Virgin puts up call connection charge

Virgin Media is to increase its call connection charge by a penny in November.

Virgin phone customers who do not take one of the cable operator's calling plans currently have 6p added to the cost of every call they make. The fee is also paid by customers who take one of Virgin's calling plans, such as Talk Weekends, when they make calls outside the times covered by the plan. From November, the charge - which is levied in addition to the per-minute call cost - will go up to 7p.

Calls to numbers with codes beginning 01 and 02 will also be more expensive per-minute to call, with phone calls made outside calling plans going up from 3p per minute to 3.25p per minute.

Virgin will also charge customers more to call mobiles at weekends. Currently, the operator offers discounted weekend rates for calls to mobile phone numbers; however, weekend rates will be abolished as of November 1 for calls to mobiles, 0845 numbers, and international destinations. On Virgin's 3p plan, a call to a T-Mobile phone currently costs 3.99p per minute at the weekend; from November 1st, that will go up to 24.98p per minute during the daytime (6am to 6pm) and 16.99p per minute in the evening.

However, Virgin is reducing the price of its calling plans. Talk Unlimited, which allows an unlimited number of calls to geographic numbers as long as users redial after 59 minutes, is dropping from £9.95 per month to £7.95. The cable operator will also slice 50p off Talk Evening and Weekends' current price of £3.95 per month. An additional 50p per month discount will be applied to the accounts of customers who sign up for e-billing.