Fone Forum

Hi. Please have a look at http://iff.o2.co.uk/default.aspx  it says you can call any international number unlimited for £5 or 3 number for £10 or 5 number for £15. It's a big list of countries included including India and Pakistan. Hope this will be benifit to members here.

hi
can u help me
how does it works as they said if we take £5 package
we can call one number to any international number form o2
which number are we going to use UK landline number or mobile number

Very interesting! It's apparently limited to 5000 minutes of calls to your chosen destination per month.

The ability to chose a number in other countries for your contacts there to call you on is especially interesting. That is a first to be coming from a provider directly!

If you go to the page it is all quite well explained. It costs you £5 per month and can be setup on your UK o2 Mobile phone only! (either contract or PAYG). You cannot use this from your landline.

Something else I just found out. You do not dial the international number direct, but call via an 0203 number that they specifically setup for the user that you have nominated. The service seems to be run together with jahjah.com

very interesting development indeed!! hope other providers will follow.

-NS

More information in the FAQ section http://iff.o2.co.uk/faq/faq.aspx (http://iff.o2.co.uk/faq/faq.aspx)

Important ones are
Which countries can I call?
Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Ghana, Gibraltar, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Mauritius, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Romania, Russia, Singapore, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, USA, Vietnam.


And which countries can I set up my incoming international number in?
Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Cyprus, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden, USA.


Why can’t I get an international phone number for every country?
At this time, we’re able to source international phone numbers in the countries we’ve listed. Please check back to see when new countries are added.

Also interesting that you can call both landlines and mobiles. For several countries like India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, there is not much difference in the rates between calling a landline and mobile anyhow, but for European countries, mobiles are usually quite expensive. There are some exceptions though, but I haven't found them yet! e.g. I know Spain Mobile is OK!

It's worth noting that this offer is a 3 moths trial.

dlR

Thanks for making your post radiakashyap.        :)

There has already been some fruitful discussion of this, but I should like to add just a few points.

Firstly, from the terms and conditions (http://iff.o2.co.uk/faq/faq.aspx):-


The second point to raise is that the value of this service will depend on how much you can use it.  If you have massive calling needs and can use all of the 5000 minutes allowed, you will get incredible value as your calls will cost just 0.1p per minute ( on the £5 one number deal ) !        :o

However, those with much more modest calling need will probably find they are getting far less value.        :'(

One final point: it is a bit worrying to see that calls to some NGN numbers are excluded.  From the terms and conditions posted above: "Calls to business switchboards or premium numbers aren't included, and some other numbers such as 0870 type numbers, conference calls and calls to satellite phones........"

It will be very interesting to see what happens if someone tries to set up this to call a callthrough service, such as one of Mikael's Irish callthoughs, or some Spanish 902 ones.        ;)

Any volunteers ?        :-\

You are probably right petkow, but where did you discover that ?        :-\

Maybe I missed it, but I couldn't find that in the Terms and Condition.        :'(

under the 2nd heading in the FAQ, How does [it] work

well, it doesn't specify actually 0203, but ...

This service may also be very good to use the Irish 0700 call-through via. You could subscribe for just £5 per month to one number and make international calls to many different numbers. If this could work, I would look to getting a larger collection of the access number so different people would have different numbers.

Agreed: that was in my mind too.         :)

But do you have any reason to believe that Irish 700 numbers aren't counted as being "like 0870s" ?        :-\

Well it would need testing, but most providers treat them as "Irish Mobile". Given that mobile numbers seem to be included in this deal, it could work very well. If it works, I may also get an updated design for the Irish call-through so users have to register, and unregistered ones would hear a voicemail or something similar.

If your reasoning on this is correct, maybe some of your Irish 818 numbers could be used too ?        :-\

Even your own system says they appear to be mobile numbers when you try to call them !        ;)

That is true. However 818 numbers have lower revenue rates and therefore fewer destinations. You are quite right though. If 0700 did not work, then 0818 would be the next best test.

I think that exploiting this for calling one of Mikael's services would not work in the long run. After all, look at the title of the service.

In several places it is made quite clear that this is intended for 'Personal' use only. I noticed that when you sign up, you even have to specify the name of the friend or family that you want to call and map your 0203 number to. (I know because I have done so) So if several hundred users map to the same 'friend' who has the same Irish number but several names, this starts to look suspect. Anyhow, I actually think that they are cleverer than that. Apart from the standard term in their T's and C's that bans calls to numbers for onward routing, note the interesting unique term that I have underlined below, that I have not seen in these sort of T's and C's before. It is a ban of calls to standard office switchboards!! These are normally always standard geographic numbers. However they are obviously targeting anything where one number can have multiple incoming lines. If I were designing the system, I  would implement a simple check that allows only one call at a time to a given number. This is from all users across the board. After all, if the system is being used as inteded, one individual cannot really be fielding calls simultaneously from multiple callers. 


Also note:

To be honest, though I see the lure, I can't see why we just can't use this service as it is intended to be used? After all, this is a type of prepaid bolt-on, and users may buy into the scheme to call the Irish callthrough (which it may well do for a few days) only to see that after a few days the number has been blocked and no longer working! I can really foresee something simple like that happening. And then we just have lot's of 5 pounds wasted!     edit: well... not really as you could change the number... see post below!

Why not just map the international number that you call most frequently directly in the first place? I know Mikaels system will be able to give you more flexibility if you cannot make your mind up on which number you want to select for your 5 quid, but bear in mind that this can get easily blocked at the slightest hint of abuse!

I agree with your reservations about how long a callthough number might work before it is blocked, but with respect you are talking nonsense about loosing your £5 fee.        ::)


HTH.

Ah yes...I remember seeing that yesterday. I must have misread it a bit, thinking there was a set frequency of how often you could change it.

Well spotted, and thanks!

Well there is actually, but 2 changes per month means, by my calculation, that one can actually try 3 in a month: the one with which you start, and 2 further changes.        ;)

So I reckon one could risk trying one callthrough to begin with, and then move to 2 others after that, one by one, if each gets blocked in turn.        ;)

That stuff about switchboards may imply either that it won't connect to something with a PBX or IVR arrangement on it, or that it won't support DTMF, or both.

I don't know the technical details, but there are certainly some services which will not connect to such things and just get an engaged tone, for example to a call queue at a credit card centre.

Good point andy.        :)

So do you think it may connect to a calltrhough number, or will that fail or be blocked ?  What is your opinion ?        :-\

This certainly sounds like a good deal if you call a certain number quite a bit every month.

Just a couple of quick questions for anyone who has taken up the offer:

1) If you ring the 0203 number assigned to you from another phone or mobile what happens?

2) When you ring the 0203 number are the minutes deducted from your inclusive allowance or are calls to this number billed separately? So for example if you have a contract with 300 inclusive minutes but you call the assigned 0203 number for 400 minutes what happens?

I await your replies.
Thanks.

moonandstar.

Don't forget, if this worked we could run it such that every user would be able to get a different call-through number, that only they could use. It could therefore be more tricky to discover and block.

@mikael:
Yes, you have a point. That would perhaps be the best way of setting this up. I think Andy's points are relevant though. Blocking DTMF signals is the best way for o2 to avoid misuse. That is indeed the simplest way of making sure that these calls only end up end-users personal phones and nothing else. If DTMF is indeed disabled, then your system will not be able to determine where the call should end up. However, I understand that outright blocking of these is not really feasible, as after all they are just analogue sounds that could be within the voice range.

@moonandstar:

The way I see it, the calls to the 0203 will not be charged in anyway by o2. They will not come out of any inclusive minutes nor will they charged as standard calls from a PAYG account.

The 0203 is effectively working as a gateway into the VoIP system which is carrying your call to the chosen international number. If you call the 0203 number from another phone other than the nominated o2 mobile, I presume it will not detect who you are, and so the onward call will not be carried. I presume you will get a recorded error message.

Just one more thing. I suppose all of the general points raised can be figured out with a few simple tests once you have set this up. (e.g. DTMF transmission, Charges to the 0203, use from other phones etc.) I would also like to see if calls to the 0203 would work from a spoof of your mobiles CLI's (such as via a VoIP carrier like one of the Betamax brands)

Has anyone signed up to this yet? I did, got to the last screen, got my 0203 assigned, made my selection of the Phone in the other country, but then pulled out on the last screen! (At least I think I did). I am so tied up this month, that I will be no where near even making 200mins of calls let alone 5000! So I cannot quite justifty the 5 quid yet as I'm such a tight bas***rd!  ;D

I'd agree with that, as I'd imagine that the access numbers would be common across a range of users, then the caller ID defines the account, like other services

I don't know, and I don't foresee placing any bets myself on this aspect, with other services available

Hello everone,
I have used this service on a O2 pay as you go with unlimited landline bolt on.When u call 0203 number that minutes will not deducted from your inclusive land line minutes.But they do charge that call separetly.Can any one tell me what about the pay monthly sims?
if i sign up for a new contract sim with unlimited landline minutes will it be the same??
Thanks,

I don't think I've quite understood

You mean this use is actually charged for, like the payg balance falls, or comes from its own bundle independent of the landline bolt-on?

It does not come from bolt on bundle.0203 call has been charge separetly.
Thanks for reply

I can let you know there will soon be a service launched by myself that will be able to solve that problem for you.

Like andy, I don't understand a word wali has written.        :'(

The 5000 minutes should be free ( after you have had your £5 or whatever deducted ), so how can they be charged separately ?       :-\

( BTW wali, we don't charge to use the spell checker, and that would save you form making some of the mistakes that you do, e.g. "separetly" in both of your last posts. )        ;)

I really wonder if wali is using this service at all.  Are you perhaps talking about how an unlimited landline Bolt On works wali ?        :-\

Please explain Mikael: I don't understand what problem you are hoping to solve !        :o

Well from what he said, it looks like O2 specifically exclude the 0203 access number for this unlimited calling package from their unlimited landline bundles, meaning that you have to proceed to pay the normal rate for calling a UK landline instead of using free minutes. This is how I understood the situation from his post.

I wish this made sense to me, but I am afraid that it doesn't.        :'(

If you have an unlimited landline Bolt On, although the Bolt On allowance may decrease with every call made ( assuming O2 have some sort of FUP on their unlimited landline Bolt On ), there should be no charges for any lanline calls.        ;)

And IF wali is using the new service that this thread deals with, calls to the 0203 should be entirely free, and NOT come out of his landline Bolt On minutes in any way.        ;)

I suspect that wali has merely confused this thread with his landline Bolt On, which is somewhat understandable seeing the mention of a 0203 access number on this thread.        ;)

Am I right wali ?        :-\

I think there's a difference between what the words in the post actually say and what we would intuitively assume to be the situation.

It would be absurd if O2 was promoting something as unlimited calls to your favourite number abroad, fair use policy 5000 minutes, then charging per minute to a London number at the normal tariff, and quite possibly therefore a higher rate than available by instead dialling the destination with their plain international calls bolt-on, i.e from 5p a minute

That's why we assume or want the 0203 number to be free included in the deal, especially with this on the FAQ page

You’ll get a different UK landline number for each of the international numbers you’ve chosen. Calls to these numbers are included in the service and don’t cost the friends or family members you are calling anything.

I am really sorry that i could not explain my problem well.I mean to say that 0203 access numbers  are not included in our bundles minutes.I  have been charge for these call i made abroad using 0203 access number.
Thanks,

Edit: Cross posted with Andy above:

I don't see the confusion. If Wali has indeed been charged for calls to the 0203 this is a billing error. After all o2 are known to do these from time to time, especially on the launch of a new product. He should get in touch with o2 ASAP and get it sorted out and refunded. It is clear in their site when you sign up that these will not be charged:

??? You are still not explaining it very well!!

So have you or not been charged for calling the 0203?

You could be right, but I'm inclined to think this is actually a deliberate act by O2. I would guess that their "bundle billing" would automatically include all 01, 02 and 03 numbers. However if what is reported is true, it would seem O2 have added exclusions, so they do not allow bundles to be used.

But this IS a bundle in its own right. You do not need the separate bundle with free landline calls to get free calls to the 0203. Those are supposed to be included in the IFF bundle.

I have been  charged for 0203 calls.

At standard rate?

i.e. 25p a min for the first 3 mins a day then 5p a min for the rest of the day

This is all getting rather confusing.

From what I can gather there are 3 ways this may be billed.

1) the 0203 number is charged regardless of any bundles you may have. (e.g. Even if you have unlimited landline minutes you still are charged the price of a local call)

2) the 0203 number is deducted from your inclusive minutes or unlimited landline bolt on.

3) the 0203 number is not charged in any way and calling that particular number is totally free. (e.g. £5 is all you pay, so even if you have no pay as you go balance you can still call the 0203 number)

Will someone who has actually used the servcie please clarify.

Thank you.

Well I think we have Wali. He appears to confirm option 1 of your 3.

Yes it is option one in my case.

I agree with Petkow, you need to contact O2 CS and get this sorted out. I am sure you will get the charges refunded. This is a bundle on it's own and the call should be part of the bundle, they can't be charging that high for a 02 number.

... especially as has been pointed out by Andy, it is often cheaper to call the international destination direct!

Thanks very much for help indeed.I will call customer service to sort this problem out.
Thanks to everyone for help.

I just had a chat with (contract) customer services, saying the website looks like it says the calls are in the package but a friend (on payg) seems to have been charged

So far, they've been told a little bit about this service, and their instructions are to direct queries about the service to look at the website ...

Lets hope wali can get a refund, as that surely looks like the way the design is intended

Wali. It might also be worth dropping an email to Support-IFF@jajah.com. If I have time, I might also drop them an email with a few further questions.

Assuming that these issues of outgoing calls get sorted out, there is also the incoming side of the business which is potentially interesting for some of us. If for you have friends abroad who call you a lot you can get a landline number in another country for them. Often they can then call you for free (such as out of their own inclusive minutes or packages)! They can also use VoIP to call you, as in many cases calling landlines in these countries is free. (e.g. with most Betamax brands). 

Also, for people who do re-diverts from their UK landline numbers (or a DID or VoIPin number), there are some potentially interesting applications as a divert to most foreign landline numbers usually works out much cheaper than a divert to a UK mobile. In many cases it can even be free!! (e.g. if you are using a Betamax VoIP brand).

Here is an example:
1. Let us assume you already have an incoming 0208 number with a VoIP provider that you can divert to SIP.
2. You sign up for o2 IFF, and chose yourself a number in USA (as an example).
3. You then sign up to a Betamax brand like Rynga.com and get yourself some credit and freedays.
4. In Rynga.com go to call forwarding options and chose to divert all calls to the USA number of o2 IFF
5. Divert your own 0208 number to your Rynga.com SIP address
6. Now users who call the 0208, will get put through to your o2 UK mobile phone for Free!!
7. Effectively you have just built a DIY o2 "Mobile landline"!

You could also do this via your Skype account and use their favourable rates for calling USA (much cheaper than calling UK mobile). I think diverts at SkypeOut rates can be done for incoming calls to your Skype username or your SkypeIn number if you have one. 

Also, I did a bit of research on the range of incoming numbers available. Here is the deal:
I can confirm the following cities are available:

Australia:
Canberra
Melbourne
Sydney

Belgium:
Anttwerp
Brussels
Mechelin

Brazil:
Brasilia
Rio
Salvador
Sao Paulo

Bulgaria:
Sofia

Canada:
Montreal
Quebec
Vancouver
Toronto

Cyprus:
Nicoisa

CZ Republic
Brno
Ostravia
Prague

France:
Marceille
Paris
Toulouse

Germany:
Berlin
Munich

Hungary:
Budapest
Limerick?? (Mistake.. should be in Ireland)

Ireland:
Cork
Dublin
Galway

Italy:
Milan
Rome

Latvia
National (presume it is a NGN)

Lithuania:
Vilnius

Netherlands:
Amsterdam
Maastricht
Rotterdam

NZ:
Auckland
Wellington

Poland:
Krackow
Lodz
Wroclaw
Warsaw

Portugal:
Nomadic (NGN)

Slovakia:
Bratislava
Kosice

Spain
Barcelona
Madrid
Valencia
Sevilla

Sweden:
Goteburg
Malmo
Stockholm

USA
Chicago
Denver
Dallas
LA
Detroit
Miami
New Orleans
Boston
Washington
San Fransisco
New Orleans
Philadelphia

Well I don't want to knock the contributions from andy or moonandstar, but if I were a betting man ( which I am not ) my money would go on petkow's view 100%.        ;)

I believe the 0203 calls are free if you have this package ( up to 5000 minutes per month ), and that if wali has this package and has been charged for calling his 0203 number, he should complain and seek a refund as petkow advised.  This is what my gut instinct says anyway.        ;)

---

Sorry all, I thought I was replying just after moonandstar's post.  I was obviously on the previous page of the thread !        :-[

Updates:

Apparently if you call the 0203 from something that is not your mobile, you get the following message:
"...this number is not registered with o2 International Friends and Family"

There are still doubts about whether users get charged to call the 0203 or not. Just from reading around a bit, from what I understand most contract (pay monthly users) are not being charged nor is usage reducing their inclusive minites. However, some PAYG users have been charged and some not. One user had no credit on a PAYG, then topped up 10GBP credit, then setup the service for 3 numbers, received one reverse charged text message which debited him the full GBP10 and is now happily making calls. So obviously he is not being charged for the 0203.

Hello,
Yesterday i have ring customer service and told them about that i have been charge for 0203 calls.
Now they have fixed the problem.and i have made calls to 0203 with no credit in my phone.And they will refund me that amount soon.
Thanks for your good suggestions and reply.

Thanks for sharing the good news with us wali.        :)

Was this on O2 contract, or Pay & Go ?        :-\

I think it was on a PAYG as that is what he was first talking about somewhere higher up.

Eagle eyes !        ;D

I have been busy with PMs, for some inexplicable reason, and didn't take enough time looking through the thread before posting.        :-X

Anyway, thanks petkow.        :)

Hello Guys!

I am using this service since last 2 days for Pakistan. I got some Quality Problems in it. Rarely its crystal clear, mostly its medium and sometime too bad. Yesterday was bit Ok today I faced more problems regarding quality.

Any other user could share the experience and for which country? 

Regards,

(((ganjbakhash)))    a friend of mine registered and he got some EU country number to call from Pakistan not Pakistani local number did you get Pakistani number or some other?

You welcome boss.Mine was  a Pay As You Go sim.
Ganjbakhash is right there is some quality problem i been using since 3 days and i face the same poor voice qualityfor pakistan.some time call has been disconnected.
@twister32: when you register for pakistan they give you an 0203 access number to call pakistan i think ganjbkhash is calling from uk not from pakistan
cheers

Are you being charged for calling the 0203 accrss number on your pay & go?   :-\

I have been only charge for the first call i made.They will refund that amount.0203 access numbers are free on Pay As You Go Sim as well.

That is good news for many of us wail.  Thanks!    :)

Hello Twister32. Actually at the moment in this package, Pakistan is not included to get call back local number and I don't have any to call back at my O2 UK mobile. I am only calling from my UK mob to Pakistan. If I want to get call back land line number then I have to chose their given list, that is Europe (ex UK), America, Canada etc., may be I don't need at the moment.

Any way There are really some problems while dialing back home on this service. Don't know they may could fix these and continue in future! If the same quality and connectivity is provided by them, it sounds this service going to close soon.

ganjbakhash is quite right twister32: it is not very intelligent of you to complain that you haven't got a local number in Pakistan when the service doesn't offer that!    ::)

Did you not look at their website (http://iff.o2.co.uk/faq/faq.aspx) to see, before signing up?    :-\

If you had troubled to look at their FAQs (http://iff.o2.co.uk/faq/faq.aspx), you would have seen this statement:

    ;)

It seems to be time that you woke up, or gave yourself a good shake, or something!    :o

Twister32, why not set it up in Poland? Perhaps my grandma would like to call you? ::)

delaro good idea i will set it in poland and give it you you for your grandma  lol. and sorry dave you right.

I have now setup this service and am using it. Here is my review so far:
1. I have had 2 cases of the call getting cut off before my entitled 1 hour.
2. Call quality is OK but certainly not the best. A bit "tinny" and Voipy at times.
3. Ring tones are not the true rings for the country you are calling but instead are a Voip emulated tone (I think a USA one)
4. People who try to call you on the supplied foreign DID do not hear UK telephone ring tones but again foreign sounding ones.
5. Calls made to the DID that is supplied in the foreign country get picked up straight away (and charged from the first second), even though I may not actually pick up the phone here.
6. There are excessive delays between making the call until the other party picks up. This occurs both on incoming and outgoing sides of the system.

Points 5 and 6 are a bit of a problem for people who may want to try to use the system for Callback purposes. (Such as via the phone2phone feature on one of the Betamax brands). The problem is that the callback platform will think you have successfully picked up the call and then already begins to dial the person you are trying to call before you have even had a chance to pickup your phone in the first place.  Having said that, I tried a callback today and it worked OK as the person I was calling luckily took some time to answer. With a callback in place, I managed an hours long callback from my mobile that has a foreign landline associated with it (through o2 IFF) and another destination that classes as "Free" on rynga.com. Therefore an hours long call only cost me the 5c (eurocent) Rynga.com call setup fee for phone2phone dialling.

Obviously making use of callback and Betamax (e.g. Rynga.com) enables you to make outgoing calls to more numbers than the single one that they allow for the minimum 5 pound subscription. It also allows you to make hour long calls to any UK 01, 02 and 03 number for only 5c (eurocent) per call. Not bad at all! Bear in mind that Betamax generally only allow 300mins of 'free' calls per week.

If anyone else has specific questions, or wants me to test something, then do not hesitate to ask me.

The one thing I should like to know is whether you can get away with nominating a foreign callthrough service.  ;)

I don't suppose you would like to test that petkow?  :-\

r
I will try and perhaps do so next week. I use the system too much to my designated number to be able to change it for now. Do you mean the Irish one or which one in particular?

The offer has also now been suspended for new customers!  :(
See: http://iff.o2.co.uk/CloseReg.aspx

"We’ve had enormous excitement about this great offer. We are making a few changes to the offer, so we’re not accepting new customers at the moment."

I'm minded to only slightly (one letter) modify something Spike Milligan once said about Prince Charles, after the latter had praised him in a letter read out at an awards ceremony

oh, the little grovelling bastards

What a great man he was! 

Who knows... maybe these 'Princes' also read this forum?

Thanks for replying petkow.  Yes I meant Irish 818 or 700 numbers.  I realize that O2 have suspended the offer now, but hopefully this is to make a few changes, and not a prelude to its withdrawal.

Interesting Topic,


has anyone considered using the international numberthey have got from o2, i.e the +1 number with Google Voice, that would enable free voice calls across the US :)

I haven't used Google voice yet, but can you describe the setup you mention here a bit more? I am confused whether you intend to select a US number for the incoming DID and tie this with Google voice, or vice versa? (i.e. point the outgoing number to a Google Talk gateway or similar).

Google Voice is currently limited to the USA only, i intend to use the USA number as the number you input in Google Voice, Google Voice works like Betamax callback systems. you input both numbers and you can call, unfortunately i am on T-Mobile currently, so i am unable to test this.

I understand now. Good idea. I can't see any reason at all why this shouldn't work. I am effectively doing the same with Betamax at the moment which also gives me free calls to USA as well as elsewhere.

Unlike betamax, Google Voice has no Fair Usage Policy as well(i have no idea of betamax FUP since i started using this board's services)... So this should be good....

and even calls to USA from Countries like India cost only INR 1/- compared to UK mobile which costs INR 9.19/- . So o2 are looking good with this service,

i wonder why this service is running to Colarado as o2 Telefonica is a European Company (http://geotool.flagfox.net/?ip=69.167.114.80&host=iff.o2.co.uk)

That could be because of JAJAH Technologies.

Yes. JAHJAH are basically running most of this service for o2.

The lack of FUP of Google Voice compared to 300mins/week for Betamax could make this service appealing to setup that way. I also like your thinking of cheap inward calling to USA numbers from other countries such as India. I don't know why calling USA is cheaper than calling UK landlines. I would have assumed that these are about the same these days but you are right that this is the case with some Indian providers.   

Now going OT, but I love the way Betamax have tried to slap JAHJAH in the face by launching a service called NOHNOH!!  ;D

this service has been discontinued for new users and O2 is not taking anymore new registration

Already updated by andy here http://www.foneforum.co.uk/index.php/topic,1367.msg6996/topicseen.html#msg6996 (http://www.foneforum.co.uk/index.php/topic,1367.msg6996/topicseen.html#msg6996)

hay all!!!
 tis o2 serice providing bad voice quality.most of the times receiver cannot hear you. i have had this problem since 4 days and since night this problem is more verse than ever.i 've sent about three emails to Support@jahjah but nothing came back.i think we should find something new better than that!!!!!!!!!

Where are you calling to? Perhaps this is for certain destinations only. I still seem to have OK lines most of the time, though I have had a few problems too.
 
That reminds me of the Gujarati prostitute who wanted to be a poet! She was just going from bed to verse! ;)

haya!!
i do mostly use this service to call Pakistan.

haya!!!!
at last o2 has opened this servise again for new customers.bht one problem for pakistani users that they cannot registered any mobile number in pakistan.they can call only on landline numbers.i dont knowwhta will happen to old users of this service in next month.i mean would they be able to use in the same way or their registred mobile number would not work any more?

You're right! It's quite a change in their original conditions. It now says:
The list of the countries is pretty much the same as before, apart from this one HUGE difference. If it's only fixed numbers, I am hardly sure this has much value anymore, given that these can be called so cheaply! Who knows what will happen when mine comes up for renewal at the end of my month with them. Let's hope our existing mobile number allocations will stay active!

Now that o2 has changed the service to allow international calls to landlines only I was wondering is there any call through service available which can be used with this promotion to call Pakistan mobiles.

The current Irish call through service does not allow calls to Pakistan.

moonandstar.

I would doubt it, as it would have to be a callthrough which is classed as a landline!

Interesting, have you tried to do setup this service to the Irish one then? This is something I was actually going to try but couldn't!


But on a separate note, I somehow have a feeling that JahJah and o2 still haven't quite got this product quite right yet. They may yet still revise certain countries to also allow mobiles to be called. At the moment, they have simply said that landlines only can be called and have made a rather strange distinction that "You can’t call any mobiles where these are in different number ranges from landline numbers". So this is obviously worded so that for countries like USA and Canada you can also call mobiles. However, for many countries of the world, wholesale rates to a Mobile aren't actually much different from calling a landline, even though they are in separate numbering ranges. Countries I can think of in their list of allowable countries which really should eventually also include mobiles include: China, India, Thailand, Hong Kong. Perhaps even Bangladesh and Pakistan may eventually also be considered.

hay!!!
i received a text yesterday that "inclusive calls to Pakistan will be removed from the trial on 23/05/2010".i send them an email to ask will this happen to new users or old users as well they replied me'
Hi,

Thanks for your email. I've looked into your query.
All Calls to Pakistan are to be temporarily stopped on 23rd May 2010 due to abuse. IFF however, will continue to be in service and you can continue placing calls to other destinations.
Unfortunately, we are unable to provide you with additional information as to why this decision has been made, or when you will be able to call numbers in Pakistan, and we appreciate your patience.
Kind regards,
JAJAH Customer Service.
so this mean we should find something else rather than using this servise for Pakistan.

has anyone tested this service with any callthrough

i registered this service with an indian mobile phone number 3 weeks ago which is still running without any problem

I wanted to do this with the Irish one, but unfortunately could not do that, nor do I think I will anymore. Like shahidukok, my service is registered with a mobile number that they are no longer providing but which still works for the moment. I do not want to jeopardise this from working by changing my number to anything else at the moment. I presume they are not stuffing up their original customers (yet!). However, I am pretty certain that a callthrough will not work, and if it did, it will probably soon would get closed if it gets abused.

I am quite amused that of all the destinations in the world, Pakistan is the first to get 'blacklisted' due to abuse.  ;) Though I feel for the many members of this forum who are from Pakistan, and who no longer can use this service now....however I am not at all surprised by this decision by Jahjah.

you can check brother. they have taken the second months payment. still they are letting me to change it into new mobile numbers.I have tested this with spanish call through which is not working. it is highly recommended to check this with irish call thru. i can not dat since i have already done the 2 number changes im allowed to do did month.
regards

Since this service been launched, many people are suggesting to each other that try this service on Irish call-through, try on that, try on this. Firstly is this not an abuse of the service, petkow? In my point of view it is abuse! Because this service is not launched from O2 for any call through or a commercial purpose. Secondly are all these people who are suggesting to try on call through, are they all Pakistani? The answer is No! So Please would you like to tell why you point out Pakistan only to get blacklist due to abuse? I am a Pakistani so that is why I have a feeling brother! For Jahjah may be they can't afford this amount of calling to Pakistan in this money! because now a days Pakistan's call is expensive comparing India etc. Ok if it was abused really so would you like to tell how Pakistanis abused this service? I also used this service for a month but I haven't got the idea of abuse in this case only remains a call-through service, so far so Irish and mostly Spanish call-through does not work for Pakistan! But the other option is excessive usage and I also tried to finish 5000 minutes given by the O2 but I could not, because for me it was not possible to finish 5000 minutes on 3 contacts. Just in case I finish 5000 minutes then its again my right not abuse! In other case if some one uses more than 5000 minutes and JaJah or O2 should have prevent to use beyond their given limit and that is not impossible for a telecommunication company like O2. So where is the abuse brother? Please would you like to through a little bit light?  ;)

Those were not my words. That is what o2 themselves said!


However, let me just say that you are absolutely right in saying that provided you are a private caller who calls for less than 5000 minutes to a destination that was authorised, that this can not in any way be considered as "abuse". However, the system was very susceptible to loopholes. Something else was obviously going on for them to have considered that somebody was abusing the system in excessive calls to a particular numbering range in Pakistan. I do have a fairly good guess as to what was possibly going on. The bottom line is that somebody was making a lot of money very quickly in Pakistan, whilst o2/JahJah were very quickly loosing money here. This was detected very quickly, and unfortunately a blanket ban for all of Pakistan had to be applied. This is probably because the PTA (Telecoms Regulator in Pakistan) are not an easy office to deal with, and there may well be corruption even in there.

Unfortunately these things happen. A few idiots have abused the system, and so they spoil the benefits for everybody else. I am not saying that these people are representative of the characteristics of all people of Pakistani origin! Far from it!! As with so many things in life, a little bit of bad quickly spoils a lot of good.  :( The situation is just so unfortunate in Pakistan because there is a disproportionate high level of corruption spread right across society. I am sure you will understand this truth.

With regards to your other point, if you read my earlier posts you will see that I have never recommended anybody should dial a callthrough with this service. Quite the opposite. Somebody asked me to do a test, and I mentioned I may try, if I was able to do so. I still haven't done so yet, and I actually do not think I will.   

Yeah Petkow I got some clue from your post! That is true that there are some corrupt donkeys are governing my country now a days. I have an example in recent past when a big calling card company lycatel was offering 4p per minute call to Pakistan and an other new unknown calling card was offering 1p at the same time this gave a hard target to lycatel. So lycatel used some resources to investigate, the result found was: the unknown company is throughing the call to Japanese lines because of less cost and many Taxes are not on Japan and then from certain lines of Japan some corrupts in PTA are handling and throughing to the user destination and not paying a single penny to Gov/telecommunication authorities of Pakistan, in this case the man in UK having small server and some corrupt guys in Pak are making rapid money and both UK and Pak Governments are taking nothing. So they caught and at the end all dealers and users who bought the stock got a massive loss as well.

But in case of O2/Jahjah its strange, its giving me also an other clue that Jahjah hired some corrupt guys in PTA to save the money and launched the service for Pak, after that the deal was no longer valid due to a high numbers of calls received at PTA end and less revenue. But to be honestly I was thinking in early days of the service that this 5000 minutes of calls are not possible from UK to Pakistan in this amount of money i.e. £5/- or £10/- even £15/- when you pay properly all channels involve in the path from O2 to any Pakistan's telecom company in these days. It was 100% possible in previous Gov when they launched the satellite and uplifted all major taxes on telecom companies. But this corrupt Gov again raised up to 80% tax rate upon tlecom sector specially calls coming from abroad. Anyway its long story.

But I am 100% sure that there was no abuse from user end in UK, like me and you. As I read on O2 web site FAQ's according to them, we are closing temporarily Pakistan calls on 23rd, due to high number of demand, we may gonna start again for Pakistan in future. It clearly indicate that there is a deal problem between Jahjah and PTA/telecommunication companies in Pakistan.
Anyway thanks for your time Petkow!

Regards!

It looks like o2 are now pulling the plug on this service for good!  :(

How did you reach that conclusion petkow?  Is there a link you can share?

Not got a link, though I wish I did. I got a rather strange SMS from them, stating that they were ending the trial, and closing the service. I have emailed them to query this, as the website says that the service was supposed to run until at least July.  :-\ I am awaiting a response, but will post back if I hear anything.

This is the response I got from them. It typically manages to avoid answering the questions I asked them, and answers questions I did not even ask.

They sent me a text on 15th May that we are closing our service for Pakistan on 23rd May. So I did not top-up and I asked my other 3 friends do not do, as they have also received the same text. But one friend of mine said I wanna take risk of £10/- and he did still he is using the service the JahJah did not closed his account on 23rd  ??? Then I investigated many people are still using this service for Pakistan. So what I concluded that their customer service is not good and not updated at all, Its really beta and there are many glitches in it. so do not believe them yet as they are not stable.

is this for mobile or landline calls?

moonandstar

There is no restriction on the users are already registered, they are using the service as they were using before the change of terms. these new terms are only for new customers, still they are not accepting new registrations.

Hello.
I have subcribed for £5.After getting the message that calls for pakistan will be removed from 23rd july.i never stoped the service i have been charged again for this month but i could not make calls.
Does anyone have any update about this.
When i dailed the access number they say "the country has been removed or your allowance has been run out".
 

Okay, so we've 2 different reports here. Would anyone else like to share their experience, please.

dlR

Just to let you all know that the O2 international Friends & Family bolt on is going to be terminated altogether by end of this month. I got a sms from them stating the above information and as my next renewal date for the bolt on is 18th june therefore they will not take any money off from my credit. I reckon the same applies to all the other users as well.

Regards

RMM

Sorry, i forgot to mention, I was using the service to call india and US (mobile and landlines). So definitely I wouldn't be able to use this service anymore after 18th of this month, as per the sms i got from O2.


Thanks!

Yes I can confirm this. As I mentioned higher up, they are now bringing this to an end altogether. However, they are just terminating the bolt on for customers on their anniversary dates. I did try and contest this with them, because according to their terms and conditions they did state that this will run until July. However, I did not have any luck.

This was the last message I got from them:

However, there does appear to be some hope. Also in my email, I got this:

Finally they have put the closing date on their site:
I think I am unlucky as they are cancelling mine today, even though the service will run for another 25 days. I did try and contest this issue with them as on their site it says:
What I tried to contest is the use of the little word after. In my case they have done it the month before!  >:(  >:(

My service did finally come to an end.  :( However, I wanted to share that it continued to work for around 4 days after they were supposed to disactivate the bolt-on from my account. That was very convenient for me, as I really had to make good use of it during those days ! Other users who are going to get disactivated may be equally lucky, as their billing system seems to be a bit of a mess!  ;)

As usual O2 billing system is a big hoax all the time. I have had problems with them in the past but later rectified after a week days of time tussle with them and with different internal O2 departments to correct my bill :-[

srikanth.nuli do you mean that:
They charged you for this bolt on (friends and family) after they closed?

Yes it is true ganjbakhash

I hope you have recovered your money that they billed you wrong! I am going to write down to ofcom for one friend of mine as they charged him all 18 months wrong without any certain reason for data download and premium texts and he did not used any of them. I have observed many cases from O2. Why they are becoming Nightmare specially in case of billing?

Who doesn't love money; O2 is not an exception :)

To be frank I feel the charges would have been levied on your friend's account because there is no coordination among their internal billing, marketing, web development & deployment departments which caused the confusion for the billing department whether to charge or not to charge for any thing that was initially offered for free or promotional product and later been started charging.

My money has been returned back after several complaints. Going to Ofcom might help but they cannot order O2 to return the money even the Financial Ombudsman Service also cannot do that. They can request the network providers to look into the customer's concern and they do not act like a judge or arbitrator at all (This is as per my knowledge only).

First try to log a complaint with O2 about your friend's issue. Get a reference number from them and also ask them to acknowledge your complaint by sending a written statement or a letter as per O2 guidelines of responding with in 5 working days which might be a kick start for the process.

If I may... (http://www.bghelp.co.uk/forums/images/smileys2/yes3.gif)
I've been an O2 pay monthly customer for a little over 2 years now and am extremely satisfied with their response to whatever concerns I may have had in the past. Once I got wrongly billed £1.20 for some texts, which should've been free. After calling them they arranged a refund with my next bill. Around New Year 2010 they gave off some £5 as an apology for something about them being unavailable for a while (or whatever technical problem it was - don't remember exactly). Frankly, I had no idea what they were talking about in the text message but I didn't say a thing. (http://www.bghelp.co.uk/forums/images/smileys2/biggrin.gif) Moreover, 9 months after singing my first contract with them (an 18-month one) I got an offer to either 1) start it over from month 1 and get £150 credit or 2) switch to O2 Simplicity. Of course, I chose the latter, as I practically terminated my long-term contract by singing a monthly renewable one (respectively paying £20 a month in difference to £35 before), kept my handset and got 100 more texts per month. Later I called and asked for more messages (online they give 2 times as much than in-store, and I signed in-store initially), so they doubled my text bundle. After signing a 1-year O2 simplicity 20 contract in February this year I got 200 more min. per month (overall 800 min., 1600 texts and unlimited Internet) and one month free.
Anyway, my point was that the O2 are worth it. But keep in mind that the squeaky wheel gets the oil, so don't rely on things getting resolved on their own. (http://www.bghelp.co.uk/forums/images/smileys2/wink.gif)

Back to the topic - they indeed discontinued the service in question (or rather did not start it, as they only launched a beta version or something)  but - hey! - there's Mikael's and similar services, which provides some comfort for those talking a lot internationally. (http://www.bghelp.co.uk/forums/images/smileys2/good.gif)

Regards!

Most of Doondie's post concerns the O2 network, and should properly be on one of my boards.   ::)   

Could moonandstar possibly edit the post to make 2 separate replies, the first of which could be moved please?   :-\