I have a friend who has had a recurring number appear on his phone bill (08706030214). This number is not known to any one in his houshold, and is called every day, usually in the middle of the night. He has chased his telco and they are uninterested in tracing the recipient of these calls. I have called the number and get the sort of noise that you would get from a modem. I thought it might have been a Sky box calling home, but they don't have one. They use broadband for their computer and as far as I can tell nothing else on their line is making these calls. Can anyone help in this matter, the calls are all under one minute but the cost is mounting.

Thanks

~ Edited by Dave: Thread title amended

What do they have connected to the telephone line, except for their normal telephones? Do they have an automated alarm system? If so, it will be that "calling home".

Don't worry, it'll be only 10p or 12p per call (£36+ per annum) on top of what you're already paying the alarm company for their service.

And they'll be taking a cut of the cost (to you) of those calls too!

Sorry Heinz, but as this comes up regularly you should have seen this comment from me before.

As the calls last roughly around 30 seconds and are made at night, the cost will be the evening rate of 0870 @ 1.5p/minute, which should then be adjusted to the basic connection charge of the Telco, normally around 6p.
So it matters not whether it's Geo or Non Geo, unless of course you have an inclusive plan in which case it costs extra.

Sorry to say though, unless you have a friendly Techie and the ability to reprogram the Eeprom with a Geographic alternative (which we do not have), I think you will be out of luck.

As a matter of interest, how much is the Telco charging for these calls ??  ::)

Thanks for your input folks, my friend is being charged approximately 15p per call and some days there are several calls. One day last month there were 15 calls in one day. The calls are all 1 min duration. It seems excessive for an alarm system. Is this typical? By the way the Telco is Virgin.

Regards

DaveM wrote on Apr 22^nd, 2008 at 10:19pm:

Sorry Heinz, but as this comes up regularly you should have seen this comment from me before. As the calls last roughly around 30 seconds and are made at night, the cost will be the evening rate of 0870 @ 1.5p/minute, which should then be adjusted to the basic connection charge of the Telco, normally around 6p. So it matters not whether it's Geo or Non Geo, unless of course you have an inclusive plan in which case it costs extra. As a matter of interest, how much is the Telco charging for these calls ??  ::)

Or unless you have to pay Virgin's or Sky's outrageous rates for 0870 calls!


jack7755 wrote on Apr 26^th, 2008 at 12:39pm:

Thanks for your input folks, my friend is being charged approximately 15p per call and some days there are several calls. One day last month there were 15 calls in one day. The calls are all 1 min duration. It seems excessive for an alarm system. Is this typical? By the way the Telco is Virgin.

Well that answers the high call cost question (VM and Sky both charge 7p connection + 10p/minute daytime, 8p/minute evenings [with a minimum 1 minute charge] to call 0870 numbers)

15 calls a day @ 15p each = £821.25 a year!  Now that's one expensive alarm system.  I bet Virgin like your friend as a customer.

I'd say the system is not connecting/being acknowledged and is programmed to try again.  Your friend needs to contact the alarm company urgently - or he'll just keep getting these charges and no apparent benefit.