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The only purpose of Ofcoms latest consultations, as it has always been with Ofcom, is further extensive procrastination so as to allow thier chums in the 084/7 ripoffs camps to go on ringing the cash register as long as possible.

I was reading their plain English thing on 0870 on a train today and they make the ridiculous statement that they need to delay 0870 revenue share implementation for a year after they report back (which will probably be next September) so that companies can have new letterheads prepared and so the companies do not suffer any operational inconvenience.  They then go on to say this will also benefit the customers of 0870 numbers by them not ultimately being forced to bear the cost of this stationary reprint.  But what hogwash when their own analysis suggests most companies will not change their 0870 number and if any do they can obviously leave a message on the old one telling you the new one to call.  I am sure any savings on stationery not billed to customers will be greatly offset by them having to go on paying 0870 ripoff premiums for a further additional year.

Also in their proposals on 0845 numbers they actually admit they don't want all these rapidly dieing ISPs to have to change their numbers just because they might lose some customers and some money as a result.  Well good these customers are being ripped off through inertia and should either be on a 1p per minute at all times 0844 or move to a freephone 0808 dialup service at much lower prices.  But no Ofcom is prepared to see all 0845 numbers (including the tens of thousands of voice call numbers that are nothing to do with dial up internet) become more expensive than 0870 (so absurd that anyone other than the Stalinist revisionist working at Ofcom can see it) for endless government department services and for people like charities and the Consumers Association just so that a few ISPs are not inconvenienced in an industry that will be nearly dead by the time we hit their 0870 price change date.  Yet Ofcom is the one who advised the COI to tell govt departments being on 0870 was kinder to customers.  Dohhhh what's the use when dealing with the peanut brains and dodgy free lunch takers who make up most of the Ofcom staff.

The respondents so far have been far too kind.  My response will start by damning Ofcom for its morally bankrupt position as a regulator and for showing that it is consistently prepared to come up with the most convoluted obfuscation to put the interests of the public last and telecoms companies first.

The whole thing is a disgrace.  They propose putting 0871 under ICSTIS but not forcing the services to be renumbered to the 09 range.  But if they are not renumbered to 09 then obviously the public will think 0871 costs the same as 0870............................

The whole thing is shameful and makes no sense.  For instance Ofcom says revenue share will be abolished on 0870 but then says some companies may want to still charge more than geographic call rates for calling the numbers.  But why would they want to do this any more than for calling an 01 or 02 number if no revenue share is any longer involved.

There is no moral consistent basis to Ofcom's proposals.  It is just a convoluted set of weasel words that basically arranges the goal posts in a way that does the least damage to the former business colleagues of Mr Stephen Carter.

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Hey idb,
            There's something faulty with the link to reponses.
If I follow it I still see the original list of only about 12 responses.

Wondering why no more had been posted in the last few days, I found if you delete the  last
"/?a=87101"  bit  you can see twice as many  (currently ~25).
Try it:-
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/condocs/nts_forward/responses/

The dodgy link seems  to have originated from OfCom's website, where I guess it was copied from.  Eg at the very bottom of this page :-
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/condocs/nts_forward

I've sent a message to their Webmaster, though I guess they won't get it fixed as quick as our 24/7 operation.

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ok Dave thanks for this.

So in our responses to Ofcom we all need to say it is not good enough that Ofcom says revenue sharing must end.  But on top of this Ofcom must insist that every licensed uk telecoms call carrier, including mobile phone companies, cannot charge more for carrying a call to an 0870 number than they charge for calling an 01 or 02 number.  That is to say that if you have a contract mobile phone with inclusive minutes for all normal uk fixed line calls that 0870 must now be covered by the package.

In our response we must particularly point to the current 0845 and 0870 ripoffs as being a reason why the present Ofcom proposals must be further revised to insist that all uk OCPs cannot charge more for 0870   numbers than their rate to 01 and 02 numbers once the new regime comes in.  It is not good enough for Ofcom to say it hopes this will happen.  Also Ofcom does not comment on inclusive call packages to geographic numbers and again Ofcom must be forced to make rules to ensure that 0870 numbers will be included in these call packages once these changes go through.  Light Touch = Out of Touch is the message we must get across to Ofcom

Of course I would also like to see this rule applied to 0845 but that needs to be tackled in a different way by showing Ofcom that by the time their 0870 changes come in there will be hardly any 0845 dial up left and that what dial up is left will have all moved to cheaper deals on 0844 and 0808 so there is no case at all to preserve the revenues of a few remaining ripoff 0845 dialup ISPs at the expense of continuing inflated prices for millions of calls a day to voice 0845 numbers.  Ofcom must have it pointed out to them that 0845 has always been marketed as being "Lo-Call"!  Also the fact that 0845 is used for voice calls and dialup is entirely the fault of their totally incompetent predecessors at OFTEL.

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A smiliar process occurred on London when 01 became 0171 and 0181 and when those codes then became 020 when either dialling code (old and new) worked together for a long period.

But Ofcom won't allow this in this case idb as this would mean an early end to the 0870 and 0845 scamming.  The whole  point of Ofcom's proposals is to preserve the 0870 and 0845 scamming for as long as they think they can get away with it politically.  And then as a thank you many of those Ofcom directors will soon move back to the private telcos at much higher salaries.

Of course they will say this is due to their extra skill set developed at the regulator and will deny it is a pay back for favours bestowed.  But you only have to read what is written in the consultation document about loss of revenue to service providers and telcos to work out the real truth.

Anyhow thanks on your suggestion about immediately bringing in the dual geographic code on 0870 and 0845.  This completely blows out of the water Ofcom's argument that 0845 has to go on revenue sharing for years and years more so incompetent dialup users will still be able to go on dialling 0845 (if they don't mind paying the extra cost. )

I will make sure to include your valuable suggestion in my response to Ofcom as I hope that you also will.

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Dorf,

It seems to me that if PNS is required and people are prepared to pay the extortionate rates then 07 PNS should be renumbered to 09 where it belongs.  It has no place on the 08 code.

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Some PNS numbers (mainly k rate which is 35p peak, 25p offpeak and 12p at the weekend) offer diversion to international mobile numbers at no cost to the holder of the PNS number.  Until very recently calls to international mobiles have been very expensive (after they were regrettably split for international tariffing in many countries 5 or so years ago just as international fixed line call prices started to fall through the floor) so there is an argument this PNS variant should have been legitimately allowed on an 09 tariff.

However the key thing is that legislation needs to be passed to heavily revise BT's Call Diversion feature so that it is possible for it to divert calls using dial through numbers, and using indirect access prefixes like 1899.  If these things were made compulsory for fixed line operators like BT then the need for PNS would completely fall away.  But again those at Ofcom will not vote for doing anything that may prevent themselves getting another well paid job at a Telco when they leave Ofcom.

Norfolk County Council Trading Standards have responded to the "Way Forward" consultation here.

The main point they make is that it's better for companies to stay silent on pricing, rather than state a potentially misleading [BT] price.
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This is interesting and is a reason to question allowing OCPs to charge more than their geographical rate with pricing announcements.

If Ofcom were to implement the proposals, then how does this fit in? SPs must display pricing information according to Ofcom's rules, but must not display them according to the law!

Should Ofcom have not seeked legal advice before going ahead and publishing this consultation?