I got the geographical number from this website and when I got put through was told that all calls would cost 10per minute from bt phones and other calls may vary.

I am not sure what would happen having dialled an 01 number but after waiting 2-3 minutes without anyone getting back to me -I put the phone down.

Does anyone know if I would have got charged or does the fact that I called a geographical number first over-ride all of that?

Puzzled!

Hi there!

If you dialled a 01 / 02 / 03 prefix number you would be charged normal geographic BT rates.  What I think you were hearing was possibly a message for the 0870 / 0871 prefix.

James Bond

You are charged as per the tariff of your telephone service provider.

The reason for the message is because when you dial a 08 number, calls are delivered on a 01/02 number. So when you dial 0871 whatever, the phone network translates it to a 01/02 number in order for it to get to its destination.

Some 08 number users advise the cost of calling their numbers (from certain providers - typically BT) by a recorded message and, crucially, this is played out on the 01/02 number.

So if you call the 01/02 number directly, you will still hear the message. Likewise, if you call via the 0871 number from a telephone provider that charges more than the message states, you will still hear the message.

Thanks JB-that was what I was hoping-so will give them another go.

I am with talktalk so any 01 calls are included in my monthly package.

jamesbond wrote on May 18^th, 2011 at 12:38pm:

If you dialled a 01 / 02 / 03 prefix number you would be charged normal geographic BT rates.  What I think you were hearing was possibly a message for the 0870 / 0871 prefix.

The OP was calling from a TalkTalk line, so will pay TalkTalk rates and not BT rates.