Cheap Calls Glossary

Telecommunications tariffs

Tariffs are an open contract between a telecommunications service provider and the public, filed with a regulating body such as a Public Utilities Commission. Tariffs outline the terms and conditions of providing telecommunications service to the public including rates, fees, and charges.

Pay as you go service

Pay as you go (Prepaid) mobile phones resemble other mobile phones, except in manner of billing. Prepaid mobile phones operate by a user’s purchase of mobile services in advance of using them. By purchasing credit to use on a mobile phone network, a user can access a mobile phone network without ongoing billing. Users can then use the mobile phone to the limit of their credit. The pay as you go service allows customers to top-up their prepayment credit balance using an swipe card or by using a debit or credit card via phone or their network website.

Contract service

Contract service plans allow customers to enter into a 12 month as well as the more heavily advertised 18 month contract, or even into a 24 month contract. These contracts, known as talk plans, enable customers to pay monthly for calling minutes, texts, Multimedia Messaging Services (MMS), and Mobile Data services, either over the aging General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), or their 3G data network which uses HSDPA. Per minute call charges are generally lower than on pay as you go packages.

Vodafone

Vodafone Group Plc is a mobile network operator headquartered in Newbury, Berkshire, England, UK. It is the largest mobile telecommunications network company in the world by turnover and has a market value of about £100 billion (December 2007).

O2

Telefónica O2 Europe plc (known prior to March 2006 as O2 plc and prior to March 2005 as mmO2 plc, and styled in its logotype as O2, like the chemical symbol) is a European telecommunications company delivering both fixed and mobile communication products.

T-Mobile

T-Mobile is a group of mobile phone corporate subsidiaries (all under the ownership of Deutsche Telekom) that operate GSM and UMTS networks in Europe and the United States. Globally, T-Mobile has 101 million subscribers, making it the world's sixth largest mobile phone service provider by subscribers and the third largest multinational after the United Kingdom's Vodafone and Spain's Telefonica.

Orange

Orange UK is a mobile network operator and internet service provider in the United Kingdom which is owned by Orange SA, a subsidiary of France Télécom.

3

3 is a brand used for nine mobile telecommunications networks in Europe, Asia and Australia. Hutchison Whampoa holds a direct or indirect, majority or minority interest in all of them. All 3-branded networks emphasize their offering of "mobile multimedia" and provide 3G technology. 3 aggressively markets new handsets and services and launches new products regularly, lately focusing on Mobile TV and Skype services. As with other 3G networks around the world, 3 allows video calling and fast internet access from most of its handsets.

Virgin Mobile

Virgin Mobile is a brand used by several mobile phone service providers operating in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, South Africa, the United States and France. The international Virgin Mobile businesses each act as independent entities, usually in a partnership between Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group and an existing phone company. Virgin Group provides the brand, and the phone company operates the network infrastructure.

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