Quote:Ofcom is aware of growing consumer dissatisfaction with the increasing use of 0870 numbers for information and access services. As a result, we are now actively working with advertising regulators and consumer bodies to agree how prices for calls to 0845 and 0870 numbers should be advertised in order to minimise the risk of consumers being misled.
We are also re-examining the way in which the entire NTS regime operates and we are consulting on our proposals.
So consumers are only unhappy about 0870 according to Ofcom then?
Speaking personally I am even more incensed about the misuse of 0845 numbers, most of whom are run by non profit making organisations with a duty to provide services to the taxpayer, that is the general public, who are already paying for the operation of these organisations.
Most of the 0845 operators are in non competitive market segments where there is no rival company you can take your business too and so there is no alternative place to where the member of the public can take their telephone business.
Even the BT board, who set up this scam, are now so ashamed of its excessive successes that they want revenue sharing banned on 0845 and 0870 although strangely not on 0871 which if allowed would be a complete coach and horses through what would otherwise be a very worthwhile change.
One hopes that the Ofcom contact centre people are behind the times and that in view of the strength of views that Ofcom have received (including those of their own Consumer Panel who are clearly very unimpressed with the preferred Option 2 Ofcom position) that they will be forced into going with their own Option 4 or some very close derivative thereof.
0870 and 0845 is now so widely entrenched on such a massively abusive scale that the only solution is to turn them back into ordinary price local and national rate calls and to require any of the scamster minded commercial operators (eg Easyjet and TopUpTv who both use 0871) to go through the much tougher controls of ICSTIS 09 price regulation (this would include call tariff warning announcements).
Ofcom's current position that a bit more information to the public on the cost of the calls would stop 0845 and 0870 in their tracks is totally wrong. It is too late. Things have moved on too far. Too much has been spent on promoting the numbers. Some of the numbers have no geographic counterparts etc.
The only solution is to prevent all 084 and 087 revenue sharing and to get 084 ISPs to migrate to another number range - eg commencing 04. Dial Up ISPs are a dying business anyway so this will just help speed up the final migration to cable and broadband internet and also assist with further reduced broadband pricing.
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OFTEL and 0990 / 0870 (Read 43,039 times)
