Then number range you need is indeed 03.   I've got an 03333 number supplied by A&A for £1/month, no incoming charges, delivered via VOIP, but there are other options, including blocks of numbers, and of course other suppliers. 

The only problem you might have is customer awareness of the numbers!  Ofcom seems to have done a massively underwhelming job of telling people about them..

irrelevant wrote on Nov 22^nd, 2007 at 9:10pm:


Only £1 per month and no call forwarding costs.  It seems the 084/7 scammers have been lieing all along about the actual costs of the NTS call redirection system.  The whole lot virtually must have been going in the pockets of the call centres and their intermediate telco call scamming partners.  Of course companies with 084 and 087 numbers are going to be lied to by these scammers and told they will have to pay a fortune to move to 03.

Quote:


Indeed that is the problem for the time being.  Even universal connectivity from non BT carriers and mobiles cannot yet be guaranteed  due to the ineptitide of Ofcom in not mandating it.

Despite the peculiar embarassment of the OP about using a London 020 Voip number when most of the staff are not based in that area I would have said that the credibility of 020 numbers in business terms is enormous and importantly universal connectivity by all your callers at normal call rates included in call packages can also be assured.

SilentCallsVictim wrote on Nov 23^rd, 2007 at 2:29am:


SCV,

To my mind the major problem is that OfCoN have left the existing 084/7 scamming system in place and still do nothing about the repeated peddling of lies by 084/7 users in materials and publications deemed not to be advertising (which are numeorus and all pervasive) that these calls are Lo-Cal, Local and National rate.  For so long as Ofcom does that in connivance with its telco industry chums at its closed door NTS Focus Group meetings then 03 will be doomed to have minimal impact.

If Ofcom had announced a termination date for the use of 08 for anything other than Freephone and insisted 08 revenue share users make a choice to either to go 09 where they disclose the extra charge or 03 where there is no extra charge to the caller then the system would have been transparent and would have worked.

Instead Inland Revenue, NHS Direct etc still perceive there is nothing wrong with 084 use and continue on with it and will tend to only enquire about the cost of moving to 03 from their current telecoms supplier who will lie that it is fabulously expensive to move to 03.  The reality is that it is only fabulously expensive to move to 03 with them (that supplier)as they do not want to lose their revenue share they have become used to.  But with another telecoms supplier the costs of changing would be negligible.

Let us face facts.  Ofcom is still under instructions from the government and major business interests that have its ear to keep old 084/7 numbers in business.  The final reneging on the end date for charging extra for 0870 calls on 1st Feb after over 3 years of previous delays on spurious grounds is the final proof of this.  The publication from PhonePayPlus proposing 0871 numbers at 10p per minute with no call queue limits (or even call queue length announcements) or call price pre-announcements is the further proof of this.  Especially as PhonePayPlus ignored the view of 600+ consumers and went with those of a handful of industry respondents and then has tried to hide those consumer responses and not publish them on their website.

Ofcom do not want 03 to succeed.  That is the real truth.

Only when Viviane Reding at the EU is persuaded to start a full force investigation by the EU in to Ofcom for repeatedly cosying up to the UK telecoms industry will Ofcom begin to take its duties to ensure competitive markets for the UK citizen consumer seriously.

WhiteMonkey wrote on Nov 23^rd, 2007 at 1:56pm:


I think its only guaranteed to government departments and public sector bodies allowed to use 030.  For commercial companies and 0345 and 0370 you probably have to approach a provider allocated this block and hope they haven't issued it to someone else yet.

Something tells me that you probably sell these numbers for a living but many thanks anyway for the very useful further info.

The irony is that 0300 is reserved for national and local government but most of them will actually end up with 0345 or 0370 as they will be converting existing 0845 and 0870 numbers.

NGMsGhost wrote on Nov 23^rd, 2007 at 5:16pm:


Not my line of business    I just read up on the OFCOM links from the Andrews & Arnold website when I bought my 033 from them.  There is no requirement to go for 034 or 037, and given the woeful lack of publicity from OFCOM, no real benefit.  I reckon that the few users of 084/087 who choose to remove their snouts from the trough will start again with 030/033 where they can have a contiguous block as large as they like.

Nick