I seem to remember reading on this site a long time ago that these numbers are not allowed in the USA and Europe.  If this is so, I would like to know if someone knows on what grounds they are disallowed in USA and Europe, and therefore why cannot Britain disallow them on the same grounds.  I find it so frustrating as you all do, that something that seems so illegal is allowed, even after all the hard slog of the good people of this site to rally against it.

Quote:


It's not that they are disallowed, as such - at least in the USA. I think the primary difference here is that there is an entirely different culture about customer service. It is probably also about the legacy of the way that the phone systems work here, too. Remember that most US subscribers pay a fixed price for a phone line and all local calls - regardless of call length. I guess that in the days of paying a rate per call for long distance calls, companies wanted to keep their customers on-side and introduced 'free' calling that allowed subscribers NOT to have to pay an extra call cost (and long-distance calling was an 'extra', too - it didn't come as standard as part of a phone service. You designated which company you wanted to carry your long distance calls, and paid them separately. Many people didn't even bother - they just had a local service.) Now, it's all changed - just like communications everywhere. Cell (mobile) phones proliferate, and do not attract any premium for calling them (although the called party pays for the airtime as well as the calling party). Package deals that include long distance calls are common. VoIP is taking off fast. What hasn't changed, it appears, is the fundamental belief that a customer generally shouldn't have to pay a call charge to contact a business. That seems enshrined in the US 'phone pysche' - and I can't see it changing unless they all broke ranks together. Unlikely!

It's why the Brit companies like British Airways use a 1-800 number here. They have to, to be competitive. However, in the UK, (which was, I think the first country to introduce timed local calls with the introduction of STD in Bristol in 1957?), the culture of 'ripping off' the telephone subscriber has been ingrained for half a century or more. The 0870 etc scams are just an extension of that policy. In addition, the Brits have a history of not complaining and accepting a level of service that would lead to the second coming of George Washington here.

It also appears that the regulator (FCC) is far stronger in the US, too - and is much more inclined to take the side of the consumer rather than cosily cuddle up with the telcos.

I thought that many European countries do have similar systems to the Brit NGNs? I guess they aren't so prevalent?

In Australia, there are 1300 numbers which allow a long distance call to be made, anywhere, for a fixed charge, regardless of call length. Typically, it is 25c. But - as there is no time component of cost, at least to the calling party, sitting in a queue is frustrating but not expensive! Of course, that only applies to land lines - the telco's didn't let that slip past when mobiles were introduced, and like 0870 calls in the UK, you pay dearly for 1300 calls made on a cell phone. 

Again, the ACCC (the Australian regulator) is far stronger than the British excuse for one, and definitely takes the consumer side.