Please does anybody have any ideas for an alternative to the 0870 number of Victor Street Surgery in Southampton?  This is a general practice surgery, and has caused a lot of annoyance with its introduction of an 0870 number.

Details are

0870 890 2444
Victor Street Surgery
Victor Street
Shirley
Southampton
SO15 5SY

Beware that there are number of web-sites out there still listing their pre-0870 number

023 8077 4781

However, this number no longer works.

Thanks for any help given

Very unlikely, I'm afraid. The number obviously won't be on the internet and the only people who know it are NEG. The only suggestion is to use the Freedom of Information Act to request it. See posts in the "Geographical chat" section. To date, there are no reports of anyone successfully getting the geographical number from their surgery.

It is also possible that there isn't a geographical alternative. It may use the internet to transport such calls, although if that goes down then it leaves the practice without incoming calls. I suppose NEG will just play music and "Sorry, there is a technical problem, please hold." ::)

It appears that the 0870 890 is allocated to Telstra, which is part of NEG. So this is one practice which has been taken in by NEG's selling tactics.