I,ve been advised by someone who works in an administrative role within an organisation that there are 3 charge bands for users of the 0845 numbers : low, medium and high, depending upon what the operater of the 0845 number chooses to set the charge at...anyone else heard of this ?

0845 numbers are inclusive with BT and some other providers depending on which calling plan you are on. If for example you are on their anytime plan you will not be charged for making a call via a 0845 or 0870 number providing the call does not last more than sixty minutes. Calls that are charged, the cost depends on what time of the day you are calling. BT's evening rate is between seven and seven.

Calls from mobiles via these numbers are not included in the plans and cost a fortune.

I wasn,t referring to this I was referring to the fact that eg anxiety alliance can once they are using an 0845 number determine their own charge band for callers ringing through to use their service eg low, medium or high rate per minute or connection charge. I am aware that with BT or talk talk now for subscribing to a particular telephone call package you can ring 0845 free..I would need to opt out of my current cheaper call package to benefit from this kind of package, something I don,t want to do. I think it far better to stick with the cheaper call package and try to find the hidden landline numbers, hence my using this website.

dandy wrote on Aug 1^st, 2010 at 9:21pm:

I,ve been advised by someone who works in an administrative role within an organisation that there are 3 charge bands for users of the 0845 numbers : low, medium and high, depending upon what the operater of the 0845 number chooses to set the charge at...anyone else heard of this ?

Call charges are set by the caller's telephone provider and therefore cannot be influenced at all by either the receiver of the call or their telephone provider.

Landline providers usually charge different 0844 numbers in different charge bands, but not 0845 ones.

dandy wrote on Aug 1^st, 2010 at 10:23pm:

I think it far better to stick with the cheaper call package and try to find the hidden landline numbers, hence my using this website.

Of course that would depend on how often you  use these particular numbers. (and how long each of these calls are)

Also as we and others have found out, it is not always possible to find an alternative

fair point made sherbet, I realise it isn,t always possible to find an alternative landline number, it appears that since the days of the call packages a few years ago with inclusive calls, alot of companies / services have switched over to 0845, 0870, 0844 etc... to make extra money from recieving calls from people, I think I may have to reconsider my position re : switching to a different tariff if some numbers are not fruitfull in finding the landline numbers. Thankyou for your posts.

It looks like I may have been incorrectly advised about this charge situation by that admin worker, but I still don,t understand why at the so called " local rate " a recent call to an 0845 number in the afternoon at the weekend generated a 14 pence charge just to be put through to the voicemail with no answer by someone.....surely that,s not the " local rate " ? Any ideas ?

dandy wrote on Aug 4^th, 2010 at 10:04pm:

It looks like I may have been incorrectly advised about this charge situation by that admin worker, but I still don,t understand why at the so called " local rate " a recent call to an 0845 number in the afternoon at the weekend generated a 14 pence charge just to be put through to the voicemail with no answer by someone.....surely that,s not the " local rate " ? Any ideas ?

So what provider are you with and what tariff are you on?

0845 numbers should not be referred to as "local rate"!

dandy wrote on Aug 4^th, 2010 at 10:04pm:

....recent call to an 0845 number in the afternoon at the weekend generated a 14 pence charge just to be put through to the voicemail with no answer by someone.....surely that,s not the " local rate " ? Any ideas ?

Many telecom providers charge around 9p connection fee plus a minimum call charge of around 5p no matter how short the call and no matter where it's to. Unless the call is within your inclusive bundle.

allegro wrote on Aug 5^th, 2010 at 7:54am:

dandy wrote on Aug 4th, 2010 at 10:04pm: ....recent call to an 0845 number in the afternoon at the weekend generated a 14 pence charge just to be put through to the voicemail with no answer by someone.....surely that,s not the " local rate " ? Any ideas ? Many telecom providers charge around 9p connection fee plus a minimum call charge of around 5p no matter how short the call and no matter where it's to. Unless the call is within your inclusive bundle.

I rather suspect that this is the case in this instance. Perhaps dandy can clarify which tariff he/she is on so we can be sure.

It depends which calls provider you use and which calls package you're on.  

The worst is Virgin - where 11p connection + 10p/minute or part thereof applies (rounding up to the next minute and to the next whole penny is common now).

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=5357468&postcount=59

As can be seen, even though BT are nearly always the cheapest for 0845 and 0870 calls now, a weekday daytime 0845 call of just over a minute would cost 9.9p + 4p + rounding up = 14p (and that'll be 15p from 1-10-2010 when the call set-up fee rises to 10.9p) if you're on their Unlimited Weekend or Unlimited Evening & Weekend calls plans so the call is not inclusive.

Heinz wrote on Aug 14^th, 2010 at 2:22pm:

The worst is Virgin - where 11p connection + 10p/minute or part thereof applies (rounding up to the next minute and to the next whole penny is common now). http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=5357468&postcount=59 As can be seen, even though BT are nearly always the cheapest for 0845 and 0870 calls now, a weekday daytime 0845 call of just over a minute would cost 9.9p + 4p + rounding up = 14p (and that'll be 15p from 1-10-2010 when the call set-up fee rises to 10.9p) if you're on their Unlimited Weekend or Unlimited Evening & Weekend calls plans so the call is not inclusive.

BT rounds up the call duration to the next whole minute for calls to 01, 02, 03, 0870, mobile and some other number types. 0845, 0844/3, 0871/2 and 09 are rounded up to the next whole second.

This is set out in The BT Price List here:
http://www.bt.com/pricing/current/Gen_Notes_boo/0001_d0e219.htm#0001-d0e219

See that link for information on the call set-up fee, duration rounding and charge rounding.

Heinz wrote on Aug 14^th, 2010 at 2:22pm:

... even though BT are nearly always the cheapest for 0845 and 0870 calls now, a weekday daytime 0845 call of just over a minute would cost 9.9p + 4p + rounding up = 14p (and that'll be 15p from 1-10-2010 when the call set-up fee rises to 10.9p) if you're on their Unlimited Weekend or Unlimited Evening & Weekend calls plans so the call is not inclusive.

The tricky issue we have to deal with is that for non-inclusive calls BT charges less for 0845 than 01/02/03. (When inclusive, the charge is the same!)

The equivalent costs for a 01/02/03 call in the example given above are 16p, from 1 Oct 18p.

The difference is because BT's pence per minute rates for 0845 and other NTS (e.g. 0844/3, 0871/2/3, 09) calls are regulated, whereas its setup fee and rates for other calls are not. The latter continue to increase steadily at around 30% per annum.

BT however now originates less than 50% of residential landline calls, less than 25% of all UK telephone calls.

Due to both of these factors, BT is the exception, not the rule. I offer the following:


Quote:

Calls to 084 numbers are more expensive than calls to 01/02/03 numbers - charges from BT may vary.

---

To address the question posed by the OP. There are no call type differences within the 0845 range; the cost of calling any 0845 number is the same as any other 0845 number. Other NTS ranges (e.g. 0844/3, 0871/2/3, 09) are subdivided based on further digits of the number.

I,ve recently looked at my phone bill and calling an 0845 number at the weekend cost me alot less than when I had rung it on the weekday in the daytime..sorry I haven,t got specifics to quote right now as I can,t access my bill right now...one call I made to an 0845 number in the weekday daytime which was over 1 hour in duration cost me over 3 pounds which is excessive, I won,t be ringing that number in the daytime again....I rang from a landline number. Also I decided to ring an 0845 number from a BT call box recently and ask the service to call me back, I couldn,t make the call until I had put 60 pence in the call box, it came up as a premium rate number when I put 40 pence in to dial it, and made it clear I had to put 60 pence in to even dial the number, the minimum required now in a BT payphone call box to make a call is 40 pence. When I dialled the 0845 number the number went to voicemail and BT got my 60 pence without me even speaking to the service as I had intended. That was some plan to save money calling one of these numbers ! So BT describes it as being a premium rate number in it,s own call boxes yet everywhere else an 0845 number is descibed as being a " local rate " call......interesting...

dandy wrote on Aug 15^th, 2010 at 4:13pm:

I,ve recently looked at my phone bill and calling an 0845 number at the weekend cost me alot less than when I had rung it on the weekday in the daytime..sorry I haven,t got specifics to quote right now as I can,t access my bill right now...one call I made to an 0845 number in the weekday daytime which was over 1 hour in duration cost me over 3 pounds which is excessive, I won,t be ringing that number in the daytime again....

From what I can gather, you are with BT and do not have inclusive calls during the daytime. Therefore, calls to 0845 numbers during the daytime cost you 2 pence per minute and calls to geographic numbers and 03 numbers cost you about 6 pence per minute. Thus, you are better off ringing 0845 numbers at that time.



dandy wrote on Aug 15^th, 2010 at 4:13pm:

I rang from a landline number. Also I decided to ring an 0845 number from a BT call box recently and ask the service to call me back, I couldn,t make the call until I had put 60 pence in the call box, it came up as a premium rate number when I put 40 pence in to dial it, and made it clear I had to put 60 pence in to even dial the number, the minimum required now in a BT payphone call box to make a call is 40 pence. When I dialled the 0845 number the number went to voicemail and BT got my 60 pence without me even speaking to the service as I had intended. That was some plan to save money calling one of these numbers ! So BT describes it as being a premium rate number in it,s own call boxes yet everywhere else an 0845 number is descibed as being a " local rate " call......interesting...

No no no!!

Calls to 0845 numbers from BT Payphones cost 20 pence per minute plus 40 pence connection, with a minimum charge of 60 pence. So the initial 60 pence will buy 1 minute to a 0845 number.

Calls to 01/02/03 numbers from BT Payphones cost 0.667 pence per minute plus 40 pence connection, also with a minimum charge of 60 pence. So the initial 60 pence will buy 30 minutes to a 01/02/03 number.

I,m not with BT, and I do subscibe to an " older " inclusive daytime call package for landline numbers only....if I change now to a currently available call package I will not be able to go back again to my current service, which is cheaper than current service packages.

To get to the meat of this.

The rate at which money is paid to the call recipient on a 0845 number varies according to whether the call is made during weekday daytime, weekday evening or a weekend. Charges may therefore vary according to when the call is made.

BT rates from residential landlines to 0845 numbers are regulated and therefore low (or inclusive).

This regulation does not apply to BT payphones or other providers, so calls to 0845 numbers from these are (generally) subject to a premium. (Some landline providers lose money on these calls by price matching BT.)

Payphone call charges are based on coins inserted - 20p's in the case of BT. The rate is therefore better expressed as seconds per unit, rather than pence per minute. In addition to the 40p connection charge, at least one unit must be purchased, making the minimum charge 60p.


It is the users of 0845 numbers who are benefitting from the revenue share and are therefore responsible for the problem. Telephone service providers will keep the cost of ordinary calls down to the lowest possible level to remain competitive. This will exaggerate the differential with the cost of calling "special" numbers.

One may take advantage of cheap rates from BT and others for 0845 calls, if these come as part of an overall package that meets one's needs. The focus must however be firmly placed on those who choose to use a number that causes most callers to incur a premium charges. There are many who simply do not understand what they are doing.