Good point, but I think that the answer is no.

Your options are to have a geographical number or a freephone number. Ofcourse, freephone numbers are chargeable from most mobiles, so it may be worth considering whether that would be worth it.

0845 is like a lower rip-off of 0870. 0844 and 0871 have various rates, 0871 being upto 10p/min at all times and 0844 being upto 5p/min at all times. Rates quoted are from BT landlines. These numbers are always chargeable, even when on inclusive call packages, and this is one of the core problems with 084/087 numbers.

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Depending on the caller's service provider, the cost of calling an 0845 or 0870 number varies.   HERE IS A GOOD SUMMARY of what some charge.

As most people still use BT, their charges for calls to geographical (01 or 02) numbers are probably most relevant for comparison:

0845 - 3p/minute 0600-1800 Mon-Frid (5p minimum charge)
0845 - 1p/minute at all other times (5p minimum charge)

0207* - 3p/minute 0600-1800 Mon-Frid (5p minimum charge)
0207* - 5.5p for up to an hour at any other time

* or any other 01 or 02 number

However, many of us now use different call providers and pay much less.  I, for example, use 18866 and pay 2p for a call of any length at any time to any UK 01 or 02 number (i.e. 2p per call, not per minute) and so strongly object (in fact, don't call) to firms using 0844, 0845, 0870 and 0871 numbers.

Beware, Martin Lewis has just taken up arms in this regard (see HERE) and Britain's rip-off culture with such numbers is about to become HIGH PROFILE.

Have been investigating costs with BT...

Call forwarding on a geo line:
£50 connection, £106 per quarter and the forwarded part of the call.

0845:
3.5p per minute to both caller and us

0800:
4.9p to us

This makes the geo too expensive. 0800 would encourage callers too much and tie up our call handlers. Realistically, we are therefore looking at 0845 or 0844. Is one better than the other?

Thanks,
Ben

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With Eurexcel 0844, 0845 and 0870 are included.

Ben.
If you do decide to go down the 0845 route, there are  suppliers other then BT that want charge you anything to provide,rent, or for the calls.

Hi PeDaSp,

We are investigating the pros and cons of VoIP...
* We hear of unreliability, dropped calls and poor quality... have you experienced any of this?
* What big businesses have gone for VoIP?
* Why wouldn't a big business go for it?
* How big is your business in terms of numbers of telephone call handlers?

Any info much appreciated.
Thanks,
Ben

* We hear of unreliability, dropped calls and poor quality... have you experienced any of this?
Depends who you sign-up with etc... and what system you use. All depends on who the VoIP provider uses to "break" out into the PSTN world.

* What big businesses have gone for VoIP?
Name one that hasn't! They've been using VoIP for years. Goldman Sachs was the last one I read about.

* Why wouldn't a big business go for it?
No reasons.

* How big is your business in terms of numbers of telephone call handlers?
5 employees at the moment.

Any info much appreciated.

Take a look at: http://www.voip-info.org

Scroll down to where it list's VoIP consultants.

How many people in your business? Let me know and I'll outline a solution.

Peter