To all members and friends. Write to Ictis and ask them to classify 0870 as 'premium'  service which means the call cost has to be displayed whenever mentioned. Premium services are those that charge above market  as 0870 does now and where the company gets a cut, so 0870 qualifies well.

If you obtain an 0870 number from BT you can indeed earn money from calls received on that number (although not the highest rates compared to other
providers).  You can see this on BT's own website (A link to it is: http://tinyurl.com/2p7sw )

It states:  "You receive payment for call volumes in excess of 10,000 calls a month. You may also be eligible for discounts should you receive large numbers of inbound calls."

Apart from BT there are many other companies who sell these numbers, most offer revenue no matter how many calls are received.

Thanks
Daniel
http://www.saynoto0870.com

Please take a look at http://0870abuse.tripod.com and join the protest. Make sure that you send a contribution to the Ofcom consultation and that you also make a separate complaint to Ofcom about these abuses. Do it NOW - or at least before the 31st May 2004 which is the cut-off date. Thanks.

Hi all
What on EARTH is all the fuss over??  0870 are NOT premium rate numbers.  People calling in are only charged the SAME rate as a standard national rate number!!!!!

The cut, or revenue share, that companies recieve is a portion of that amount - NOT an additional amount.  For charities this is a valuable source of income since it DOES NOT cost their callers anymore money to call them, yet they get a small percentage back from the telco provider, thus lowering their costs and therefore enabling them to spend more of their money supporting their causes and members.

I agree. I think the main problem is the public are not aware how much 0870 numbers cost to ring.
OK they are not 'premium'  numbers but they are dearer than  'normal' numbers.
And of course when you ring these numbers  you inevitably have to queue.
Why should a company   feel the need to make money from your phone call to them?
There should be more publicity about these numbers so companies are presssured to dump them.
What about Watchdog?

Competition in the telecoms industry appears to be working and gradually driving down prices in a number of areas, with one exception.  Of particular concerned is the increasing use and pricing of non-geographical (0870 and 0845) telephone numbers.  A trend that is driving up prices to the consumer..

Companies using 0870 numbers will, after 1 July 2004, be making their customers pay 4.5p per minute extra for daytime calls, as 0870 call cost 7.5p and the maximum cost of all geographical UK calls is 3p.  This is 150% over and above normal geographical telephone numbers making them true premium numbers.   The 4.5p extra charge is shared between the telephone operator and the company.  The companies share depends on the deal they have, but as far as the customer is concerned the calls cost them 4.5p per minute more than it should.

According to Ofcoms own research, a significant number of callers are not aware of the charges associated with 0870 numbers, those numbers should be advertised as premium numbers, together with a clear statement that they incur an extra cost of at least 150% above a normal geographical numbers.   A better solution would be to replace all 0870 numbers with 09 numbers, the numbers range designated as premium.

Enticed by extra income, companies are increasingly using 0870 for their normal communications. Even some Government agencies which have a monopoly on their services, and are often dealing with vulnerable sections of the community, are joining the bandwagon.

As the distinction between national and local calls is to be abolished on 1st July 04, there is now no justification for any organisation to use 0845 numbers, which never cost less than any geographical number, regardless of location.   There is no reason why 0845 numbers should not be included in BTs Option 3 and other similar packages.
 
The increasing millions of customer who pay extra £15 per month for  BTs Option 3 and other all-in schemes, who normally pay nothing for geographical calls, pay the full cost of calls to 0870 and 0845 numbers: 7.5p and 3p per minute.  Those customers are, in effect, forced to pay twice and goes against the general trend for price reductions.  It is invidious that at a time when BT is encouraging customers to use all-in pricing options, they are, at the same time, encouraging companies to use profit sharing non-geographical numbers, which are excluded from Option 3 and generate more money.

Taxpayers pay for Ofcom to regulate the telephone service, but their statements, appear to justify the position of the telephone suppliers.  On present performance, Ofcom could not be described as robust defenders of consumer interests. Ofcoms statements and consultation papers are prolix, convoluted and unnecessarily complex.

kk

Not wishing to make light of this important subject, but you're slightly off there!
Quote:
That would be if it were correct, but a 18866 call is which only makes it nearly 10 x more 
Quote:
Just the same as they are on Geographic numbers !
Quote:
They just waffle at you for minutes on end about nothing interesting just to make the bill mount up !

Is there any chance of having meaningful discussions without half truths and emotional twaddle thrown onto the pile to compound it even more ?

Tim Waddle (the significance of your chosen title does not escape me!),

Sorry to correct you, but when you say
""
you are thinking the 1p is per min - it is not.  The 1p is a connection charge and only applied ONCE.  So as the call gets longer (as they always seem to!!) the significance of the 1p becomes progressively less!!
I will stand corrected on the 16 times more - it is only 15times more, then, (but depends which 0870 charge you take as base!).  Still even 15 times more does seem a trifle excessive, don't you think??
And if this conclusion about 'only 10 times more' that YOU make does not come under your accusation of 'half-truths', then what does??

If I needed to be in a queue, then I would be happier paying 0.5p/min than 7.5+p/min, was my point!

Never having phoned a Premium line, I confess to not knowing what actually happens in terms of the response, except that legally, there is no queueing allowed - and I still think 0870 should be in that category.

What non- emotional points would you care to debate?

KK, Thanks for the address, will contact them, too.