Non-geographical numbers

[Carol Anne]

Are these (0870) numbers technically necessary to route calls to call centres etc, Ie. could companies simply have regular phone numbers if they so wished. Or are these numbers just another way of screwing money out of the unsuspecting public?

[auzzie]

Yep,all down to money.

[Ethel]

It drives me mad. It hides where the company is, and if you are non-bt the calls can be expensive. I refuse point blank to call them.

I use this site to find the proper geographical telephone number,


http://www.saynoto0870.com/search.php

Very often it is the head office, and they don't take kindly to callers. In my view that's just tough. I insist they put me through to the proper department or give me an alternative geographical number. It hasn't failed me yet.

[dave80]

0870 numbers were a good thing in the early days (1990s). They cost no more than a national call and allowed a company to publish one phone number and then route calls to different call centres as they wished.

Back then (1990s), 0845 numbers cost no more than a local call. You could phone a company at the other end of the country at a cheap rate. This helped the consumer a lot.

Both numbers were revenue share, but the call cost was capped from landlines. From mobiles, these calls were expensive.

Since 2005, calls to 01 and 02 numbers from landlines are free within inclusive minutes.

0845 and 0870 numbers, being chargeable, no longer had a pricing advantage. They had become "premium rate" in all but name.

For the few callers that still pay for 01 and 02 calls there is one "geographic" rate, no such thing as "local rate" any more.

It is illegal to refer to 084 or 087 numbers as "local rate", "lo-call" rate or "national rate". Complain to the ASA if you see this.

0844 and 0871 numbers started in 2000. These are pure revenue share numbers - up to 5 p per minute for 0844 and up to 10 p per minute revenue share for 0871. BT are regulated to make no profit on these, so pass on all of the price you pay as revenue share. Other operators add their profit margin to the call price and hence charge more.

Mobile operators add massive profit margins to the call price for 084 and 087 numbers, often charging 30 to 40 p per minute.

With rising complaints about 0870 numbers, Ofcom removed revenue share from 0870 numbers in 2009 and made these calls inclusive from landlines. This didn't help mobile users.

BT expected Ofcom to remove revenue share from 0845 and made those inclusive too. Ofcom didn't proceed with that, so BT now has to subsidise those calls.

The public are still confused. 0844 and 0871 are different types of numbers to 0845 and 0870 and work differently.

All of them are revenue share (except 0870 from 2009 to 2013) but this fact is usually hidden.

Ofcom is now moving to fix things properly. In 2013, several changes are expected:

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

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

- 0845 will align with 0844 and 0843.

- The Consumer Rights Directive will force 084 and 087 users to move customer service and other similar functions to 03 numbers.

- 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 ) under the "unbundled tariffs" proposals.

03 numbers were introduced in 2007. These are usable in inclusive minutes from landlines and from mobiles. 03 numbers cost the same as 01 and 02 numbers if you have to pay (i.e. from pay as you go mobiles and from landlines without call packages).

In the early days, 0845 and 0870 were of benefit to landline users but penalised mobile users. After 2005, both numbers penalised all users. After 2009, 0870 benefitted landline users but not mobile users, and 0845 benefitted only BT landline users.

0844 and 0871 numbers (and the later 0843 and 0872 numbers) benefitted no users at any point. They are pure revenue share numbers and have never been aligned with "local" or "national" rates.

03 numbers benefit both landline and mobile users alike.

The end result is that 084 and 087 will clearly be seen to be revenue share numbers and 03 will be "inclusive" numbers that are effectively "free" for most callers and the same price as 01 and 02 for those that have to pay.

See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-geographic_telephone_numbers_in_the_United_Kingdom#History_of_non-geographic_prefixes