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Ofcom's attitude is that the mobile phone market is already subject to the white hot forces of private competition so there is no need.

Although clearly they don't seem to have factored in Vodafone or the fact that we have some of the highest landline to mobile phone prices in the western world.

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And also the reason that Orange will no doubt be able to get away without any prominent announcements alerting its customers to this major change.

What can one really say of Ofcom the so called telecoms regulator that has spent quite a while encouraging the COI to make amended policy saying that 0845 is not as bad as 0870 for government call centres only to then propose rgeulatory changes that will mean 0845 will be much worse than 0870.

To say that the left and the right hand at Ofcom don't seem to talk to one another much is to put it mildly.

Yes but surely that is their deliberate strategy to satisfy their government controllers? More bamboozle and all part of the continued deception. If we confuse the general public they will not realise what we are doing?

As mobile networks have call announcements for 0800 calls then how hard or more expensive can it be for them to implement it for NGN's calls that they charge upto 40ppm for?

The issue about 0845 numbers staying as-is for 2 years is an important one which respondees must not overlook when backing Ofcom's suggestion that 0870 be aligned to geographical rates.

I would like to add that a while ago I made a complaint to Ofcom and was asked for my contact number.  As they (at that the time anyhow) used an 0845 number I gave them my NGN also.  The operator then had the cheek to ask do I have a geographical instead of my NGN?

I replied it was forwarded to my mobile.  This wasn't true but I wasn't prepared to give my geo number out to them due to the fact they aren't doing anything for us consumers with regards to NGN's.

Anyhow, why is it ofcom try and play down the significance of the cost of NGN's when their contact centre wanted my underlying geographical number?

Obviously they wanted the cheapest form of contact number for me so why can't us consumers ask the same from companies?

It's obviously ok for ofcom to try to avoid ringing NGN's where possible but us consumers have to put up with them!

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So it isn't just that 0845 calls will revert to geographic prices one year after the one year deadline for 0870 call price changes that will take effect  when Ofcom finally publishes its response to the consultation and sets that date.  So perhaps say 8 months from now and that 's of course assuming that Ofcom don't decide to have another consultation on 0870 too.

All Ofcom are in fact saying is that some nearly two years after that one year to 0870 price change clock date starts running Ofcom will merely look at how many people are calling 0845 numbers with dial up ISPs to consider if it perhaps might see its way to ending revenue share perhaps another  year later.  So 0845 will stay as premium priced calls outside call packages for at least another 3 to 4 years from now.

0845 may well not be the headline today but they sure will be in 18 months or so time when they start to become far more expensive to call than most 0870s and when people really will notice that they are not what the useless Ofcom still incredibly currently allows to be marketed as being Lo-Call!  Also how is Ofcom going to then justify the advice it gave the COI that any government 0870 should be migrated to at least 0845 because it was not as expensive.

These proposals from Ofcom are totally intellectually incoherent and reflect nothing other than Ofcom's ability to pander only to whatever its director chums in the major uk isps and telcos tell Ofcom they want it to do.

Ofcom is a totally bankrupt regulator and if it goes ahead with these crazy proposals to make 0845 still premium priced non geographic calls while 0870 become geographic it is going to face the most enormous public backlash against its grotesque incompetence and inability to ever genuinely act in the public interest.

There are only two possibilities which are either (a) that Ofcom staff are so utterly clueless that they really can be bamboozled by the ISPs into believing it is actually difficult to migrate an 0845 customer to a cheaper 0844 ISP service or (b) that they know perfectly well it is not difficult but that their friends in the ISPs have told them that it will impact their own personal bonuses due to loss of all that lovely illicitly gained call revenue from ignorant 0845 users who don't realise what they are paying.  Now since I don't actually believe Ofcom staff are ignorant of the lack of any technical complexity in moving 0845 calls to 0844 my money is all on option (b) being the case.  Especially as the Ofcom consultation document actually admits that loss of revenue to ISPs is the primary reason for deciding not to end 0845 revenue share at precisely the same time as 0870.

So I wonder how Mr Stephen Carter plans to use his newly discovered Voip calling facility to make cheap calls to 0845 numbers in 2 years time?  Oh I forgot that as Ofcom is paying his phone bill for him he of course will be utterly clueless that this is even actually the case.  And no doubt back at home it is his wife who has to deal with the phone bills.

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Isn't that what being Independent means 'though ?  
Independent of Government,
Independent of Society,
and free to  serve who it pleases