I may have missed any references on the forum to what follows so if I'm repeating something that's been covered elsewhere, apologies. But I think it may be worth highlighting again. (I haven't been able to find it although I've looked through a lot of pages.)

This is a way of getting a free 0870, 0871 or 0844 number instantly and at the same time helping to fund the cause of free calls on the internet.

A lot of people have said in messages here that it would be great to be able to get back at the big companies who use 0870 numbers by setting up a personal 0870 number and asking them to call back on that number. But a lot have probably thought, like me, that it would be great to do it but too much trouble and not worth it for the minimal or zero income it would produce. Some others have said it would be hypocritical since the campaign goal of this website is to get rid of 0870 numbers.

However, I signed up to www.voipuser.org (after following a link from a message elsewhere in the forum) and found you could sign up for a number instantly and the revenue would go to their community project. This deals with both objections at the same time: (1) it's instant and free; and (2) the revenue goes to a non-profit cause that has the aim of free phone calls, an aim that most readers support.

From what I can work out after looking around their site for a while, they fund the calls you make from your internet phone to normal landline PSTN phones by using a central pot of revenue that they hold. This money is partly derived from assigning you an 0844 number to link to your internet phone.

More interesting is that they also issue 0870/71 numbers that you can route to any landline in a long list of countries (including the UK). I couldn't find it spelled out but I assume that this revenue also goes into their revenue pot to fund further development of VOIP calls. If everyone used VOIP all the time, all calls to anywhere in the world would be free, so this sounds like a good cause.

But you don't have to be interested in VOIP. You can sign up for an 0870/71 number whether you make any VOIP calls or not.

This seems like a perfect opportunity for two groups with different aims to help each other out. The people reading saynoto0870 who want a free 0870 number to give to big companies that insist on using 0870 numbers themselves can get one here. At the same time, those, like me, who couldn't be bothered before, may well be happy to contribute what little income this generates to the cause of free internet phone calls that voipuser.org is pursuing.

It takes a couple of minutes to sign up and perhaps a minute more to get your first free number. I didn't test it straightaway but it was certainly working when I tried it 20 minutes after setting it up. The 0870 number can route to a different destination geographic number according to whether it's daytime, evening or weekend and it can also go to a different number or voicemail if there's no answer in 20 seconds.

I'm delighted to have got an 0871 number so easily and will be handing it out from now on to any of the big companies that won't give me a geographic number.

Another idea on using your free 0870 number is that a number of big companies have a "Call Back" feature on their website. You click on the button, type in your 0870 number and their computer calls you back.

I tried this just now with my free voipuser.org number and it worked perfectly. (I assume it's a computer calling you back as the call comes within a few seconds, far quicker than it would take for an operator to dial the number.)