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0870 and 0845 free with BT?

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scaniavabis | 17:21 Sun 18th Jan 2009 | Home & Garden
15 Answers
When BT advertise that 0845 and 0870 nubers are now free, they end the advert with "within your inclusive call time"
Anyone know what that means exactly?

I'm on BT a landline and my calls are free after 6pm and at weekends.
Does this mean I'll still pay for 0870 when outside those times and free within them or will they be free all the time?

Confused
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Basically it means:~
When 0870 and 90845 numbers were chargeable to you (outside evenings and weekends) they will now be free.
Of course at Evenings and Weekends they will still be free (as they were before) as you get calls free then.
So you will get them free all the time.
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sorry Mr Veritas but I don't think 0870's have ever been free to anyone at any time.

Glad you think that's pretty clear BigDave! But the best I can get from it is that 0845 and 0870 are not free during the day even when BT say they are for 90% of the advert and then they stick the little bit on the end saying it's not. Very clear!
So sorry,I am confusing you AND myself.
But as it's BT we are talking about that's not difficult is it! LOL
I am now about to ring BT to clarify this,I shall return!
I have returned!
Now,as I wrong before,I am right now (thanks to BT Customer Service).
What it means is,as 0845 and 0870 numbers were NOT included in your "Free Call" periods previously (Evenings and Weekends) they WILL be now,but not outside these hours ( week daytime in other words).
I only have free weekend calls, so I will only get free 0845 and 0870 numbers then.
I hope this is clear,or have I thrown up more problems?
I hope not! LOL
You've made my blood boil even mentioning these numbers.

There is no need for them whatsoever, the days when you were charged more to phone a number that was 50 miles than next door is long gone and no telephone company does this.

If the numbers were geographical (standard numbers) they would be included in 'free minutes' or 'included minutes' packages as well as cheap or free to call for everybody else.

It costs me a lot of money to call these numbers and I refuse to use them.
http://www.saynoto0870.com/
Question Author
Cheers Veritas, the truth is out. So much for free eh?

I wish I'd a quid for every time I'd tried to use saynoto0870. It's fine for the likes of Sky and such but the majority of the people I ring don't have a geographical alternative and don't operate outside of office hours so it looks like I'm going to carry on stumping up...grumble...grumble
If there is no geographical number I either email the company with my complaint / concern / query or write to them and ask them to call me.,
Wow! Mr Veritas got through to BT Customer Services, had his query answered, and posted their reply on here, all within 11 minutes! That must be an entry for the Guinness Book of Records! lol.
thanks for posting about the "saynoto0870numbers" site. I was set for a long call this morning to my recently cancelled ISP on a 0845 number but after finding this thread and reading the info I rang them on a freephone number shown and although I went to a wrong dept they transferred me with no problem. Cheers!
I've got a couple of comments:

1. 0845 is not a telephone code - it's what 's known as a shared-revenue Number Translation Service (NTS). 'Shared-revenue' means that the holder of the number gets a cut of the income; NTS means it's a number that 'translates' into a normal phone number (in this case, for revenue generation).
Therefore, anyone with an 08 or 09 number has a 'real' one underlying it - and you can find that by looking in an old phone book, on the web site, at saynoto0870, etc.;

2. 0845 is not free to BT subscribers - only those on certain 'packages' - and at certain times (depending on the 'package'.

Hope that helps.

Hi

Just to clarify, I have watched video recordings of BT's alleged 'free' calls to 0845 and 0870 telephone numbers.

Nobody trawls through pages of small print. If we see something advertised, we expect it to be true (at least if produced by a so-called 'reputable' company).

The truth is "within your inclusive call time" means within your call plan. This means if you normally receive weekend and evening calls free of charge, then your '0845' numbers will also be free. BUT you will be charged at other times.

The fact is the advertisement was designed to be misleading. The term 'calling plan' was not mentioned - "inclusive call time" was. They do not sound the same and I believe this was a deliberate to deceive the viewer.

Also, because the condition was bolted onto the very end of the advertisement, I think viewers of the advertisement would already have psycholigically conditioned themselves to receiving 0845 calls for free ALL the time. In the first part of the advertisement it is said: "unlike most other companies, calls to 0845 and 0870 telephone numbers are now free". The actor in the advertisement emphasises the word "free".

Overall, an advertisment designed to deceive but seemingly remain within legal guidelines (which obviously need to be re-examined). I must say that as a very busy person, I too was expecting free calls all the time. I am now disputing my bill with BT for charges on 0845 and 0870 numbers made outside of my "inclusive call time". Only problem is that I have to deal first with 'robotic' staff in a call centre in India - another reason for BT to get my blood boiling.

Final words? BT = Charlatans
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_uoJ6CGKeU
0845 numbers - NOT always 'free'
BT Calls are free to 0870 and 0845 numbers on certain contracts, but everyone is now switching to 0844 and 0871... I woudl recommend using www.0870alternative.com or www.saynoto0870.com
0870 and 0845 numbers have been inclusive from BT landlines only since 2009. They are inclusive only at the same time of day that 01 and 02 numbers are inclusive in your call package. At all other times you will be charged for the call.

Some of the other landline operators allow 0870 as inclusive calls, but not 0845 numbers.

0843, 0844, 0871 and 0872 numbers are never inclusive.

084 and 087 numbers (with the exception of 0870 from 2009 onwards) are all revenue share numbers.

Whenever you see an 084 or 087 number advertised, replace the 08 with 03 (keeping the rest of the digits the same as before) and see what you get. It will either be answered by the correct company or will lead to a "number not yet in service" error message. 034 and 037 numbers are reserved for the users of the matching 084 and 087 numbers.

If the 03 number doesn't work, then http://www.saynoto0870.com/ might list an 01 or 02 number that you can ring instead. Recognising that some 08 numbers cannot be called from abroad, a number of companies advertise an alternative UK 01 or 02 number to call. Use this number or an 03 number whenever you can.

03 numbers were introduced in 2007. These are usable in inclusive minutes from landlines and from mobiles. If you have to pay for calling 03 numbers, (i.e. from pay as you go mobiles and from landlines without inclusive minutes) they cost exactly the same as 01 and 02 numbers.



Before 2005, 0870 was aligned to "national rate" and 0845 was aligned to "local rate". In 2005, landline operators scrapped the price differential for local and national calls, instead charging a single "geographic" rate for 01 and 02 numbers. They also introduced call packages with "inclusive" calls of up to one hour per call to all 01 and 02 numbers. At that point, "local rate" and "national rate" ceased to exist.

0845 and 0870 numbers, being chargable and non-inclusive, had overnight become expensive in comparison to calling 01 and 02 numbers. As they included a revenue-share element, "a premium", in the call price, they had in effect become "premium rate".

0844 and 0871 numbers have always been revenue share numbers and have never had any link with "local" or "national" call prices. These are never inclusive. 0843 and 0872 are newer and follow the same rules. Call prices for these from BT lines are capped. BT are not allowed to make profit on these calls.

Since 2009, 0845 and 0870 numbers are usable within "inclusive minutes" in BT packages. Ofcom removed revenue sharing from 0870 and made 0870 "inclusive" in 2009. BT expected Ofcom to remove revenue sharing from 0845 too. BT made 0845 "inclusive" but Ofcom didn't proceed with the expected changes. BT currently subsidises calls to 0845 numbers.

It's now 0843, 0844, 0871 and 0872 numbers that are the expensive ones from landlines. These are revenue share numbers. In comparison, most people can ring 01 and 02 numbers for up to one hour at no cost since call packages were introduced in the early 2000s.

Ofcom propose cleaning up the 084 and 087 number ranges. In 2013, several changes are expected:

- 0870 will return to revenue share and align with 0871 and 0872 revenue sharing numbers.

- 0845 and 0870 will no longer be inclusive calls from landlines.

- 0845 will align with 0844 and 0843 revenue sharing numbers.

- Price caps that apply to 084 and 087 numbers dialled from BT lines will be lifted.

- The Consumer Rights Directive will force many 084 and 087 users to move customer service and other similar functions to 03 numbers. This will benefit landline and mobile users alike.

- Users of 084 and 087 numbers will have to publish the revenue share that applies to their number (details http://www.ofcom.org.uk/static/numbering/s8_code.txt of amounts) under the new "unbundled tariffs" proposals.


The history is quite complicated, and detailed here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-geographic_telephone_numbers_in_the_United_Kingdom#History_of_non-geographic_prefixes

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