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Mobile networks, developments, services, & offers => Network developments => Topic started by: mobaholic on October 14, 2010, 01:55:33 PM



Title: O2 unveils £10 international calling bolt-on deal
Post by: mobaholic on October 14, 2010, 01:55:33 PM

International Favourites to target the £1.4bn international call market

O2 is targeting the £1.4bn international call market by launching International Favourites, a £10 per month bolt-on deal for consumers and SMEs.

The offering, which will launch on 26 October, provides customers with 3,000 minutes (50 hours) at £10 per month to three international landline numbers.

For £20 per month, customers will get 3,000 landline minutes and 200 mobile minutes to five international numbers. The deal covers 60 countries.

Both options come with a ‘Call Me’ number, which gives customers a local phone number in one of 42 countries that connects directly to their UK mobile.  Family and friends in that country can then call their O2 mobile at a local call rate.

Jonathan Earle, head of consumer marketing at O2, told Mobile: ‘International calls tend to fall into two buckets: very short direct calls; and those that want much longer conversations.  Our customers said give us a deal where we don’t have to watch the clock while calling overseas. Make it simple and let me do it on pay-as-you-go or pay monthly.’

O2 claims that the new service will provide a strong alternative to voice over IP calling, as well as differentiating it from its competitors.  The operator estimates that it has around a 10% share of the £1.4bn international calling market but expects there to be plenty of room for expansion with around six million people in the UK wanting to call their families and friends abroad regularly.  Earle said that O2 is also targeting the SME market, which it believes will welcome the value offer.

He added that the operator sees International Favourites as complimentary to its ethnic MVNOs, such as Lycamobile, rather than in competition.

‘It offers our customers more choice.  Call card users tend to make short international calls,’ he said.  He added that while VoIP services such as Skype were good, they are restrictive in that users need access to a computer.'

Mobile revealed in August that the international calling solution, which was due for launch on 24 August, would not be available until a later date.

The service, which will be available through O2’s stores and other direct and indirect channels, will be backed by a major marketing campaign, including TV advertising, starting in November.

Much of the learning for the service has come from Silicon Valley-based VoIP provider Jajah, which O2 bought earlier in the year.  ‘Jajah gave us the agility and expertise to do this, especially on the technical side and the ‘Call Me’ number.

Earle said O2 was working with Jajah on developing a number of other products, which customers can expect to see being rolled out from Q1 2011.

Source:-   MobileToday (http://www.mobiletoday.co.uk/Mobile_Exec/O2_unveils_£10_international_calling_bolt-on_deal.aspx).



Title: Re: O2 unveils £10 international calling bolt-on deal
Post by: petkow on October 14, 2010, 03:52:23 PM
An interesting development and one that I have been eagerly waiting to return since they trialled this product as IFF earlier on this year. However, it really is a shame that they decided to scrap the lowest priced product, which was for £5 and gave calls to just one number. (plus the incoming number). 


Title: Re: O2 unveils £10 international calling bolt-on deal
Post by: twister32 on October 16, 2010, 04:17:40 AM
any idea if they going to add pakistan in there?


Title: Re: O2 unveils £10 international calling bolt-on deal
Post by: mobaholic on October 16, 2010, 10:41:07 AM
any idea if they going to add pakistan in there?

Hand out the crystal balls, and we might take a look for you !        ;D



Title: Re: O2 unveils £10 international calling bolt-on deal
Post by: wali on October 17, 2010, 02:12:26 AM
Will this service allow to make landlines calls only or mobile numbers are also included in 3000 minutes??
thanks


Title: Re: O2 unveils £10 international calling bolt-on deal
Post by: ash on October 17, 2010, 05:33:15 PM
I suppose you should properly read OP by MH-
The offering, which will launch on 26 October, provides customers with 3,000 minutes (50 hours) at £10 per month to three international landline numbers.

Hope that would clear the doubts.


Title: Re: O2 unveils £10 international calling bolt-on deal
Post by: wali on October 17, 2010, 05:48:00 PM
Not a good news then.


Title: Re: O2 unveils £10 international calling bolt-on deal
Post by: petkow on October 18, 2010, 09:03:28 AM
any idea if they going to add pakistan in there?
I very much doubt it after the fiasco they had with calls to Pakistan during the trial period, which resulted in them having to remove it as an inclusive destination.


Title: Re: O2 unveils £10 international calling bolt-on deal
Post by: ganjbakhash on October 18, 2010, 04:31:24 PM
I very much doubt it after the fiasco they had with calls to Pakistan during the trial period, which resulted in them having to remove it as an inclusive destination.

Nice to listen about the service again!

Very good question raised by users about Pakistan may be included country or not in future? I agree with petkow's  point, but only one thing that I noticed is last time they allowed 3 any numbers in £10/- (i.e. mobile or land line), this time they only described 3 any land line numbers in £10/- and only 200 minutes on mobile in £20/- tariff. So I could hope and wish that Pakistan should be included as now a days Mikael's text service is not working, so still worth it to use 3000 minutes on land line. ;)

Let see the Mh's findings as he said to check out for Pakistani users.  ;D

Regards,

gb


Title: Re: O2 unveils £10 international calling bolt-on deal
Post by: NewStarter on October 18, 2010, 04:50:09 PM
Let see the Mh's findings as he said to check out for Pakistani users. ;)

Hi gb, where did MH say he will check out this info??


Title: Re: O2 unveils £10 international calling bolt-on deal
Post by: delaro on October 18, 2010, 04:57:25 PM
Hi gb, where did MH say he will check out this info??

With all respect gb pal, it's not the first time I see you making a post without reading what's already been said prior posting...  ::)


Title: Re: O2 unveils £10 international calling bolt-on deal
Post by: ganjbakhash on October 18, 2010, 06:09:06 PM
With all respect gb pal, it's not the first time I see you making a post without reading what's already been said prior posting...  ::)

I am sorry if you got meanings of my post quite literal!

Actually I posted these words in humors way, like Mh posted: we might take a look for you!  ;D

Sorry again if you perceived in different point of view.

Regards,

gb


Title: Re: O2 unveils £10 international calling bolt-on deal
Post by: petkow on October 18, 2010, 09:33:02 PM
I guess we'll just have to wait until the 26th of October. However, the product does actually sound quite promising. The incoming number can now allegedly be in one of 42 country's (they only had 24 on o2 IFF), and the outgoing calls can be made to a wider range of countries too, though no specific details are available yet.

I do love some of the reporting on this story. On Mobilechoices.co.uk they have this to say:
Quote
O2’s International Favourites package uses Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology to relay voices over an internet connection. This method, made famous by the PC video conferencing software Skype, is considerably cheaper than sending voices over radio waves, as is normally the case.
Written by someone who obviously has no clue about telecommunications.
Source: http://www.mobilechoices.co.uk/news/o2-international-favourites-voip-141010.html


Title: Re: O2 unveils £10 international calling bolt-on deal
Post by: davegr on October 19, 2010, 02:24:21 AM
Does anybody have a link to the countries from which it was possible to get a local number during the beta testing period?


Title: Re: O2 unveils £10 international calling bolt-on deal
Post by: petkow on October 19, 2010, 10:05:37 AM
Does anybody have a link to the countries from which it was possible to get a local number during the beta testing period?
Yes. I put together a list of the countries and cities/towns in a post on the old thread about the Beta service. See: http://www.foneforum.co.uk/index.php/topic,1367.msg6840.html#msg6840
(scroll down to the bottom of the post for the full list)


Title: Re: O2 unveils £10 international calling bolt-on deal
Post by: davegr on October 19, 2010, 10:15:30 AM
Thanks.


Title: Re: O2 unveils £10 international calling bolt-on deal
Post by: ganjbakhash on October 19, 2010, 03:41:34 PM
I guess we'll just have to wait until the 26th of October. However, the product does actually sound quite promising. The incoming number can now allegedly be in one of 42 country's (they only had 24 on o2 IFF), and the outgoing calls can be made to a wider range of countries too, though no specific details are available yet.

I do love some of the reporting on this story. On Mobilechoices.co.uk they have this to say:Written by someone who obviously has no clue about telecommunications.
Source: http://www.mobilechoices.co.uk/news/o2-international-favourites-voip-141010.html

I agree with you petkow!


Title: Re: O2 unveils £10 international calling bolt-on deal
Post by: wali on October 26, 2010, 06:04:55 PM
any updates about this service???


Title: Re: O2 unveils £10 international calling bolt-on deal
Post by: wali on October 26, 2010, 06:37:59 PM
bad news pakistan is not in the list
https://if.o2.co.uk/templates/home.aspx


Title: Re: O2 unveils £10 international calling bolt-on deal
Post by: petkow on October 26, 2010, 06:53:32 PM
bad news pakistan is not in the list
https://if.o2.co.uk/templates/home.aspx
Yes, sadly this was expected!

It's nice to see the wide range of countries that are on the list, including most Eastern European countries and mobiles in India.

The "call-me" numbers have also hugely expanded, though I note there is now a 3000 min FUP on incoming calls.

For people who are considering using this with a callthrough based in another country, it is worth noting the following from the T's and C's:
Quote
The following call types and number ranges are excluded from being part of the Calls: texts, picture messages, calls made whilst abroad, calls to premium rate or non-geographic numbers, calls to business switchboards, conference calls, calls to numbers for onward routing or revenue sharing purposes, calls to Inmarsat, calls using or to satellite phones (i.e. Thuraya), mobile traffic calls, machine to machine calls or calls to countries not included in the Bolt On.


Title: Re: O2 unveils £10 international calling bolt-on deal
Post by: wali on October 26, 2010, 08:20:19 PM
Yes, sadly this was expected!

It's nice to see the wide range of countries that are on the list, including most Eastern European countries and mobiles in India.

The "call-me" numbers have also hugely expanded, though I note there is now a 3000 min FUP on incoming calls.

For people who are considering using this with a callthrough based in another country, it is worth noting the following from the T's and C's:
do u have any idea how to use call through service for pakistan.as u know calling pakistan is really expensive.


Title: Re: O2 unveils £10 international calling bolt-on deal
Post by: petkow on October 26, 2010, 10:54:04 PM
do u have any idea how to use call through service for pakistan.as u know calling pakistan is really expensive.
Not using this service in any case. For general tips on calling Pakistan, this will be covered in detail in other threads.


Title: Re: O2 unveils £10 international calling bolt-on deal
Post by: Goodman on October 27, 2010, 02:37:58 PM
As usual call me is not available in India.



Title: Re: O2 unveils £10 international calling bolt-on deal
Post by: srikanth.nuli on October 27, 2010, 03:11:06 PM
As usual call me is not available in India.

Ramakant

Goodman, what do you mean by 'call me' ?


Title: Re: O2 unveils £10 international calling bolt-on deal
Post by: petkow on October 27, 2010, 04:17:12 PM
As usual call me is not available in India.
Yes this is a shame but not exactly unexpected. The Indian Government still does not allow DID's to be sold on the open market.

Goodman, what do you mean by 'call me' ?
I take it you have not read any of the OP, the thread or the linked o2 page that talks about this service?


Title: Re: O2 unveils £10 international calling bolt-on deal
Post by: ganjbakhash on October 27, 2010, 05:56:48 PM
bad news pakistan is not in the list
https://if.o2.co.uk/templates/home.aspx

So sad to hear that Pakistan is not in the bolt-on list. As wali asked, only the way to connect Pakistan could be any call-through, but I am sure that would be considered as abuse....... :-\


Title: Re: O2 unveils £10 international calling bolt-on deal
Post by: bigb18b on October 29, 2010, 08:12:34 AM
thats really good isnt it?if u using calling card its cheaper for u to use o2 10 bolton
thanks


Title: Re: O2 unveils £10 international calling bolt-on deal
Post by: wali on October 30, 2010, 02:57:23 AM
thats really good isnt it?if u using calling card its cheaper for u to use o2 10 bolton
thanks
how can u say calling cards are cheaper.they r really expensive for pakistan.o2 boltone would have been a great option but.........


Title: Re: O2 unveils £10 international calling bolt-on deal
Post by: sriks on October 30, 2010, 07:30:04 PM
o2 is giving the 3000 minutes fnf again :)

you can call india for 3000 minutes for £10

With International Favourites from O2, you can call up to five favourite people in 60 countries. You also get a Call Me Number – giving friends and contacts in a selected country a way to ring you on your O2 mobile without paying international charges. One monthly price. No additional charges

For £10 a month, you get 3000 minutes of landline calls to three international numbers*.
For £20 a month, you get 3000 minutes of landline calls and another 200 minutes of mobile calls to five international numbers*.

For more Info : http://www.o2.co.uk/internationalfavourites

look carefully at the T & C's

* More information: You get 3000 minutes a month to international landlines. And great news, calls to mobiles in Canada, China, Hong Kong, India, Puerto Rico, Singapore and the USA are also included in the 3000 minute allowance. Calls to mobiles in other supported countries are included in the 200 minutes allowance available on the £20 Bolt On. These calls are included in the International Favourites Bolt On, and you won't be charged anything extra. You get another 3000 minutes of calls from your Call Me Number to your O2 mobile. Only certain countries are available. Terms apply.


Title: Re: O2 unveils £10 international calling bolt-on deal
Post by: delaro on October 30, 2010, 07:55:01 PM

The Outbound Countries are:
Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Brazil, Brunei , Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, South Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macau, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Reunion, Romania, Russia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, South Africa, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, United States, Venezuela


The Inbound Countries are:
Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Romania, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, South Africa, Sweden, United States.


Title: Re: O2 unveils £10 international calling bolt-on deal
Post by: BJ on October 30, 2010, 08:53:57 PM
o2 is giving the 3000 minutes fnf again :)

Your a tad late telling us  ;D

Their is already a long thread on this very subject  which has been running for a while now ;)

See http://www.foneforum.co.uk/index.php/topic,1761.0.html


Title: Re: O2 unveils £10 international calling bolt-on deal
Post by: mobaholic on October 30, 2010, 09:00:22 PM

You are totally right BJ.       :)

But I would rather have 2 members post a topic, than risk it being omitted.  Wouldn't you ?        :-\



Title: Re: O2 unveils £10 international calling bolt-on deal
Post by: Goodman on October 30, 2010, 09:02:16 PM
Yes this is a shame but not exactly unexpected. The Indian Government still does not allow DID's to be sold on the open market.
I take it you have not read any of the OP, the thread or the linked o2 page that talks about this service?

Lets hope some day they will allow it.


Title: Re: O2 unveils £10 international calling bolt-on deal
Post by: BJ on October 30, 2010, 09:26:46 PM
You are totally right BJ.       :)

But I would rather have 2 members post a topic, than risk it being omitted.  Wouldn't you ?        :-\



  ??? I was merely pointing it out to save members time as the first thread on the subject  contains lots of useful info.


Title: Re: O2 unveils £10 international calling bolt-on deal
Post by: mobaholic on October 30, 2010, 09:29:46 PM
 ??? I was merely pointing it out to save members time as the first thread on the subject  contains lots of useful info.

Yes no problem BJ,  I agree with you.       :)



Title: Re: O2 unveils £10 international calling bolt-on deal
Post by: petkow on October 31, 2010, 05:14:45 PM
But I would rather have 2 members post a topic, than risk it being omitted.  Wouldn't you ?        :-\
???
So why not merge them now?


Title: Re: O2 unveils £10 international calling bolt-on deal
Post by: petkow on October 31, 2010, 05:19:45 PM
how can u say calling cards are cheaper.they r really expensive for pakistan.o2 boltone would have been a great option but.........
I think he is actually trying to say that this bolt on is cheaper than prepaid calling cards (not the other way around). i.e. 3000min for £10 is cheaper than most(all?) telephone cards available. It does actually work out as amazingly good value for prepaid users, as if you are using a calling card from a prepaid mobile, you still have to think about the cost of calling the access number. With this, it's all thrown in!



Title: Re: O2 unveils £10 international calling bolt-on deal
Post by: mobaholic on November 01, 2010, 10:57:27 AM
???
So why not merge them now?

Have done now !       :)



Title: Re: O2 unveils £10 international calling bolt-on deal
Post by: pease on April 05, 2011, 11:46:27 PM
Hi. any one know if any of Mikael's  Irish service work with this international bolt-on or any other callthrough. Thanks.


Title: Re: O2 unveils £10 international calling bolt-on deal
Post by: davegr on April 06, 2011, 12:12:15 AM
It wouldn't let me add any of Mikael's Irish numbers. I haven't tried with anything else.