derrick wrote on Sep 1^st, 2007 at 5:01pm:
Well I think they do but of course choose not to instead us citizens are left to last when Ofcom decide on things - everything always seems to be in favour of telco's!    

I've been getting notification emails all day so not sure what the problem is NGM.

bbb_uk wrote on Aug 31^st, 2007 at 6:16pm:


Yes but don't forget that someone at Windsor Telecom will have been given the job of selling these new 03 numbers to companies for which they are the right product and how do you go about selling a number that costs a company extra to run unless you point out all its advantages to their customers compared to 084 and 087 numbers.

Also don't forget that Windsor will be trying to persude organisations like Nationwide Building Society and John Lewis who have resisted 084/7 numbers up to now to get 03 numbers due to all the whizzo call stats and call routing features they can have.  So Windsor see it as a new sales opportunity for an expanded NGN customer base while at the same time converting all their hard nosed 0870 customers to 0871 on which they will then no doubt earn an even bigger amount of revenue share along with their clients.

NGMsGhost wrote on Sep 3^rd, 2007 at 10:37pm:


I have taken a look at their websites and .... oh no.... Nationwide 'contact us, telephone numbers' are nearly all 0845.   There are also a number of 0870 numbers for various types of insurance.    On the other hand there are some 0500 and 0800 numbers --- to apply for personal loans, travel insurance enquiries, mortgage insurance, car insurance enquiries.  A credit card brochure request is 0800 but payment insurance is 0870.    They do give an alternative international call number 44 + geo number with most of their 0845s.   So sadly, I think we have to say that Nationwide have not resisted 084/087.

John Lewis also  publish 0845 for their customer service and fax numbers and "your orders".   I can find no geo /international numbers on their website.

However, this website, SAYNO...  does provide geo and 0800 alternatives for those who have the gumption to look.

Do we have, or could we build and maintain, a list of those companies, like MBNA, which DO fully avoid 084/087
numbers?    This could be most useful to us during campaigning in the future.

1) Revenue Share
2) Call routeing without paying extra onward (e.g. without the *21*xxxx# type of divert charges)
3) Can't think of any other honest ones just at the moment...
4) Save that the caller funds it all.
5) Without realising it

Tanllan wrote on Sep 5^th, 2007 at 4:37pm:


So you can only think of one thing --- call routeing without divert charges?    Are sure this cannot be achieved somehow from a geo number base?

What about all the whizzo stats etc, what are these?    Or are you saying that all these stats can equally be obtained using a geo number provding you set up the system to collect them?

I'm sure I've mentioned this before but to be able to operate multiple call centres and hold many hundreds or even more in a queue would be unbelievably expensive to do it via geo numbers. The main reason is the cost of PBX equipment.

I suppose it may be possible to do everything via geo but do you really think and expect a company/gov dept to pay for this and that it wouldn't be passed on to us consumers in some way or another.

I've always said that in a lot of the cases, companies/gov depts using 0845 are most likely doing so because its a hell of a lot cheaper and easier (which in theory means its cheaper for us consumers/customers).

Now those using 0844 (most at 4p/min or 5p/min) or 087x are prob doing so for the revenue but trying to make out that its the network features.

This is where 03x comes in. It will have the same advantages (ie network features) as 084/087 but it wont cost us customers/consumers anymore to ring than a geo.  The organisation using 03x will most likely have to pay an incoming fee per minute but this may be cheaper than paying for the hardware needed to do everything via geo.

Remember, it's not just the cost of the hardware (PBX's, etc) that organisations have to worry about but the storage and maintenance costs.  Organisations that operate between multiple call centres may also have to pay for diversion costs to other call centres once a call centre is too busy and can't take anymore calls (ie hold them in a queue).  I also suspect that more lines would be needed which obviously costs more rental as well.