I for one hate 0870/0845 telephone numbers. These are supposed to provide 'local call rate' from anywhere in the country but they must definitely be a 'Premium Rate' (albeit a low rate) which I think provides revenue for Companies that have them.
Why do I think that?
Well, show me a Company that provides an 0845/0870 number
AND an option to call a Geographic number. With a Geographic Number
AND a Phone provider like 18866 the call will only cost you 3p
per call, whereas an 0845/0870 number charges you
per minute.
An example of this is I recently signed-up with Freedom2Surf. I was using their Geographic number (01727 811530) in conjunction with 18866 to contact their Technical Support. I was spending over 60 minutes on some calls which, because of 18866, was only costing me 3p per call. When I needed to contact them again, a week or so later, low & behold the Geographic number was no longer in operation and calls were now being charged on a per minute basis. Haven't had my BT bill yet, but not looking forward to it.
Now the question is
WHY have they disabled the Geographic phone number ?
I think any Company that provides a 0845/0870 MUST also provide a Georaphic number as an option. If they don't then it only proves that they are obtaining some sort of kick-back on the phone calls.