loddon wrote on Mar 5^th, 2007 at 4:34pm:


Only suggested by you if you will recall and not actually endorsed as a tactic by any other regular forum members.

The petition is about to hit 30,000 which is great, but the rate has dropped to about 40 per hour.

Any ideas as to how we can attract more signatures?

Also how are we going to exploit this. It is one of the most popular petition (past and present) and also the top communications petition. It would be very sad if it was just given the brush off, which is what I fear. Eg changes happening soon which will cover the concerns of the petitioners - Oh no they won't!!!

I would like to contact my Mp and local papers about this issue. Could someone please post the details about the charges applicable to the various 08** numbers. Apart from the 'excluded from inclusive packages' thing, I only know that companies often take a slice of the call costs. I would like to be more specific if I can, as I think it would improve the credibility of my letter.

I am of the opinion that the most powerful weapon consumers have is non-use. For instance how quickly would electronic equipment, cds, label jeans etc. come down if people just stopped buying them? I know we can't just abstain from using NGNs unilaterally so the trick is to make as many people aware and angry about them as possible. This means publicity. So by writing to nespapers, MPs, TV stations and so on spreads the word and hopefully more people will locate and post alternative geographical numbers, more people will use the site, and the profitability of the NGNs will decline. The petition may not, ultimately be any use in itself, but will be a significant measure of the resistance to the NGNs. But this requires the petition to be impressively supported which brings us back to publicity. I would urge everyone to write, e-mail and generally spread the word anyway they can

I agree publicity is the key.   I believe this links to the thread about ITV & Premium rate competition lines etc but SOMETHING made people aware of that and then someone with influence became angry about it, OFCOM was kicked etc.   I found it staggering that there was all that fuss about the trivia of Big Brother, that people actually bother not just to watch that nonsense but to complain about it, then OFCOM was jolted into seeming to do something - what a waste of their time!   Does anyone have any contact with the media & could point out that it is all very well worrying about the cost of competition lines etc where to call or not is purely a matter of choice while the scandal of the use of covert premium rate numbers by companies and organisations where the caller has no choice is ignored?  I still believe the petition is important even if it ultimately doesn't achieve its objective because, and particularly if we can get publicity, perpetrators of NGNs will no longer be able to claim that people don't object.

The signatures have now dropped to a trickle (about 15 per hour) as most people who would have been aware have already signed.

How can we boost it. Will Martin Lewis re advertise it if we ask? Who has good contacts with him?

Any other ideas?

I have written to Martin Lewis again.  I am away now for the weekend.

There is a popular saying that any publicity is good publicity, so anything we can do to bring this issiue to the public is a good thing. However, I don't think writing, or e-mailing for that matter, is much use in itself as people who are already annoyed about NGNs, and people who visit the site are quite likeley to have signed the petition already. What we need is to bring this to the attention of people who are using these numbers and are unaware of the rip-off, or who are aware and don't know there is an active protest movement. These are the the people outside this forum. These are the 'big numbers' we are missing out on. This means advising them in some detail about the extent and breadth of the rip off. I therefore repeat my request that someone on the forum provides some details about the exact costs of the various 08 combinations. Alternatively, if someone can point me at a website or other up-to-date research source, I will do the legwork myself. My aim is to produce a concise '08 for dummies' type peice that can be cut and pasted on to letters, e-mails and even leaflets ( I am considering a leaflet drop in my local paper) How many contributors are there to this forum? perhaps if we all donated just one pound, we could afford a newspaper ad? Now that would be a publicity blast!