Most companies claim they don't use the NGN's because of the revenue sharing but because of the features it brings.

Most of these features can still be used on an ordinary geographical anyhow.  I believe the other main reason would be if they were to move premises, etc and therefore a geo number would probably have to be changed but just how often do business move addresses and outside their old area?  This wouldn't be a problem on a NGN.

Anyhow, if Ofcom does finally abolish revenue sharing (and therefore the cost should then drop down and be classed as a geographical) then we'll see just how many of these companies then move to either a 0871 (not likely due to strict ICSTIS rules) but the likely choice then is an 0844 costing the maximum 5ppm.

Obviously any company migrating their number to either 0871/0844 was in it just for the revenue sharing but those that don't move and stay on their NGN but without revenue sharing are either using the NGN for the benefits it has and wasn't bothered about the revenue sharing or is likely to have given up the revenue to save the costs of migrating to the 0844 range.

No matter what option Ofcom choose I believe they should make it compulsory that all NGN's numbers published (whether its on the internet, leaflet, TV, radio, etc) have a cost indication next to it that reads something like, "calls cost upto 5ppm from a BT landline, costs from other networks vary. Mobiles cost upto 40ppm."  This, I believe, would ensure everyone is aware that costs to NGN's from mobiles are so high.

Of course, the telco's should all have to indicate the price to 0845/0870/0871 with their geographical prices as well (on the same page).  Other 0844 and premium rate can be on a different page but accessible via a link from the main tariff page.   The teleco's should also make it clear that calls to NGN's aren't included.

Now as for the tariff notification/announements at the beginning of the call, Ofcom claim customers would be annoyed with this feature which I believe could be true BUT call operators like Call18866/1899 use this call notification/announcement on their calls which must surely mean that it can't be that expensive to get started as I can't see Call18866/1899 having the money to do this and just like Call18866/1899 the customers can choose to have the call cost notification/announcement off or on.  I believe it should be on by default for NGN calls and if the customer chooses to turn this off then that's fine.

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I suspect this was an after thought by Oftel(Ofcom) that they should have thought of beforehand.  I believe 0820 are cheaper or something and specially for schools, etc but before this they were using ordinary numbers like us joe bloggs were.

Didn't realise the numbers went that far back though.  I can't see many (if any) schools still on dial-up now though!

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I didn't realise it was that many.  Those using dial-up are being ripped-off compared to broadband.  I take it BT are reluctant to upgrade their exchanges due to the costs involved and the unlikelyhood of a return in investment!

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BT were unwilling to upgrade 600 exchanges for this reason, mainly in the North of England, Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland.  Most of thes have been paid for by the local regional development agencies but not in regions where there wasn't a general problem so no big subsidised scheme to address the issue.

196 of the 297 will be done by the end of the year but the 101 (including the one next to me) are being left out in the cold.  These 101 exchanges probaly only have an average 150 lines each.  So about 15,000 phone customers are involved.  The 196 have perhaps another 30,000 lines on them.

They could always use a provider like http://www.fast4.net in terms of price but its going to be very slow and they keep having to dial up.

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And herein lies the problem. The likes of NTL and Telewest take the rich pickings and BT has to supply to everyone whilst still 'competing'!

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All of the stated reasons for why it is tricky to move customers away from ripoff £1.80 an hour (weekday peak) legacy 0845 dialup ISPs come under the heading of bamboozle, hogwash or flim-flam.

I used to have an 0800 and an 0845 dialup ISPs and they both changed the phone number a couple of times by sending an email and explaining how to do it in Dial Up Connection settings.  They sent an email address to the address you had to give to sign up................   As for all these CDs etc well there is only one major ISP that uses proprietary software for internet connection that requires this nonsense.  That service provider is AOL where Ofcom Communications Director Mr Matt Peacock used to work.   And I am sure even they could find a way to change the dialup number via an online download.

In the time frames in fact envisaged by Ofcom for acting on 0870 (6 to 9 months to consult plus a year to implement) 0845 dialup internet will be near dead so Ofcom's claims that these call prices could not be slashed to geographic rates are really utter nonsense.  Anyone still on 0845 at that point shoudl be forcibly moved to an 0844 1p per minute service, an 0808 subscription service or to budget broadband for their own good.

Ofcom's game here is in fact to protect the business revenues of the telecoms companies against possible decrease.  The fact that this means millions of consumers paying more than they should for 0845 voice customer service calls for another year longer doesn't seem to concern Ofcom in the least.

I have continued this discussion about the coverage of broadband in Increasing the coverage of broadband.