of mystery to me. I just cannot believe they manage to get into negotiations with the operators directly to achieve such low rates. With everyone else you need to dial via a geographic number which will always be charged at standard rates to a 01/02/03 which on PAYG can be quite high at times! I mean let's face it, is there anything cheaper than YCW for calling internationally if all you have is a PAYG SIM? Well, I guess there is Mikael's Skype access service, and then some PAYG do give you some free minutes etc. based on achieving periodic minimum topups etc.

Thanks for this Tip. I've been meaning to try them for some time, but not had any reason to do so! So far, I just have too many free text messages for me to justify it, but I suppose especially for people in the UK who send a lot of international SMS's (like me when I am there), these services can save you a lot of money!

According to this post (http://www.telecomforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=4198.new#new) on the no longer nifty forum, there is another new entrant in the short code services on T-Mobile, Orange pay & go, and '3'.        ;)

Maybe it will get a crowded market !        :o

http://www.globecode.co.uk/
They seem to suggest this one doesn't work on Three! Maybe it is an error on their part though, but who knows!? Maybe someone here who is on three might offer to make a short test call!

Do you think that the different new entrants are just agents, or are these separate brands and suppliers? I really do not know.

My guess - but it is just a guess - is that yourcallworld have set up the arrangements with networks, and that dialacode, globecode et al are agents / resellers of YCW.

I know of nothing that would support BigJohn's conjecture that globecall are agents of dialacode.

I contacted a friend of mine yesterday, who runs a service which is just starting to use these short codes, to find out more about who is providing them.

The information that he provided to me is as follows:-


( The last point was posted by one of our members on another forum yesterday.  ;) )

In addition to www.dialacode.com (http://www.dialacode.com); www.yourcallworld.com (http://www.yourcallworld.com); and www.globecall.co.uk (http://www.globecall.co.uk) - which are all offering new short codes on T-Mobile, '3', and Orange pay & go, so too now are http://www.callhappy.co.uk/page20.htm (http://www.callhappy.co.uk/page20.htm)        ;)

Details of Core Telecom itself may be found at http://www.coretel.co.uk/ (http://www.coretel.co.uk/)        ;)

Orange do NOT support call forward services, this is clearly stated in the Orange PAYG price guide which was linked to on the first page.

They DO allow short code services on their Pay & Go accounts AFAIK.  What makes you think otherwise ?        :-\

I can confirm I had used these codes from Orange PAYG many times!

Regards,

gb