Can anybody advise me if you can call UK freephone numbers from abroad,or if there are still problems with some countries, or overseas carriers.

wrote on May 5^th, 2005 at 7:21am:

Can anybody advise me if you can call UK freephone numbers from abroad,or if there are still problems with some countries, or overseas carriers.

You can't dial UK Freephone numbers from abroad.

But you can use Universal Freephone numbers (single number multi country) +44800 normally up to 10 digits. But it will be dependant on which countries the service provider has selected to recieve calls from, approx 48 countries globally to chose from.

Or you can use International Freephone numbers which will be a number specific to a country and will look like an incountry national freephone number. e.g. USA it would normally start 1800 but can route back to the UK.

Conversely it is possible for UK 0800 numbers to be delivered overseas.

So in other words any UK ad,or programme which is being watched abroad which asks for a response to a normal freephone no, the caller would not get through.EG I could be in France watching Crimewatch dial 0500 500 500 because i had some info and i would not get through.Marvellous!!!

Do you happen to know what countries bar access to 0845 and 0870 numbers.

wrote on May 10^th, 2005 at 8:19pm:

So in other words any UK ad,or programme which is being watched abroad which asks for a response to a normal freephone no, the caller would not get through.EG I could be in France watching Crimewatch dial 0500 500 500 because i had some info and i would not get through.Marvellous!!!

Correct, that's why on some of the shopping channel ads you will see the country flag followed by a dedicated number. These will be International Freefone numbers usually all routing to the same call centre.


Quote:

Do you happen to know what countries bar access to 0845 and 0870 numbers.

It's not countries that bar access, but the telcos that operate in those countries. Typically the incumbent national operators (In Western Europe) will allow access to 0870. Access to 0845 is more hit and miss. Likewise with smaller players and certainly mobile operators you will have greater difficulty getting international access to 0870 and 0845.

Unfortunately there is no list available as when a new range (e.g.0870 601 **** or 0870 123 ****) is opened up by a UK operator e.g. BT or C&W, they will notify overseas administrations and request that the range is given access out of their international gateways, but it is pretty much a gentleman's agreement and doesn't always work.

In another go at 0870 David Derbyshire covers this subject today in the Daily Telegraph (p11).


juby

wrote on May 10^th, 2005 at 8:19pm:

So in other words any UK ad,or programme which is being watched abroad which asks for a response to a normal freephone no, the caller would not get through.EG I could be in France watching Crimewatch dial 0500 500 500 because i had some info and i would not get through.

ah but you could dial 0208 811 8181 instead! I belive this number goes thru to CW when its operational.

[quote author=Tungata link=board=news;num=1115277687;start=0#1 date=05/10/05 at 21:11:16]


You can't dial UK Freephone numbers from abroad.

But you can use Universal Freephone numbers (single number multi country) +44800 normally up to 10 digits. quote]

Close. To be displayed as +800 XXXX XXXX. Even then not all operators seem to be able to manage them. I believe that *&* had problems selling them to Land's End Clothing at the start and had to restore all the separate numbers.

wrote on Aug 5^th, 2005 at 9:28am:

In another go at 0870 David Derbyshire covers this subject today in the Daily Telegraph (p11). juby

You must have a different edition to me.  His piece on P.11 in mine is about a hovering vacuum cleaner!

wrote on May 10^th, 2005 at 8:11pm:

You can't dial UK Freephone numbers from abroad.

For the sake of accuracy, UK 0800, as with 0870, 0845, 0844 and 0871 numbers can, sometimes, be called from overseas. The important aspect is that there is no guarantee that they can be called from overseas (thus rendering the numbers somewhat pointless for emergency-type scenarios - credit card loss, insurance claims, health questions, banking etc), and even if they can be called, the costs are invariably much higher than calling a geographic alternative.

Given tourists often use calling cards, say $10 or EUR10 at a time, and given that 08X tend to use long queues, the calling card, where the call can actually be made, will not last long.

It is incorrect to state that 0800 cannot be called from overseas, it is correct, however, to say that it is often difficult and sometimes impossible to call such numbers from outside the UK

Some idea of calling costs to the UK from discount carriers here in the US. The descriptions of anything other than 01/02 numbers is often vague (audiotext, premium, specialized). On the face of it, the OneSuite rates to NGNs at 17.5c/minute do not look too bad, however the rates are almost eight times that for calling a normal number. I suspect the tel3advantage 2.5c rates for premium and personal are either a mistake, or that they are being fleeced! Note that these are only some selective examples, but typify the problems faced by international callers.

<<
http://www.iscard.com/rates/home.asp

United Kingdom  (44) $0.069
United Kingdom, Audiotext $0.490
United Kingdom, Mobile or Premium $0.490

http://www.onesuite.com/rates.asp

United Kingdom 44  $0.0220
United Kingdom-Mobile 44 7 $0.1750
United Kingdom-Mobile 44 8 $0.1750
United Kingdom-Mobile 44 9 $0.1750

http://www.tel3advantage.com/rates.aspx

United Kingdom 2.5¢
United Kingdom Freephone 19.3¢
United Kingdom Mobile - All Carriers 19.3¢
United Kingdom Other Specialized 19.3¢
United Kingdom Pager 2.5¢
United Kingdom Personal 2.5¢
United Kingdom Premium 2.5¢

http://www.stanaphone.com/

United Kingdom 44 2.5c
United Kingdom 443, 444, 445, 448 28.1c

Careful idb.  Don't forget that you are supposed to be  taking the line that it is "impossible" to call these numbers from the USA. ;)

But now we learn that one can call them with various US telcos but it is merely a lot more expensive.  This is the same position as when calling these numbers from the rest of the world.

And don't forget that we in the UK pay a lot more than 800% more to call an 0870 number compared to a number starting 01 or 02.  In my book 7.5p per minute compared to zero p per minute comes to paying infinity percent more to call them!

wrote on Aug 6^th, 2005 at 12:02am:

Careful idb.  Don't forget that you are supposed to be  taking the line that it is "impossible" to call these numbers from the USA. ;)

True, but misinformation and hiding of key facts should be the preserve of the likes of NEG and not us here who should be beyond that!!!

wrote on Aug 6^th, 2005 at 12:08am:

True, but misinformation and hiding of key facts should be the preserve of the likes of NEG and not us here who should be beyond that!!!

Doesn't that mean you should have merely been taking the line that some US phone customers found it impossible to call the numbers.

Presumably Sprint and AT & T etc will all carry calls to these numbers at a price?

wrote on Aug 6^th, 2005 at 12:14am:

Doesn't that mean you should have merely been taking the line that some US phone customers found it impossible to call the numbers.

I believe this is exactly what I have been saying for many months. There may be the odd slip, but this is the position I believe I have maintained!



wrote on Aug 6^th, 2005 at 12:14am:

Presumably Sprint and AT & T etc will all carry calls to these numbers at a price?

I believe (don't quote me though) that because these providers charge a relatively high rate for international calls, 08X may well be carried at the same rate. I use neither to route my international calls, so can't really provide a definitive answer. They may or may not charge a premium, they may or may not route the calls at all.

wrote on Aug 6^th, 2005 at 12:27am:

I believe this is exactly what I have been saying for many months. There may be the odd slip, but this is the position I believe I have maintained!

I got the impression in your FOI requests and so on that you had said people couldn't call these numbers at all from the USA?  But clearly I wasn't concentrating properly.  My Mistake. ;)

wrote on Aug 6^th, 2005 at 12:31am:

I got the impression in your FOI requests and so on that you had said people couldn't call these numbers at all from the USA?  But clearly I wasn't concentrating properly.  My Mistake. ;)

I've tried to word my requests to use the words/phrases  'difficult', 'sometimes impossible', 'no guarantee' etc wrt calling from overseas. There may have been the odd slip though!! I would have to go through all my own FOI requests.

The breakthrough for me was the acknowledgement by Ofcom of the difficulty faced by international callers. The Ofcom statement can now simply be appended to my FOI requests. Whatever I may think of Ofcom, it *is* the UK authority on telecommunications and therefore conveys some 'weight'! Its statement regarding problems in terminating international-originated calls to NGNs is good enough for me!

In fact, looking back at my first FOI request, made on January 1, 2005, I used the following in my request:

"The sole use of 0870 numbers for public enquiries discriminates against
British citizens such as myself that are resident overseas in that we often
cannot complete calls to non-geographic numbers. The use of 0870 numbers for
public enquiries contravenes government's own advice regarding the operation
of call centers (source: COI http://www.coi.gov.uk/ccg/download.php 'cost to
citizen' update)."

ie not claiming that NGNs can *never* be called from overseas.

I have learned much more about FOI since January 1. It is the one piece of legislation that has enabled the public to strike back against government use of 0870 scam lines. I really feel that the HMG will be forced to ditch these numbers soon. One sticking point may be NEG's 0844 scamlines.

Various governmental people now seem to believe its only from the USA that there are problems calling 084/7 numbers.  I think that's all largely due to your own single handed efforts.

If only we had someone like you in France and on the Costa Del Sol too.  Then they would realise that the same problems exist from those countries too.

wrote on Aug 6^th, 2005 at 1:37am:

Various governmental people now seem to believe its only from the USA that there are problems calling 084/7 numbers.  I think that's all largely due to your own single handed efforts. If only we had someone like you in Frane and on the Costa Del Sol too.  Then they would realise that the same problems exist from those countries too.

I have no real idea how difficult it is to call NGNs from Europe. I suspect that again, there are some operators who will handle the calls and some that will not. I have anecdotal evidence that the ability to call from South America or Africa is not good but I don't have any real facts to back this up.

wrote on Aug 5^th, 2005 at 1:20pm:

ah but you could dial 0208 811 8181 instead! I belive this number goes thru to CW when its operational.

But they dont tell you this on screen,do they?

no, but then that number used to be CBBC in the days of 0181. BBC liked it and are now using it as an underlying number for whatever they choose.

It varies a lot. I'm talking only of access from mobile networks though. I have previously rung 0870 numbers from France, and French 0892 (eg Etap hotels) numbers from here or abroad, but not with cheap calls operators, only Orange here or roaming.

I suspect many GSM networks do not recognise such numbers though; whether when using a roaming phone or a local SIM, the number is in an undefined range and unobtainable. In Slovakia recently, I found that no UK 0800, 0844, 0845, 0870 or 0871 numbers were recognised by T-mobile SK. I used Callbackworld with the T-mob SIM, and will have been charged the same rate as for a UK mobile.

Conversely, it was possible until only recently to call UK 0871 numbers for 1p/minute via an operation that was calling into the UK, so there is still scope for finding cheap alternatives sometimes; just don't know how to access abroad.