I've just joined & think this is a great idea. Having just rec'd my phone bill I'm livid 'cos it contained £14  just on 0870 no's.
  This is more galling because I took out a cheap mobile deal for all my calls & then found that 0870 calls are not included  in free minutes(even tho not in their T&Cs) so I started using my NTL line just for 0870 thinking they were cheap. I only realised how expensive they are when they were all lumped together.
I also get Brodband from Ntl which now seems expensive, I've seen EFH on this site & would like to change but is this the most economical bearing in mind I have to pay BT for a new line & NTL is free if you have cable,perhaps ditching them & getting Sky would be the best option?

I bet when you complained to the mobile company, saying this is a national rate number, therefore most people would assume it to be included in a category that includes all national numbers ...

No, that is a premium rate number

- that's what T-mobile told me nearly 2 years ago. No info in their shops, photocopied leaflet sent from head office, after 4 complaints

That's when I started looking up numbers on old statements, ferry brochures; it still took me 2 years to get here.

The mobiles problem is even more complicated, I got a letter from O2 some months ago now, buried deep in the 'new' conditions was the fact that 0871 numbers would now be charged at 35p / minute !!!  ???
I dont know if anyone has ever tried getting O2 to actually declare their pricing for 0871, it dosnt appear on any of their price lists, if you ring them no-one has any idea. I suspect that very soon they will bury something in for 0870 / 0845, on my monthly tariff they are included at the moment.

i don't think this is possable.

Ofcom have caped all 087 numbers at 10p

35p? crazy talk

No, I think you will find that the capping only applies to Landline, not to mobiles. So far as I can see there is no limit for calls FROM a mobile. Ofcom seem to say that competition is regulation enough. But of course, as we all well know, there is no real competition, lok at the rates for mobile companies, they are all basically the same.
I have found the notification from O2, and it clearly states that it will now be 35p for 0871.

cheers

Flutty
:(

wrote on Feb 4^th, 2005 at 4:32pm:

No, I think you will find that the capping only applies to Landline, not to mobiles. ...

Having read the 'NTS Options for the Future' consultation document, it seems that these price specifications only apply to BT. I presume even other landline providers can charge what they want, or as Ofcom put it, "it is down to the commercial discretion of a provider".

The 084/087 rip-off is just the tip of the iceburg as far as I can see. The prices mobiles charge is far to high for the service we receive. Why does it still cost in the region of 30 to 50p/min to call another network? Even on 'contract' tariffs, this is the case when outside inclusive minutes!!

Further to the discussion about 0871 from a mobile, take a look at this site, it spells out what each provider charges for 0871 calls.
But of course, 08xx group numbers are only National Call rates, what a joke !!!

http://www.0871global.com/mobiles.asp

;D

Love that 0871global site.  Their blurb starts, "We believe that all customers should be told exactly what calls to our services cost, so we have put together the price guide shown below."

They're based in central London so should have an 020 7xxx xxxx number.

And yet their contact numbers are:

Tel:  0707 931 3406
Fax: 0707 931 3407

And the cost of calls to those numbers?

47.5p/minute at all times!

So much for ""We believe that all customers should be told exactly what calls to our services cost....."

I'm not averse to using an 0871 number to call a foreign mobile (maybe Liechtenstein ...) from a landline, though to use theirs for Eu landlines is steep.

As for their 070... , it looks rather like you could chance an 020 substitution

Further to the 0870 / 0871 costs from a mobile, here is the reply I have had from O2, I suspect that many other operators have sneaked these charges up as well.


Quote:

O2 With regards to the charges for 0870 and 0871 numbers, please know that both 0871 and 0870 numbers are charged at 35p per minute. Calls to 0871 numbers will not be eligible for bundle minutes, however calls to 0870 are numbers are eligible for bundle minutes,

Have I heard this correctly.  0870 numbers are included in 02 inclusive minutes!!

What tariff are you on?  I have the 200 minutes a month to any network anytime, plus 50 texts.

So (on O2) they're part of the inclusive minutes, but they cost 35p to buy outside that!? I've never understood why mobile providers can charge (what some misleadly call) 'line rental' and then charge (roughly) as much as those who don't (ie those on pay as you go).

What a rip-off it all is!

I am on an old 'Genie' tariff with O2, but it would be interesting for other forum members to email their Mobile company and ask the same question.
I understand that the old 'Genie' tariffs are to be 'migrated', as O2 so quaintly put it, to current tariffs shortly, so we all lose out again.

wrote on Feb 4^th, 2005 at 4:32pm:

No, I think you will find that the capping only applies to Landline, not to mobiles. :(

Actually, the 'capping' applies to all originating service providers (landline and mobile) but is unenforced (OFCOM might argue unenforceable although I'm not convinced).

It varies on the tariff. Many O2 tariffs have 0870, not 0871, numbers included on the inclusive minutes bundle.

If it's an off-peak bundle then daytime minutes are possibly 35p. On anytime tariffs tend to be 10p, after the included ones. Mine has 15, 5, 2 for day, evening, weekend, but that's an old one.

So it isn't quite the rip-off that some reactions would imply. I have 50 minutes a month, paid upfront for life. Nowadays I save this for 0870 calls.

edit - changed 'probably' 35p to 'possibly', as some are 30p