Barbara wrote on Apr 13
th, 2006 at 2:48pm:
However, one thought comes to mind, it's a very naive one I know but ..couldn't all the problems be resolved to CUSTOMER satisfaction if all the telecoms providers were obliged to include ALL calls (except to 09 which can be barred) within their inclusive packages?...
To do this would require significant changes in the framework of these numbers, something that Ofcom's consultation
NTS Options for the future, which closed at the beginning of 2005 looked at. You can see that Ofcom has done diddly squat as far as implementing any changes to make it fairer, as far as the consumer is concerned.
Barbara wrote on Apr 13
th, 2006 at 2:48pm:
... I know it would cost the telecoms companies but so what, they make profits, they would just be smaller in the future and they would have more weight to put an end to this ridiculous situation.
In today's telecommunications there are different telcos. Thus, a call may originate and terminate with different telcos, ie, the caller may have one provider and the end party may use another. With 0845/0870 the end telco providing the number requires a payment (under current rules). For telcos to allow these numbers to be called at the same rates as geographical numbers would mean that they are operating at a loss.
Imagine if supermarkets were forced to sell Heinz baked beans at the same price as their own brand 'no frills' range. Heinz still want their usual payment (let's assume that this is more than the retail price charged for the 'no frills' range in this analogy). Thus, the supermarket would be making a loss on Heinz beans.
I'm not trying to justify the situation, but when you say "it would cost the telecoms companies", you are referring to the originating telcos and not those providing the rip-off numbers. They would be subsidising the service that the company/organisation you are calling should be paying for. It's passing the buck, although if it were the industry's expense, rather than the citizen's, as it is at the moment, then it might have more of an incentive to do something.
If this could be done, legally, what would this do in practice? I think that it will just push up the price of geographical calls and make inclusive calls packages all but non-existant. The best you will get will be where they offer a set number of inclusive minutes, like mobile phone providers do.