IDD Calling card monoply pressure ?

[Boris]

In all my 5 yrs in HK I have used the Smile Chat Chat IDD calling card easily getting it at any 7 Eleven or Circle K. Less than 17c for a good connection giving 5 hrs of service for 50 bucks has been an excellent deal.

Buying my last card a few weeks ago proved a little more difficult having to go to a few outlets ( in Kennedy Town ) to get one. I thought that it might be -- just one of those days when they had not restocked.

Today I cannot get one anywhere here in KT and was only offered the PCCW Hello Phonecard. So I bought one even though there was no info on price. Now I have one and used it ---what a rip off.

27c a minute so only 3 hrs 5 min 11secs for the same money. Maybe its because PCCW are offering better profit per card ? It appears now that, at least in 7 Eleven / Circe K that PCCW have initiated a monopoly position.

I doubt the Smile have gone under and I will have to trek up to World Wide House and stock up on a few, but I feel a little hard done by from these guys.

Anyone else found that and if THEIR convenience store is offering a choice? If so what, so I can bring it to my local shops attention. I doubt the respective head offices will take any notice if they are getting a better return with PCCW.

[bookblogger]

Sounds like a job for PDLM...

[PDLM]

Er, well it would have been were I still employed... I know that plenty of competitors sell their cards in KT, but generally in the little shops that the helpers use since that is by far the biggest market for this type of service.

I also know that some of PCCW's competitors have looked repeatedly at getting their cards into 7-11. It isn't easy and it isn't cheap (but it is possible for a price that only one or two operators deem it worth paying).

Prepaid cards are almost never a simple "per minute" charge so you need to take a little care with your calculations. There is very often a "per call" connection charge as well and sometimes other more subtle charges. The best value from a prepaid card is always to use the whole card in one go, so consider getting some $20 cards as well (a number of the IDT cards have that denomination, for example).

Remember if you buy in Worldwide House (or other local shops) a "$50" card (which would cost $50 in 7-11) will probably only cost $40-42 so you have to factor that into the equation as well.

If you had a credit card I would say go with a postpaid service like IDT1529 - full itemised billing, and your card isn't billed until 14 days after the bill is sent out (unlike PCCW who hit your card before they send the bill out, which is outrageous in my opinion). And it's HK$0.18/min from a HK mobile to UK landline.

If you have a registered business here then your business could sign up for IDT1529's business service (if you make enough calls you can negotiate your tariff individually) since that is payable by cheque as well as credit card. It also comes with a very reasonably priced audio conference service and a calling card for use when abroad.

[Boris]

The PCCW card certainly has a " not connected " charge in comparison with Smile. If an answer machine clicks in, PCCW charge and Smile never has. It cost me 10% of the card value before I got to actually talk to someone.

Going to go on a local hunt for my favorite but 7 Eleven was the best for me as if I needed a card a 3 am it was there for me, rather than the other supplier NON convenience stores.

[PDLM]

Why don't you have 0060 or something on a postpaid basis? You don't need a credit card for that as far as I know (although they try to push you into using one). 0060 is currently HK$0.18/min to UK landline (rounded to the minute and then to the next 10 cents).

[shri]

I agree 17 cents is not that special a rate. Hgc wharf and a few others have very competitve rates to select locations. Many of these rates are negotiable even for small volume individual clients
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[Boris]

FYI - my post is not about rates or best service etc. But seem to me that maybe the convenience stores have turned to a monopoly supply rather than offering a choice. Especially when that " choice " is so expensive compared with other cards in the market.

For me the card behaves flawlessly in quality and service. I have used it for 5 yrs because of this. I have had 0060 and 15something and they had problems, as does this Hello card with " added value " for the supplier being built in to the operation mechanism of the service, as I have stated before.

[shri]

Well since you are looking for choices the most obvious one would be to point out something like 0080.

The while calling card thing is so 90s in my opinion.
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[PDLM]

Boris's problem, I believe, is that he requires an IDD service that he can use without a credit card. Not sure you can do that with 0080.

[shri]

Pdlm we get billed for both 0060 and 0080 for both office and residential phones my mobile is also tied into the same acct. Not linked to credit cards.

To be honest I am not sure how and when we set those accoutns up but I do not recall being asked for a credit card for any of the 00 accounts.
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