These phone boxes must be running at a huge loss. Does anyone use them these days, when nearly everyone has a mobile? I am surprised BT still bothers to keep them. The AA got rid of all theirs years ago. I can't remember when I last used one.

sherbert wrote on Jun 28^th, 2008 at 8:07pm:


But what happens when your car breaks down and you have left your mobile phone at home or the battery has fun flat if there are no public payphone?

Not to mention the extortionate charges to 0800 on a mobile phone but not from a BT Payphone.

Why have these even more extortionate charges to 084/7 now been brought in from Payphones.  It suggests BT think that people are over a barrel about having to call them to keep their gas on etc and that they will get a lot of money by charging these crazy prices, whilst having a headline cheap price to ring your Aunty Vera or 01 or 02.

Time for an embarassing email to Mr Ian Livingston reference his comments to the Scotsman newspaper about BT bringing an end to the whole 084/7 ripoff me thinks.  Also what about NHS Direct that uses an 0845 number and which BT Global terminates the calls on so BT gets all of the extortionate charges from Payphone for calling this number!!!!!!!!

But there is still a huge difference in the cost of a 30 minute call to your Aunty Vera and a 30 minute call to a customer service department or a government advice line (eg NHS Direct) that is a very real difference.  Why do you wrongly assume that all calls do not exceed the minimum call charge.  That is garbage.  The fact is that calls to customer service centres on 084/7 often take 10 to 30 minutes to complete (especially due to call queuing).

Why would BT charge so much more for 0845 and 0870 if these calls did not in fact constitute a huge part of the revenue it expects to earn from Payphone calls?  Also how is it acceptable for NHS Direct to use a number that costs £6.20 to call for a 30 minute call instead of only 50p for a normal priced phone call from a Payphone for 30 minutes to 01/02.

Your saying it is only headline grabbing is to accept that you think it is acceptable for marketing men to behave in this deceitful way.  Especially when the whole gigantic 084/7 con is reliant on people wrongly thinking 084/7 numbers are normal priced local and national rate phone calls.

If most people didn't pay any more than the minimum payphone call charge then why would BT want to charge so much more for calling 084/7 then Dave?

NGMsGhost wrote on Jun 30^th, 2008 at 11:39am:

Indeed there is. I've already suggested why that might be. That is to encourage people to use Payphones by way of lowering the apparent charge to "1 pence per minute".

NGMsGhost wrote on Jun 30^th, 2008 at 11:39am:

If you bother to read my post, you will see I was referring soley to geographical calls made from Payphones. It is they who will generally not go over 20 minutes.

So my point has nothing to do with "customer service centres" on 084/7 numbers. I must pull you up on one further point and that is that I never said all calls will not exceed the minimum charge, whether geographical or otherwise.

NGMsGhost wrote on Jun 30^th, 2008 at 11:39am:

Perhaps it is geographical calls which cost "less" rather than 0845 and 0870 which cost "more". This would seem to be the case, bearing in mind we have already said that Payphones are a loss maker anyway.

NGMsGhost wrote on Jun 30^th, 2008 at 11:39am:

I do not believe it is acceptable. It is, however, a matter for NHS Direct to address.

NGMsGhost wrote on Jun 30^th, 2008 at 11:39am:

Again, you are obviously not reading in full my postings before jumping in and replying. Indeed, I believe that your response is rushed as the first word in this quote should be "you're" and not "your".

In response to this point, I did not say it was acceptable, I merely suggested that that is why it is as it is.

NGMsGhost wrote on Jun 30^th, 2008 at 11:39am:

As less and less people use Payphones, the associated charges to those who do will have to go up. An example of this is the 40 pence minimum charge which used to be 10 pence.

bbb_uk wrote on Jul 3^rd, 2008 at 4:46pm:



Why is it that BT are the only telecoms company that is obliged to operate phone boxes? Why aren't others compelled to have some? I bet there is a simple answer but I at the moment don't get it.

As of 18 August, calls to 0844 numbers cost 20 pence per minute from BT Payphones.

NGMsGhost wrote on Aug 26^th, 2008 at 12:55am:

0844/0845/0870 are 20p/min
0871 are 50p/min