How to beat hotel telephone charges with plug and play business VoIP from Cloud Net - 13/09/10
Posted by Cloud Net on Mon, Sep 13, 2010 @ 09:00 AM
I was lucky enough to stay in a hotel which actually gave a tariff
chart for phone usage. That allowed me to compile the chart below. I don’t think the charges are anything unusual for hotels in the UK - but wow, they are expensive. For example a five minute call to the USA would cost £5.61 at the hotel compared to 6.5p if you plugged in a Cloud Net phone. Five minutes to Japan would set you back a huge £14.31 compared to just under 40p with Cloud Net.
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Hotel
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Cloud Net
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Peak
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Off Peak
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One Rate
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% More Expensive
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Local
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1 min
|
0.250
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0.250
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|
0.012
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|
1983.333
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5 min
|
0.990
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0.250
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|
0.060
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316.667
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National
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|
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1 min
|
0.400
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0.250
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0.012
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1983.333
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5 min
|
1.980
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0.990
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0.060
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1550.000
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Mobile
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1 min
|
0.650
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0.610
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|
0.095
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542.105
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5 min
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3.230
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3.060
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0.475
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544.211
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France
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1 min
|
1.420
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1.330
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|
0.014
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|
9537.681
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5 min
|
7.110
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6.660
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0.069
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9552.174
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USA
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1 min
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1.180
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1.120
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0.013
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8515.385
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5 min
|
5.910
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5.610
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0.065
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8530.769
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Japan
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|
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1 min
|
3.370
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2.860
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|
0.080
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3497.484
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5 min
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16.860
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14.310
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|
0.398
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3495.477
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What I don’t understand is why hotels do this? No one actually pays these absurd rates because no one ever makes phone calls out. If they were to charge a sensible – although still inflated price – say like BT- then they might actually get some people using the system. Until then they have phones that no one uses for outgoing calls.
Of course if you do want to make out bound calls and receive inbound calls to your usual landline number the answer is clear – simply take along your Cloud Net phone and plug it in to the hotel’s internet (Cloud Net’s free phones come with a network cable so you can plug them in). Alternatively, if you have an iPhone, use Cloud Net’s new mobile PBX and connect over the hotel’s wifi service. That way, whether you use your Cloud Net phone or your Cloud Net’s mobile PBX, your hotel room can become your office for the day and your clients won’t know your location.