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The new ASA guidelines mean they must show the maximum range of costs imposed for calling the BBC on a BT landline.  Unfortunately the cost of calling from say a BT Mobile is not covered by this requirement.  But it is nice to see them complying as it might have been argued that the promotion of this number was not an advert in the traditional sense.

Of course they still haven't got it right as the cost of calling 0870 on a BT landline varies between 1.5p and 7.91p per minute so that should be 2p to 8p per minute rounded up.  Still its nice to see them erring on the side of quoting too high a price.

http://www.asa.org.uk/cap/news_events/news/2005/Stop+the+call+confusion.htm

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The 0171 and 0181 7 digit London to 8 digit 0207 and 0208 prefixed numbers Phoneday change was all the way back on 22nd April 2000 and I believe that finally some time in 2006 we will see the very first 0203 numbers issued because they will finally be starting to run out of 0207 and 0208 number blocks to issue to telcos.

Now these 0203 numbers will be issued anywhere in Greater London finally helping to make people aware the only code for London is in fact 20 and there is no such thing as the 0207 and 0208 phone area.

One wonders why they needed to make the change 6 years before they actually required the extra numbers!!!  Surely the public's understanding would have been better reinforced if the passing of Phoneday had been immediately followed by the issuing of 0204 0205 numbers etc.

And to think that they split 01 into 0171 and 0181 some time in the early 90s to create more numbers only to then realise they had screwed up and needed the 020 code for a reunified London and 8 digits.   And who was behind this big screw up?  None other than OFTEL clearly setting the proud traditions that its successor Ofcom has so resolutely followed.

My mistake as it seems Ofcom issued the first 020 3 block on 1st June 2005 so one of the telcos receiving one has possibly issued one to a customer by now.  So only a 5 year gap then.

I see Phoneday was 1995 when they got rid of 01 and made 0171 and 0181 and then just when we had got used to those they went back to a single 8 digit 020 in 2000.

I believe some of the provinces were also involved in these changes.  Reading 0118 is the change with which I am most familiar.

You seem to have been very quiet lately.  Has work been keeping you busy or something?

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What does this ATM stand for?

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This only goes to show that I am not a very big text message sender.

My only previous decode for ATM was from my time living in the USA in the early 80s when it stood for Automated Teller Machine (that's a Cashpoint to us English folk).

atm =
at the moment
automatic teller machine (not just a cashpoint you know!)

I think that the early Cashpoints (a Lloyds name), only gave cash against a punched card that the machine kept - at least that was how my NatWest one worked.
Whereas an ATM lets one do all sorts of other things, including expose your PIN to shouldersurfers and hidden cameras.

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What price per minute did or didn't they quote for calling?