This is NOT a hoax........ Please Read!!!

[tim.....]

It is. BT was going through a bad patch when it introduced it.

tim

[Bob Eager]

I just posted the BT prices (expensive, but a lot cheaper than

8088-REVERSE) in a related thread in uk.telecom.

[Maria]

I'm curious about this - we moved in a year ago and we are ex-directory - BT say our number has not been used previously, and yet we must have had 15 calls in the past year like this - all young women's names.

[Soruk]

If I read it right, I think he meant he pays a monthly fee to give a 100% discount on the callback connection fee.

Like the old, discontinued Surftime where paying the Surftime fee gave you a 100% discount on the call charges to 0844 04 numbers. (Demon made a point of saying that they weren't "free calls", instead a discount scheme where the discount was 100%...)

[mick]

5p!!! Are you sure it wasn`t 2p:-) Take the bottles back, buy some sweets with the money then stick your last 2p in to listen to Dial a Disc.

Oh, we knew how to live in those days;-)

mick

[Col]

Did anybody seriously ever ring up dial-a-disc? I did once and recall that the sound quality was absolutely appaling.

[Edward Cowling London UK]

In message , Col writes

I remember once when a girlfriend left me she called dial a disc in Dusseldorf before she went and it was connected for about 18 hours until I got home.

I'm still paying off the loan to pay the bill :-)

[Mike Clarke]

We used real money in those days so it would have been 2d. But I can only remember as far back as when it was 4d for local calls with no time limit at all.

[mick]

No time limit? In a phonebox? Don`t remember that.

mick

[Owain]

I remember when the phonebox stopped taking 2p, and it was about the same time as the sweetie-shop persuased mum to up the daily allowance so I could have two ounces of something for 5p, instead of having to faff about weighing out 4p's worth of coconut mushrooms.

Owain

[Owain]

I phoned it once, on a Trimphone. I also phoned Swap Shop once, but didn't get through.

Owain

[Mike Clarke]

It was the old pre-STD phones where you put your money in and pressed "Button A" when the person at the other end answered. Automation had got as far as being able to dial local calls but long distance had to go through the operator. There was no automated timer so local calls were unlimited, on long distance calls the operator would interrupt you every 3 minutes to ask for more money.

[Spin Dryer]

[Maria], on Sun, 30 Dec 2007 02:48:15 +0000, said :-

You do realise that people just do this with guessed numbers ?

Just because your fone is ex-directory and previously unused doesn't mean that no-one can still guess it, including automatic machines that would previously received number not recognised.

[John Rumm]

Yup...

there is also a wrinkle in that the the star services are sold in bundles - of 1, 2 - 4, and 5+. So if you already are buying two services, adding callback does not cost any more on the fixed fee bit.

[Ivor Jones]

[snip]

: : Did anybody seriously ever ring up dial-a-disc? : : I did once and recall that the sound quality was : : absolutely appaling.

It was ok as I remember in the early 70's in the London Director area. 1p a call (from a landline, never tried from a payphone) in those days..!

Not sure of duration you got for 1p, think it was about 3 minutes, long enough to listen to most tracks, anyway.

Ivor

[Bob Eager]

At least it was better than the watercress trick...!

[Edward Cowling London UK]

In message , Bob Eager writes

She stapled up the arms in my best suit jacket as well... but the watercress trick ?...... tell all....

[Bob Eager]

Oh....water the carpet with a watering can, and sow watercress seeds...

[Mark Carver]

You're lucky, here in the sub-urban Blade Runner-style South East England 'Newtown' I don't think there are any TKs left within a couple of miles of here. There was one 200 yds away, but after being ram raided in August BT never bothered to replace it, and there's now just a 3 sq ft patch of quite nice turf in its place (surprised that's not been nicked yet).

[Ophelia]

Just spoilt to death you were!!!