Bye Bye Tescointernetphone
 

Today, Tescointernetphone sent this email to its customers:

We are writing to let you know that from 27th April 2010, we will no longer be providing Tesco internet phone and Talk Wi-fi services. This is due to a number of factors that impact the service we provide to you, so we have decided to discontinue this offering.

From this date your Tesco internet phone account will be closed and the service will not be available. You will no longer be able to access your online account or be able to make calls using your Tesco internet phone.

This does not affect any other services provided by Tesco Telecoms.

We apologise for any inconvenience and will be happy to assist you with any enquiries you may have.

The Tesco internet phone team

__________________________


Watch out for lots of cheap IAX and SIP phones appearing on ebay!

This is because the supplier Freshtel (of which Tesco owned a share) was losing money on providing the service and negotiated to close it down.

Freshtel forecasts $1.25m loss - VoIP, freshtel holdings, ASX - Computerworld

That's why smart people usually hedge currencies if they do relevant business in other countries, especially if they come from Australia and so have a strong commodity-backed currency.

The chart shows the decline of the British Pound against the Aussie Dollar, which amounted to nearly 30% only last year and the exchange rate is still falling:
http://ichart.finance.yahoo.com/z?s=...=l&p=s&a=v&p=s

I fear that 30%-decline ate up Freshtel's margin in the UK.

OTOH it makes visits to the UK from us colonials 30% cheaper than last year :thumbup:

Heh. The Canadian dollar is worth more in pounds today than it was worth in US dollars in 2001. I love it.

But spare a thought for those of us who have property, investments and other interests tied up on that little island! :( I am back in the UK at the moment, and thinking in Euros, everything seems so cheap at the moment. The problem is the pounds that I live off here, are the same saved pounds that I had when they were worth almost 40% more!

The Pound-Euro parity (almost) is shocking! From what I was listening to yesterday, it's still got a long way more to fall! It sounds terrible, but all I can hope for now is that the PIGS* of the Euro zone will push the Euro down a bit as well! Fingers crossed!

* Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain

Actually I know how you feel. I have investments in the US. That was a smart thing to do when the CA$ was worth US$0.62 a few years ago. Now it's up to US$0.98 and is expected to go even higher.