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Private Eye Letters Column and 0870 (Read 16,278 times)
farci
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Private Eye Letters Column and 0870
Aug 21st, 2005 at 10:17pm
 
There has been correspondence recently about UK government depts using 0870 numbers after disasters - a practice they have now stopped, I believe.

But the misinformation continues with this week's edition and what constitutes a 'local' call.

I can't find my copy but would any of you erudite gentlepersons who still have one consider it worth a response to this esteemed organ in order to put them straight?
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mc661
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Re: Private Eye Letters Column and 0870
Reply #1 - Aug 22nd, 2005 at 12:42am
 
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.
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mc661
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Re: Private Eye Letters Column and 0870
Reply #2 - Aug 22nd, 2005 at 12:56am
 
Just found the letter defending the BBC from a JAMES DIXON.

"Sir
You published a letter in issue 1138 in which a reader criticised the BBC for using 0845 and 0870 prefixed telphone 'hotlines' following the terrorist attacks of 7 July 2005. Your readers should be aware that 0845 numbers (about 3p/min - i.e. local rate) and 0870 numbers (about 7p/min - i.e. national rate) are not the same as 0898 numbers (typically £1+/min). The letter suggested that the BBC was trying to make scandalous profits from the disaster. Quite unfair.
Yours
JAMES DIXON
Reading"

Quoted word for word. I think saynoto0870 should draw up a response to send to that letter. I meen for example 0844's which cost more to call then an 0871 from a payphone or even saying that 0870 vary in cost depending on where the caller is calling from and that the terms local/national rate were abolished when BT moved everyone over to BT together 1.

God I bet that James Dixon is some high up manager for the beeb
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farci
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Re: Private Eye Letters Column and 0870
Reply #3 - Aug 22nd, 2005 at 8:20am
 
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... Grin

Anyone up for it?
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dorf
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Re: Private Eye Letters Column and 0870
Reply #4 - Aug 22nd, 2005 at 9:52am
 
Hi Farci,

May I suggest that you have an equal right, as a consumer who is being ripped off by the NGN scam, to complain as anyone else.

Please don't take such offence at the fact that a Superior Member on this forum responded rather vigorously to your post "Grow up guys ....", since I am sure if you really think about it that perhaps was not a very tactful or sensible thing to post?

You have equal rights to anyone else in learning and responding to this scam, but you ought to accept that there is some truth in the concept that those who have been involved in fighting this for some long while are likely to have slightly more knowledge of the details than you do yet?

I personally am glad to see that you are also annoyed by the deceipt of this scam and hope that you continue to participate in this forum and in fighting the scam. Thanks for your contributions so far.
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« Last Edit: Aug 22nd, 2005 at 9:58am by dorf »  

Ofcom are completely ineffectual
 
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farci
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Re: Private Eye Letters Column and 0870
Reply #5 - Aug 22nd, 2005 at 10:14am
 
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) Roll Eyes
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mc661
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Re: Private Eye Letters Column and 0870
Reply #6 - Aug 22nd, 2005 at 3:06pm
 
I am afriad I cant write a letter to private eye, well not in my name anyway due to other 'comitments'.

Im already err umm 'giving' them documents!
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« Last Edit: Aug 22nd, 2005 at 3:07pm by mc661 »  
 
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NonGeographicalMan
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Re: Private Eye Letters Column and 0870
Reply #7 - Aug 22nd, 2005 at 4:03pm
 
Quote:
I am afriad I cant write a letter to private eye, well not in my name anyway due to other 'comitments'.

Im already err umm 'giving' them documents!


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

There seem to be no such stipulations related to the political party that I am involved in. Smiley
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Re: Private Eye Letters Column and 0870
Reply #8 - Aug 22nd, 2005 at 4:56pm
 
Quote:
Just found the letter defending the BBC from a JAMES DIXON.

"Sir
You published a letter in issue 1138 in which a reader criticised the BBC for using 0845 and 0870 prefixed telphone 'hotlines' following the terrorist attacks of 7 July 2005. Your readers should be aware that 0845 numbers (about 3p/min - i.e. local rate) and 0870 numbers (about 7p/min - i.e. national rate) are not the same as 0898 numbers (typically £1+/min). The letter suggested that the BBC was trying to make scandalous profits from the disaster. Quite unfair.
Yours
JAMES DIXON
Reading"

0898 numbers?

I never get charged anything for dialling 0898 numbers - I just get the unobtainable tone (and have done for a number of years now).
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After years of ignoring govt. guidelines & RIPPING OFF Council Tax payers using 0845 numbers, Essex County Council changed to 0345 numbers on 2 November 2015
WWW  
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NonGeographicalMan
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Re: Private Eye Letters Column and 0870
Reply #9 - Aug 22nd, 2005 at 5:20pm
 
Quote:
0898 numbers?

I never get charged anything for dialling 0898 numbers - I just get the unobtainable tone (and have done for a number of years now).


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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farci
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Re: Private Eye Letters Column and 0870
Reply #10 - Aug 23rd, 2005 at 9:25am
 
OK - would somebody give me either a draft or the facts about average geographic UK rates and I'll willingly stick my head above the parapet?

I'm only an enraged user for whom the biggest part of my small business phone bill is NGN despite the fact that almost all my other calls are to Euroepan countries during the working week.

Thank you
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NonGeographicalMan
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Re: Private Eye Letters Column and 0870
Reply #11 - Aug 23rd, 2005 at 9:50am
 
Quote:
OK - would somebody give me either a draft or the facts about average geographic UK rates and I'll willingly stick my head above the parapet?


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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« Last Edit: Aug 23rd, 2005 at 9:51am by N/A »  
 
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farci
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Re: Private Eye Letters Column and 0870
Reply #12 - Aug 23rd, 2005 at 9:56am
 
Thanks, NGM.

I'll e-mail Private Eye today but it might have more impact if more than one person wrote their own version.

Always remember, P Eye is the house magazine for the lazy journalist.....
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NonGeographicalMan
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Re: Private Eye Letters Column and 0870
Reply #13 - Aug 23rd, 2005 at 10:08am
 
Quote:
Always remember, P Eye is the house magazine for the lazy journalist.....


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.
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farci
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Re: Private Eye Letters Column and 0870
Reply #14 - Aug 23rd, 2005 at 10:17am
 
Not many ordinary people read P Eye, except conspiracy theorists like me AND journalists (briadcast & print)looking for ideas - hence my suggestion.

I wrote today:

James Dixon (last Eye) should try paying his own phone bill sometime – obviously he has done so for a long time as the premium number ‘0898’ disappeared sometime last century.

He is a little economic with the ‘verité’. 0870/0845 is a scam since the notional local/national rates he quotes are way above what most people actually pay when calling normal numbers beginning with 01/02.

When you can make a four-hour call to normal 01/02 UK numbers for 2p and most European countries for 2-3p/min the 0870/0845 rip-off is nothing short of a scandal in which Ofcom and the  BBC seem complicit.

Want the truth? - check-out www.saynoto0870.com





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