We are doing well with responses to the Ofcom consultation except that many of them are very simplistic and fail to complain about the outrage of the 0845 scamming being allowed to continue while 0870 become geographic priced calls.  I wonder if there is any way with people who come to the site to look for a number to take them to a whole web page telling them about the consultation, its email addresses and the most important points to make in response.  And only after getting to that page could they scroll to the bottom and then press a button to get to the normal number lookup page.

I agree this is a rather ruthless suggestion but this is war with Ofcom and we must ensure they are inundated with lots of responses and also responses that completely pan their failure to deal with 0845 at the same time as 0870 on the ludicrous and totally untrue grounds that it is allegedly difficult to change ISP dialler phone numbers.  At the moment they are just going to get lots of responses saying "I agree with Ofcom's proposals on 0870" so they will claim everyone thinks they are wonderful and award themselves enormous bonuses!

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Yes an excellent response by Dr Feltham with some very serious heavyweight points against the totally corrupt New Labour spun nature of the Ofcom NTS consultation documents.

I feel that many of his points will be made in my own submission along with an even more vitriolic attack upon the bankrupt nature of Ofcom as a regulator, supposedley put there by Parliament to protect the uk citizen and consumer but instead paying grossly inflated salaries to telecoms industry cronies of Stephen Carter to codify and protect the corrupt and unacceptable business status quo.  The disgraceful attempt to protect the whole 0845 revenue scamming business for several years more (which is where all existing major 0870 scammers like the BBC and Sky will migrate in this period) on the ridiculous pretext that 0845 dialup ISPs cannot easily change the numbers called by their customers is beyond belief.

The consulation also does not address 07 PNS scams in its remit but surely these are every bit as reprehensible (since all consumers assume that 07 numbers are mobile phone numbers) and should again be transferred to 09 with the other revenue share scammers.  And failing to make 0844 and0845 numbers state the pence per minute rate in the interim.  Again quite unbelievable !

Anyhow I had better save all this until I sit down to write my response.  I know it is going to take a whole day and run to another 10 pages of A4 typescript.

You might by the way enjoy the descriptions of Ofcom and Stephen Carter made in both these documents which I today drew to the attention of Mr Carter and his chief propagandist Mr Peacock:-


www.newlabourscandals.co.uk/bodies.htm


www.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,3604,1298555,00.html

In the latter item Mr Carter is described as follows:-

"Carter's reputation is still blemished, however, by the cable company's collapse. One former colleague, who opted to remain anonymous, said Carter showed little understanding for consumers. He did not understand the need to cut costs and improve customer service quickly enough."

I would submit that Mr Carter still doesn't understand the need to cut costs and improve customer service quickly enough in terms of Ofcom dealing rapidly and aggressively enough with the 084/7 NTS scamming.

And what has been so depressing has been that most of the spinless uk media have simply accepted all the lies printed by Ofcom in its press release about its NTS consultations at face value and have described Ofcom as being some kind of superheroes in eventually slaying the 0870 dragon only 10 years too late!

I think an outright attack on the regulatory integrity and staffing arrangements of senior positions at Ofcom is required at the outset of one's response along with slating Ofcom for this being its third consultation in two years as it seemingly tries to play a game of endless delay while its telco friends stoke billions more into their coffers.

Also recounting the history of OFTEL and then Ofcom having practically been in cohoots with the 084/7 scam industry for most of its history with Ofcom allowing the use of the terms "Lo-Call" and "National Rate" for years after it ceased to be appropriate when it or OFTEL and/or the ASA could have stopped such highly effective but technically non complex misselling at the stroke of a regulatory pen.

Also we need to point out how Ofcom have even ignored the advice of a both its own Consumer Panel and BT on how to best approach the matter in favour of a bizarre approach on 0845 that seems only to favour the business interests of certain dialup ISPs to the massive detriment of all uk voice callers to government contact centres, who unlike customers of dialup ISPs cannot take their business elsewhere.

Why is it.  Is it perhaps because several senior Ofcom staff have formerly worked at such major ISPs so can seemingly only see their point of view. ???

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There is a substantial risk that they will view all this as off-topic, and will have given up reading before you make your main points.

It is a consultative process, about their own and other proposals, and a version of history that they do not recognise is unlikely to be seen as relevant or useful to future decisions.

The essence of good salesmanship is to recognise the position and interest of the potential customer, and tally your approach accordingly. Your constructive suggestions must be a product that they are interested in.

Be against them, by all means, but subtly speak their language.

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I respect the knowledge, expertise and views of many of the evidently more experienced members of this forum including NationalGeographicMan.

I do also, however, agree with the remarks made by andy9.

Clearly, as much as we feel like it sometimes, and as much as it is human to resort to it occasionally, if you want someone listen to you, it is best not to shout at them!

I agree that in an ideal world this wouldn't be the case but if a response that begins with a stinging attack on the integrity of Ofcom and its staffing arrangements (even if there are some grounds for such views) its makes it easier for Ofcom to consider such a response as extreme and therefore marginalise it.

I genuinely do not make this post to annoy or aggravate anyone.

Besides I consider myself a newbie here and all I'm trying to say is lets use all of our knowledge to maximum effect and to avoid any efforts that might prove counter productive in the long term.

And its probably worth reminding ourselves why we got involved in this forum in the first place -  we're all on the same side here, aren't we?

PS And if there was an white dove icon for peace I'd put it here ! 

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I think it is worth telling Ofcom it is failing in its duty to act in the interests of citizens and consumers as otherwise how is it to get the message and to start to put right its failure to successfully implement the mission that Parliament gave it?

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But responses to Ofcom public consultations are published on their website to a wider audience than just the anti NTS revenue sharing diehards who inhabit this website.

If one feels that Ofcom has failed the uk citizen and consumer in terms of the content of a particular consultation document it seems legitimate to me to mention that matter in the consultation itself.

I have been able to publicise the Ofcom Consultation among members of two forums to which I subscribe, one of which I moderate on. Hopefully at least some of the combined membership, around 2500, of both forums will take the time to complete the questionaire.

On www.homeworking.com we have discovered, over a period, that 087x numbers are frequently used not only as a source of income but because they are anonymous and virtually untraceable, a useful attribute to a 'business' which is less than 100% straight.

We have come to regard the 087x number as being one of the first signs of a scam business or opportunity, coupled with either a known accommodation address or a PO Box number for the address.

Sadly, there appears to be no way of checking the eventual destination number for these non-geographical numbers, unless you know different.
Is there any way of obtaining information on such numbers? I rather think the answer is no.