Hi

I am trying to get a handle on the difference between the 0870 and 0871 markets. It seems that 0870 is a bigger market but the potential revenues from 0871 are greater, is there any reason for this.

My hypothesis is that the threshold for revenue sharing is quite high often well over 500 minutes a month before the owner of the number sees any returns. Therefore for smaller comapnies 087x is not a revenue genertaing service they just need the enabled software which is run over these numbers like IVR so it makes sense to use 0870 as it charges less to the customer and they will likely get more calls where the consumer knwoledge of the charges exist that is.

Luc

so why use 0870 at all and not 0871?

lucaltmann wrote on Jan 29^th, 2007 at 3:57pm:

The prefixes 0844 and 0871 were introduced in 1999. 0870 existed before this time, and was originally 0990 when all these numbers were provided by BT. 0990 numbers were migrated to 08705. That may help explain why businesses consider 0870 "fashionable".

Ofcom consultations and associated discussion threads on this forum can be found here. The provide an invaluable background to the internal framework of these numbers. They are, however, extremely long.

From Ofcom consultation NTS: Options for the future:
Quote:

OK thanks. So do you think the types of businesses who use 0871 differ markedly from those using 0870 and if so why and how about with 0844 and 0845 ?

I just never have the need to call 08xx numbers

lucaltmann wrote on Jan 30^th, 2007 at 3:22pm:


I think you must be the managing director of a company with a large 0870 call centre puzzling at why your company receives so many abusive letters regarding these numbers.

It seems you have a wife and a secretary to make all of life's mundane practical arrangements as this can be the only possible reason why you never have to call such numbers yourself.  Either that or you do not live in the UK at all.

Or pehaps you are a director of Ofcom and make all these personal calls on an Ofcom mobile and so never have to pay the bill?.

lucaltmann wrote on Jan 31^st, 2007 at 9:18am:


I find it singularly ironic that someone who hires themself out as a so called telecoms consultant apparently knows so little about the UK's current highly distorted telecoms tariff structure or even what the price difference is between an 0870 and 0871 number or how the two are differently used.  Why do people become consultants in something which they clearly have zero personal interest in or experience of - just to earn money by any means of course like the 084/7 call centre scammers?  Surely its much better to become a consultant in something which you have a personal passion about.

You are clearly a lazy consultant since instead of properly using Google to research and read around the subject you expect people here to give you a few snappy answers for your report to a very long running saga of misselling, lies and deceit.

Calls to 01/02 numbers and all EU equivalent fixed line numbers from a BT landline can be had for as £4.33 a month in unlimited quantity on an 18 month contract with www.euphony.co.uk. ; 084/7 calls are excluded from these packages and can easily cost someone based at home another £50 to £60 per month if called with impunity (0871 numbers cost £6 per hour to call at all times so not exactly difficult to run up this kind of cost is it).  Also most mobile operators exclude 084/7 numbers from their bundled minutes on contracts and some like TMobile and Vodafone charge highly penal rates for calling them on Pay As You Go tariffs (in TMobile's case within the UK and in Vodafone's when calling from overseas).  Yet these are normal company numbers and not numbers providing a special service of any kind.

If you don't actually have a clue on this subject and are prepared to make it obvious that you don't as you have done then I suggest you check out some of my responses to previous Ofcom and ICSTIS consultations on this issue:-

For instance:-

www.icstis.org.uk/pdfs_consult/0871JShersby.pdf

www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/condocs/nts_forward/responses/sz/shersby.pdf

www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/condocs/ntsoptions/Responses/jshersby.pdf

www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/condocs/ocp/responses/shersby.pdf

www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/condocs/ntsctmr/resntcctr/shersby.pdf

Or take off the shersby bit at the end of those URLs to see a list of all responses to these consultations.

I also don't believe you never call these numbers.  But I do believe you are someone who has a phone bill that someone else pays for you so you have never noticed that these numbers had a different cost to call from numbers that start 01 or 02.

So this would be your firm and one of your articles:-

http://www.analysys.com/default_acl.asp?mode=article&ileftarticle=1770

So a company paid mobile phone and all calls to 084/7 numbers on that phone or from your office desk landline phone then it would seem? In other words you never pay the bill

Ironic isn't it that people come consultants in a subject on which they show total ignorance.