Betamax Dialnow has more 0c/min destinations

petkow · 26-03-2008, 14:21

The surcharge or different rate is probably the case with Dialnow too. Haven't really felt the urge to test that.

Dialnow confuses me. It has no connection fee, does not appear to have "freedays" but yet they have these 0c/min destinations. Seems a no-brainer to me!

For people in the UK, where you have a surplus of free SIM card offers you can use the free credit to open an account via SMS topup and then make free calls to many destinations (or even if they change them to no longer free they are still about the lowest rate I can find).

I used a freebie SIM from BT Mobile but I suppose you could use Virgin UK etc. It's also worth mentioning for other PPGSM readers abroad who are maintaining UK SIM's and if you have surplus or free credit (e.g. if you are crediting the SIMs to keep them active) it is possible to do Betamax SMS topups via shortcodes even whilst roaming. You just have to remember to select UK as your country when registering the Betamax service in order to activate the SMS topup option.

It is also worth mentioning that with Dialnow you do not have to use the credit from the phone that you are topping up from. e.g. I have just topped up from a UK free SIM and am using the credit from a Spanish phone. Just remember to specify the number you will be using the service from first and then do the topup from the other phone. The system is primarily driven by CLI, (which recognises you) though if you want to use it from another phone you can enter a PIN.

The only downside is that for a £5 text they only credit you €4.30. Pretty poor conversion, but not bad if the £5 was free credit. However, I have also experienced that due to some bug they give you 2 topups (€8.60) for a single £5 debit!

Mephisto · 25-04-2008, 13:35

Hello to all,
just to make sure that I got it right - I have a flatrate contract with 02 where I pay E 20 per month and get to call all "Deutscher Festnetz" (German Landlines, if my dictionary is correct) for free. I need to call Canada. So, I sign up with DialNow, pay their fees, dial their German local access number (as Motel told me it seems like a landline number), then dial the Canadian number, and I can talk for basically free? Is it possible that 02 might kind of sort of see through this method, and start charging me for a direct call to Canada even though I use DialNow? I am paying 0.89/minute if I call Canada directly, and my Bill comes in one month. During this month I will probably talk for at least 4 hours a day, 5 days a week, for 4 weeks. What's the chance that I will have something like a E 1000 calling fee showing up on that first bill...?
Cheers,
Pawel

Edit:

There is a clause on the 02 website which says the following:

"Inlandsgespräch ins dt. Festnetz außer Sonderrufnummern, Mehrwertdienste und Rufumleitungen."

http://shop2.o2online.de/nw/produkte...haupt-art.html

This relates to the flatrate calls to German landlines. Can someone who knows German, or has experience with this service can pipe in and help explain whether this means that calling the DialNow number will be considered a "special number"?

Thanks a lot,

Cheers,
pawel

dg7feq · 25-04-2008, 15:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mephisto

Hello to all,
just to make sure that I got it right - I have a flatrate contract with 02 where I pay E 20 per month and get to call all "Deutscher Festnetz" (German Landlines, if my dictionary is correct) for free. I need to call Canada. So, I sign up with DialNow, pay their fees, dial their German local access number (as Motel told me it seems like a landline number), then dial the Canadian number, and I can talk for basically free? Is it possible that 02 might kind of sort of see through this method, and start charging me for a direct call to Canada even though I use DialNow?

Hi, they will not charge you for the call. BUT: please remark that o2 recently barred the connection to several calling card access numbers, voice chats and other landline numbers where they detected heavy usage. Seems they dont mean "flat rate" if they sell one...

Chris

Mephisto · 25-04-2008, 17:01

Hi dg7feq,
do you know of other services like DialNow? I will try to check out this service, but if it's barred like you said it might be - which other one would you recommend?
Your response is greatly appreciated, by the way!

Cheers,
Pawel

	(#1)
petkow (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Pioneer Posts: 696 Join Date: 01 Aug 2006 Location: Madrid Country:	26-03-2008, 14:21 The surcharge or different rate is probably the case with Dialnow too. Haven't really felt the urge to test that. Dialnow confuses me. It has no connection fee, does not appear to have "freedays" but yet they have these 0c/min destinations. Seems a no-brainer to me! For people in the UK, where you have a surplus of free SIM card offers you can use the free credit to open an account via SMS topup and then make free calls to many destinations (or even if they change them to no longer free they are still about the lowest rate I can find). I used a freebie SIM from BT Mobile but I suppose you could use Virgin UK etc. It's also worth mentioning for other PPGSM readers abroad who are maintaining UK SIM's and if you have surplus or free credit (e.g. if you are crediting the SIMs to keep them active) it is possible to do Betamax SMS topups via shortcodes even whilst roaming. You just have to remember to select UK as your country when registering the Betamax service in order to activate the SMS topup option. It is also worth mentioning that with Dialnow you do not have to use the credit from the phone that you are topping up from. e.g. I have just topped up from a UK free SIM and am using the credit from a Spanish phone. Just remember to specify the number you will be using the service from first and then do the topup from the other phone. The system is primarily driven by CLI, (which recognises you) though if you want to use it from another phone you can enter a PIN. The only downside is that for a £5 text they only credit you €4.30. Pretty poor conversion, but not bad if the £5 was free credit. However, I have also experienced that due to some bug they give you 2 topups (€8.60) for a single £5 debit!

	(#2)
Mephisto (Offline) Junior Member Amateur Member Posts: 13 Join Date: 14 Apr 2008 Country:	25-04-2008, 13:35 Hello to all, just to make sure that I got it right - I have a flatrate contract with 02 where I pay E 20 per month and get to call all "Deutscher Festnetz" (German Landlines, if my dictionary is correct) for free. I need to call Canada. So, I sign up with DialNow, pay their fees, dial their German local access number (as Motel told me it seems like a landline number), then dial the Canadian number, and I can talk for basically free? Is it possible that 02 might kind of sort of see through this method, and start charging me for a direct call to Canada even though I use DialNow? I am paying 0.89/minute if I call Canada directly, and my Bill comes in one month. During this month I will probably talk for at least 4 hours a day, 5 days a week, for 4 weeks. What's the chance that I will have something like a E 1000 calling fee showing up on that first bill...? Cheers, Pawel Edit: There is a clause on the 02 website which says the following: "Inlandsgespräch ins dt. Festnetz außer Sonderrufnummern, Mehrwertdienste und Rufumleitungen." http://shop2.o2online.de/nw/produkte...haupt-art.html This relates to the flatrate calls to German landlines. Can someone who knows German, or has experience with this service can pipe in and help explain whether this means that calling the DialNow number will be considered a "special number"? Thanks a lot, Cheers, pawel Last edited by Mephisto; 25-04-2008 at 13:48..

	(#4)
Mephisto (Offline) Junior Member Amateur Member Posts: 13 Join Date: 14 Apr 2008 Country:	25-04-2008, 17:01 Hi dg7feq, do you know of other services like DialNow? I will try to check out this service, but if it's barred like you said it might be - which other one would you recommend? Your response is greatly appreciated, by the way! Cheers, Pawel