I would go by the printed information or that on the website rather than customer services. Clearly the person you spoke to wasn't properly briefed and/or didn't check.

I've just called the BBC Children in Need 0345 733 2233 number from my BT landline using 18185's prefix, 18185 and it is network busy (that's an engaged tone with a long tone and short tone) and the 020 dial-through number and a female voice says that the number is busy. It has been possible to call 03 numbers via 18185.

I don't know how you pay 0.5p/min to 0845 during the daytime. I think any provider offering such a rate is likely to be making a loss.


As mentioned above, only BT must provide access to all numbers. A year ago there were mainstream providers which didn't allow access to 03 numbers. It was a case of the chicken and the egg. Should we have encouraged organisations to use 03 numbers or telephone companies to carry these numbers? Now the situation is somewhat different. The vast majority of providers allow 03 numbers to be dialled.

Unfortunately, it has been reported that 18185 and other Finarea operated services don't have a very good customer services. There is no telephone number and you aren't forced to get a response by email.

The only thing I can suggest is that you send them an email and ask what is going on with 03 numbers.

oldharryrocks wrote on Nov 5^th, 2008 at 8:20pm:


With yourcalls.net I found I consistently could not get through to BBC Information using their 03 number by dialling the normal way and I had to add the 1280 over-ride prefix to force the call to route with BT to get through.  Even then I was regularly getting engaged dialling the BBC Information 03 number but not if I used the old 0870 number when I was connected straight away.

I suppose I should take this up with Michael Stock at the BBC but there are only so many hours in the day.

Basically Ofcom being the pathetically useless organisation they are have failed to properly ensure all telecoms providers do class 03 as normal numbers even though their own General Conditions say they should.  I expect they are far too busy arranging their next pension contribution increase or their next big dinner for the telecoms industry to have time to attend to such trivial and unimportant matters.

I hope I do not risk having my "senior member" status revoked by revealing that I have little interest in subscribing to services from uncontactable offshore discount telephone service providers that require you to dial override prefixes for some calls as well as consulting the clock, a set of tariff tables and perhaps a website before making a telephone call.

I believe that this places me in the same position as most of those whose interests we are aiming to serve by campaigning against improper use of revenue sharing numbers. (I recognise that others have wider campaigning objectives.)

It is generally true that any provider of heavily discounted services cannot offer a full range of options. This is because they are generally exploiting high margin items that others use to subsidise their customer service overheads and less profitable items in their catalogue of services.

If one is prepared to suffer the necessary inconvenience, limitations of service and lack of "frills" such as a customer service line in order to save money, then that is fair enough. This however has little to do with public service providers funding their service through payments by service users wihout declaring the fact.

If a telephone service provider is permitted to deny access to the BBC Children in Need appeal and other useful numbers, and they chose to take this option, then they should have a lot of unhappy customers, and deservedly so. If it has been established that this is what we are discussing here, then perhaps this thread should be moved to the "rogue call providers" section of the forum.

By the way, I can endorse all the criticism of the quality of customer service from Virginmedia. I had two such examples today. Both agents were charming and courteous, but neither had any idea about the services they were dealing with. At least we are getting Sky News back, and Sky Arts added.

SilentCallsVictim wrote on Nov 6^th, 2008 at 12:53am:


I completely agree with you, SilentCallsVictim. We should ensure that people can make calls at standard cost to any company or organisation they need to call. If there is some special prefix that allows cheaper calls for particular numbers, all well and good, but no-one can expect that to be universal for all numbers. Rather, they should consider it a special deal on the numbers to which the cheaper call is available.

With a (partial) end to revenue sharing, we have a far less distorted market. Providers are free to offer whatever prices they want to call particular numbers. It's up to the consumer: pay a bit more line rental for inclusive calls, or pay less line rental but pay for daytime calls. This was never an option with 0870 numbers.

Having said that, there's no reason we can't offer alternative 01/02 numbers for 03 numbers in the database. And if an 0845 number exists, it will presumably already be in the database - it's possible to search for the 03 number and find an 0845 number, if that's cheaper during the daytime.

Dave wrote on Nov 6^th, 2008 at 11:48am:


I have previously had read receipts for emails sent to info@finarea.ch and igor.tracchia@finarea.ch in respect of the barking dogs call connection issue on 18185.

I then also had an email from service@finarea.ch saying they had applied a £20 credit to my account in respect of the barking dogs issue (because it caused me to make an unnecessary return journey of 90 miles as I thought burglars had broken in to my mother's house), although I don't think the credit ever turned up (surprise, surprise).

Igor Tracchia is the boss man of Finarea (1899, 18866, 18185 et al) so if people email him on the 03 number non connectivity issue this may help get the issue resolved.

I now have an all calls package with yourcalls.net for 01, 02, 03 numbers but I still use 18185 for calling mobile phone numbers and the barking dogs issue has not recurred in recent months.

sherbert wrote on Nov 6^th, 2008 at 1:21pm:


So you think signing up with BT for 12 months doesn't have an opportunity cost then?

derrick wrote on Nov 6^th, 2008 at 2:32pm:

That's 4p/min during the daytime and 0.5p/min during the evening and weekend. I took it that the OP was saying that 0845 calls cost 0.5p/min during the daytime via 18185's non-BT dial-through numbers (either 020 or 0808).