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BT to Offer Free Internet Calls

Posted by samzenpus on from the call-everyone dept.

gnoos writes "The BBC is reporting that BT is to start offering customers free internet telephone calls if they sign up to broadband in December. The offer will be limited to the first 50,000 people who sign up and users will need to use BT's internet telephony software, known as BT Communicator"

3 of 195 comments (clear)

  1. MS only... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    Just so you don't have to go down a whole thread, the requirements are listed below.

    In short, Windoze only, and needs Internet Exploder and Flash as well. So tough if you're using any kind of alternatives with, say, a better security record.

    Thanks BT, but not very much.

    Minimum requirements
    Multimedia PC with 700MHz processor or faster *
    Microsoft Windows 98/Windows 2000/Windows Millennium/Windows XP operating system (XP recommended)
    Minimum 128MB RAM (256MB recommended)

    256-color VGA or higher resolution graphics card (SVGA recommended)
    Microsoft Internet Explorer version 5.01 or later
    Macromedia Flash version 5.0.25 or later (Flash version 6+ recommended).

  2. Avoid BT like the plague by cruachan · · Score: 3, Informative

    BT, together with their mobile subgroup O2 really are the worst company in the UK. I was ripped off by O2 on a mobile telephone bill to the tune of several hundred pounds and I know many others who have similar tales of woe. We also have an ISDN from BT themselves the service on which is truly dreadful.

    Of all the corporates I've ever dealt with in the UK BT are by far and away the worst, and that includes the various rail companies. No other company comes close for their attitude of not giving a toss about their customers, indeed they are the only corporate I know which actively seems to go out of their way to treat their customers with contempt.

    Avoid.

  3. For all the people asking "so what?" by lga · · Score: 3, Informative

    There's a large number of posts further up this discussion just not getting it. Here is my summary of what is different about this:

    BT communicator is just Yahoo messenger with VoIP software in it, that's nothing new. BT offers a gateway to the real phone network that they have been charging to the customers household phone bill at standard rates. That's nothing new either.

    What is new here and news worthy is that BT is giving away FREE PHONE CALLS TO THE REAL PHONE NETWORK from the VoIP phone until the 31st January 2006. That is what makes this story interesting.

    Steve.

    --
    A latent existence