Ricardo wrote on Nov 14^th, 2006 at 10:31pm:
I suggest you read through this FOI section of the forum to see if any are relevant.

I've had a quick scan and noticed the following where FOI was successful with regards to getting their underlying number:

FOI Request - NHS Student Grant Helpline
FOI - Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Trust

As for the money received then that's a hard one - this recent news article by the BBC revealed that DWP received £268,000 from their 0845 numbers.

I'm not sure what you've put in your FOI but did you mention that calls to 084x/087x can cost upto 40p/min from some mobile networks so at the very least releasing a geographical number alongside would help stop this.  Also, ringing from overseas on 0844 is impossible I believe and some overseas operators won't connect a call to 0845/0870 due to the uncertainty with revenue share that takes place on these numbers.

The problem is there hasn't really been a need to do it to something related to the NHS (except surgeries).  Its mostly been other gov depts like police, Inland revenue, DWP, etc.

I'd be inclined to ask ICO why they need that?  I can't see the relevance.  What is really relevant is the surgery is financially gaining from each and every call and so are NEG Plc (assuming it's an 0844 number) so therefore neither want to release an underlying geographical number for fear of losing revenue despite it being at the expense of patients especially those on really low incomes, etc.

If necessary, quote them the following:-

Quote:


Taken from paragraph 9 from Ofcom's FAQ's on Number Translation Services (ie all 08x numbers) here.

You might find this enlightening
Quote:

They say here that they have "871 systems sold and counting".

They started off suggesting to surgeries that by changing to an 0870 number the revenue they would get back would pay for the system. The NHS then moved to ban the use of high rate numbers from April 2005. Details here. This, if implemented, effectively screws the financial reasoning behind the practice's decision to purchase.

You might also find this illuminating.

Sorry, failed to spot the reference to 0844. 0844 is charged by BT at a whole raft of different rates dependent on the following digits but the rates are relatively low compared to 0870 except at weekends.

By way of comparison one local surgery has an 0844477 number which is charged by BT at g6, 5p a minute at all times. On an 0870 it would be 7.908 during the working day (6 a.m to 6 pm), 3.948 evenings 1.493 weekends (all inc VAT)

In my experience surgeries get the bulk of their calls on weekday mornings when the peak rate would apply and most of the surgeries I work with are open from 08:00 or 08:30 to 17:00 or 17:30. The nett effect of switching from 0870 to 0844 for inbound calls is therefore a reduction in revenue for the surgery. The only point I was trying to make was that the practices are not making the revenues that were illustrated to them at the time the sales presentation was made. They made their decision on figures that turned out not to be deliverable.

Surgeries are a particulary juicy target for non-geographic numbers because their inbound call volumes are much higher than their outbound volumes.

bbb_uk wrote on Dec 1^st, 2006 at 5:57pm:

Add another couple of pointless options to the recording which 'answers' every incoming call and that loss of revenue is quickly recovered.

muppet wrote on Dec 4^th, 2006 at 12:37pm:
They are the old prices.

Quote:
Wasn't trying to shoot you down.  Just pointing out that those rates are the old rates.  From 1st October 2006, BT reduced rates to 0845/0870 numbers.  See here and/or Specialised Number .pdf here (page 30, top-left) where it states calls are 7p/min daytime.  There are exceptions as you point out but I've yet to find a company/organisation using a number that is charged at the lower rate.

muppet wrote on Dec 4^th, 2006 at 12:56pm:

The Price List is up to date. The page you have linked to shows BT non-discounted rates and apply to those on Light User Scheme and the like. However, the most basic package is BT Together Option 1 and pricing for that is available here. The rates bbb_uk has quoted are on BT Together, which the majority of people are on.

For any charge bands that aren't mentioned on the Together page, non-discounted rates apply. For example, g2 does not appear on BT Together Option 1 pricing page because it costs the same on LUS as it does on BT Together.

BT Pricing.... as clear as mud.