Dave wrote on Feb 8^th, 2006 at 3:41pm:

... a premium rate number should be clearly marked as such. That is, it should be prefixed 09. This includes any NGN which gives such benefits as revenue and/or routing services. Just because it costs less than 10p/min doesn't make it acceptable to say that it's not premium rate. This is because premium rate isn't a definitive rate or a call that costs over so much, but a way of paying for a service through telephone charges. As I said, this is now done covertly by the current 084/087 setup, where service providers don't have to mention the cost of their numbers and can mislead their customers.

The above quote from Dave in another thread prompts me to ask a couple of questions which I've been meaning to ask to assist me with a response to an organisation which admits they get revenue from 0870 while maintaining that the number is not a 'premium-rate' number:

1. Does anyone know of an authorative definition of 'premium rate' that clearly encompasses 0870, 0845, etc.?

2. I've read severla times on this board that BT have now effectively admitted that 0870 is a premium rate call.  Can anyone please remind me where that admission is?

Thanks in advance.

This is BT's call price page:

http://www.bt.com/btcom_redirectLink.jsp?action=redirectLink&targetLinkID=PIS_UK_Call_Prices&vStore=1314&obsPage=%2fPricing%2fpis_summary.jsp%3fshowsub%3dPIS_Residential&obsOID=30195&obsType=LINK

At one stage, this included the sentence, "Calls to 0845 and 0870 premium rate numbers are charged..." However, as you can see, it now reads, "Calls to 0845 and 0870 number ranges are charged..."

Normally you won't get them to admit that these are premium rate numbers.

Thanks jrawle.

Yes, I have seen that page and I had thought that it once referred to them as premium rate numbers, but it didn't seem to now.  I thought I had imagined it, but I'm glad I hadn't.  :)

I thought that some messsages on this site had indicated that BT had elsewhere admitted that these are premium rate numbers.  Would be grateful for advice from anyone else.

With hindsight, and don't we all have regrets, it's always handy to have screen grabbing software to have a permanent copy of the original. :-[

Definition of 'Premium' from Oxford English Dictionary

Quote:

noun (pl. premiums) 1 an amount paid for a contract of insurance. 2 a sum added to an ordinary price or other payment. 3 before another noun (of a commodity) superior and more expensive.

Thanks Dave.  Hadn't thought of looking there!  ::)

I prefer the (light blue) definition of the phrase 'premium rate' rather than the single word 'premium'.

premium rate, adjective,
describes a telephone number or service that costs more to call than a normal telephone number

Hi H
Do you have a reference for the quote or is it yours.


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(amended)  Thanks OMY  KK

kk,
Surely the link takes you to the source??
Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

Try the phone book. My phone book is dated 2004/2005 (ditched the new one as more probably has geo number if company moves to 0870 etc) and on page 15  states: Special codes: Some UK codes are not area codes. They are used for mobile phones, pagers, personal numbers and premium rate numbers. One would assume from this that BT include the 08 range as premium rate! My book is a welsh edition and as some pages are in Welsh page number will differ in english version.