BT has announced that it’s to move back the time its free evening calls start, from 6pm to 7pm, reports The Guardian.co.uk. While the move only involves moving back the time free evening calls begin by an hour, the move could anger several million of its customers.

The information has been sent out in letters from BT in the last few weeks and it also states that the end of the free evening call will move back from 6am to 7am.

There are around 10 million BT customers who are on packages which include free evening calls. However those customers on the Anytime package will be unaffected.

BT has said that while 6pm to 7pm is a busy time for calls they say these calls are only “short, organisational calls”. BT said the longest calls were between 8pm and 9pm when people actually sat down to chat.

However, BT has been criticised for the way they have informed customers of the changes. The letters and emails that have been sent to customers have begun by explaining that call charges on their account are staying the same but it’s only at the very bottom of the letter that BT informs customers of the change in the time free calls are available.

The price of calls during the day is to increase too from 5.4p per minute to 5.9p a minute. BT is also increasing the set-up fee for calls made outside the free call package from 9.3p to 9.9p per call. However, these alterations will not affect customers on BT Basic, Light User Scheme or In-Contact Plus schemes.

Last year over a million customers left BT and switched to other suppliers after they increased charges twice in a year. These new changes may well encourage customers to see if they can get a cheaper deal somewhere else.

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Source: The Guardian.co.uk

Microsoft will have a smile on their faces as it emerged that, largely down to its new Windows 7 Operating System, its quarterly profits have risen by 60%, reports The Daily Mail.

However, the results were not enough to impress investors as they proved to be just as expected and not what investors had hoped for. As a result Microsoft shares were largely flat in after-hours trading on Thursday.

Microsoft reported a net profit of $6.7billion for the second quarter compared with $4.2billion for the same period a year ago.

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Source: The Daily Mail (29.01.10)

Oak Telecom, a market leader in communications management solutions has secured a 12 month sponsorship agreement with Conjungo’s Go Understand Call Recording website. Conjungo, the technology suppler search facility, has produced a comprehensive, range of knowledge based websites which enable business managers to understand today’s technologies – something which could significantly benefit customers of Oak which specialises in Call Logging, Call Recording, CTI and Voicemail.

There are already more than 20,000 Oak systems installed in the UK, but with an increasing awareness of the tangible return on investment (ROI) that can be achieved by SME’s adopting call recording technology, Oak regard now is the time to be seen helping educate the vast SME community of the effectiveness of communications management solutions.

Joint CEO of Oak, Phil Reynolds, stated:

“The beauty of Conjungo’s Go Understand range of websites is the fact that there is no technical jargon, no strange terminology, just plain information to help buyers understand what technologies actually does and what the benefits are to them. Conjungo goes a long way to break down barriers to purchase by enabling potential customers to better understand the technologies that delivers real value”

In support of Oaks sponsorship, Dave Cruse, Conjungo’s CEO commented:

“We are delighted that Oak have taken the lead sponsorship, adding yet another highly credible brand to a plethora of world class vendors who value the solutions we deliver to the buying community”

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Source: comms-dealer.co.uk