Hi, I got my copy yesterday and one thing that jumped out at me was the subscription advert.

0870 750 1714 in big numbers but slightly smaller it had below it "or 01795 414 871 +44 (0)1795 414871 overseas"

Interesting to see them put both numbers there.

Yep - that's the one.

My point is that he is perpetuating the myth of the true cost of local & national calls.

I would suggest a reply pointing out that most people pay considerably less than those figures for geographic number calls.

I would reply myself but I do not have the facts at my fingertips. Also I have been told off by a Superior Member about my attitude so...

Anyone up for it?

Thank you, Dorf.

I have no argument with the fact that I am a 'bit deficient in the knowledge dept' as Peter Cook might have said so that's why I would like to hand over the banner on this one to somebody with the background to answer the Private Eye correspondent.

Meanwhile, I will continue to patrol NGN-land with renewed vigour, righting wrongs and... (that's enough, Ed)

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Is that because it is "politically incorrect" for members of a certain political party to contribute to Private Eye?

There seem to be no such stipulations related to the political party that I am involved in.

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The BBC's misleading propaganda defending its use of 0870 numbers appears not to have been rewritten for several years.  I believe these 0898 numbers now all commence 09.

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You mean the average price for calls starting 01 and 02 as opposed to 084/7?

On a normal home BT phone line one can make a call to a geographic number starting 01 or 02 for as little as 2p with http://www.call18866.co.uk.  The call then still costs 2p even if your call lasts 4 hours.

Of course you can currently call uk 01 and 02 numbers for nothing at all with http://www.voipbuster.co.uk and http://www.voipcheap.co.uk  But then you have to be prepared to use a computer to make your call and buy a voip headset or handset.

The BT deal for geographic numbers is 3p per minute weekday daytime and 5.5p for the first hour in the evenings and at the weekends.  Other providers like TalkTalk and Onetel charge slightly less than BT for geographic numbers.  But then you can also get 24/7 inclusive calling plans to geographic numbers for under £10 per month.  TalkTalk currently give you the first 3 months of their all inclusive plan free.  Their advertising wrongly describes this as all uk "landline" calls being free for 3 months.

0870 calls cost 7.5p per minute weekday daytime with BT and almost no one seems able to undercut them as they charge their competitors more for terminating these calls.  You can call 0870 for 5p per minute though with www.dialaround.co.uk on their 0844 access number.  Off peak no one is able to undercut the BT 0870 rate of 4p per minute in the evening and 1.5p per minute at the weekend.  0845 cost 3p per minute weekday daytime with BT and 4p per minute with other people like TalkTalk.  Off peak the BT 0845 rate is 1p per minute or 60p per hour.

Then there are BT phone boxes where a 15 minute call to an 01 or 02 number costs 30p but a 15 minute call to 0845 and 0870 costs £1.75 at all times.  A 15 minute call to an 0844 or 0871 number costs £2.05 for 15 minutes from a BT Phonebox.

And what about mobile phones.  Vodafone, Orange and Three exclude 0870 from their bundled minutes and charge a premium rate of up to 50p per minute depending on the plan you are on.

There are so many outrageous differences between non geographic and geographic numbers pricing wise that it  positively makes my blood boil to hear most of the morons who work in these call centres brazenly still telling customers that calls cost just the BT local or national rate.

I think there's some more information in Dave's locked threads at the top of this section of the discussion forum.

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I suppose you could also try to get in the fact that while BT proposed a simple reform on all this to Ofcom, where 0845 and 0870 would then cost the same as ordinary 01 and 02 calls, that Ofcom are instead intent on some harebrained scheme where 0845 calls will soon cost more than many 0870 calls and where the cost of an 0870 call will vary depending on whether or not there is a price announcement when you dial.

I think Private Eye quite like letter issues that run and run from one edition to the next.  But I'm not sure how effective Private Eye is in achieving our main goal as not very many people read it (I mean even I don't any more).  What we need is headline coverage in The Sun and/or The Daily Mirror.