Just come across a company which has two 6-digit phone numbers which begin with the codes 05602 & 05603.  Does anyone know what these are and what they are charged at from a landline?  Is the cost crippling from a mobile like NGN's usually are?

056 is the code for VoIP telephone number services. I believe these are generally charged at geographic rate, although they are more expensive from mobiles.

These numbers are used by Abbey, as has been mentioned many times before. Call charges on BT tariffs are the same as for 01/02/03 numbers. Virgin Media charges 4.79 pence per minute during the daytime and 1.96 pence per minute during the evening, both plus 9.79 pence call set-up fee.

O2 charges them at 20 pence per minute for pay monthly subscribers and 15 pence per minute for those on pay as you go.

Vodafone pay monthly users pay "up to" 30 pence per minute whilst those on pay as you go pay 25 pence per minute.

Orange pay monthly customers pay (see PDF page 10) 20 pence per minute, but the pay as you go price guide overlooks the cost of 056 numbers.

Three charges for  (PDF page 19) 15 pence per minute for pay monthly and 10 or 15 pence per minute for pay as you go.

Thanks for letting me know both of you.  Yes I do recall that these numbers are used by Abbey as I have an account with them.

I am disappointed on another matter how slow the take up has been by users of 0844/5 & worser still 0870 to move to the special offcom released 03 numbers.  The take-up has been really slow. I hardly see any companies use these new numbers

Alternative wrote on Dec 4^th, 2009 at 7:02pm:

I am disappointed on another matter how slow the take up has been by users of 0844/5 & worser still 0870 to move to the special offcom released 03 numbers.  The take-up has been really slow. I hardly see any companies use these new numbers

I think that any move by the private sector to abandon 084 and 087 numbers in favour of 03 ones will take time. One reason for private companies not adopting 03 numbers is probably because there is little understanding of them by the public coupled with them charging what they can get away with.

The removal of the framework that supported revenue sharing on 0870 numbers has now been removed, so organisations no longer benefit in subsidies from callers as they did before. However, Virgin Media, the mobile providers and some other telephone companies still impose premium charges even though they do not pass them on.

Could those who have researched charging for calls to 05xx numbers, confirm that when they are charged at the same rate as calls to 01/02/03 numbers, this also means that they are included in "unlimited" packages on the same basis?

SilentCallsVictim wrote on Dec 4^th, 2009 at 11:20pm:

Could those who have researched charging for calls to 05xx numbers, confirm that when they are charged at the same rate as calls to 01/02/03 numbers, this also means that they are included in "unlimited" packages on the same basis?

Of those I looked at above, I am only certain that BT does include them in unlimited packages as they are in charge band g21, same as 03 numbers. On the BT Unlimited Anytime Plan it says UK calls includes g21 numbers.

Virgin Media says only 01, 02 and 03 numbers are inclusive. Of the mobile companies, O2 and Three specifically say that 056 numbers do not come from inclusive minutes.

Vodafone lists 056 on pages entitled "Premium rate call charges", so I read into that that they are always chargeable.

Similarly Orange pay monthly puts them in the "premium rate and other special numbers" group, so I assume likewise there.

Dave wrote on Dec 5^th, 2009 at 10:23am:

[quote author=SilentCallsVictim link=1259939050/0#6 date=1259968847]Of those I looked at above ....

Thank you Dave. Your comments clarify and qualify the points made previously. For many these calls are subject to a premium over the cost of calling a geographic number.

This must be noted when reviewing call cost information given by users of these numbers. Those who opt out of providing such information by making the obvious and meaningless statement that costs vary according to who imposes them, perhaps providing a single atypical example, should be taken to task over cases where the example chosen is not simply unrepresetative, but actively misleading.