The topic of getting an 0870 number for personal use has been brought up previously. What are the options for having a 03 number, particularly for the low user?

I have found the following:


UK2Numbers

Setup from £9.95
Receiving calls on landline 1ppm; on mobile 26ppm
Minimum usage 3 minutes per month (if not, then they may charge £4.95 for low usage)
No monthly charge
Minimum charge is 0.05p (not sure whether that is a typo and should be £0.05 or 5p)
Can change destination number once a month. It will cost £19.95 to change it again within that period.

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Telephone Number Discount Warehouse (Telswitch)

Setup from £24.95
Receiving calls on landline 1ppm; on mobile 9ppm (18ppm for 3 mobile)
May withdraw numbers that receive less than 10 minutes of call traffic a month for three consecutive months
No monthly charge although some tariffs are available that have inclusive minutes.
This is a pre-pay service and the minimum top-up is £25.
There is no connection charge. The minimum charge is 1p.
Features include ringing up to five numbers simultaneously, first one to answer gets the call.
Call Whisper "whispers" a message to you so you know that the call you are receiving was made through your 03 number.
01/02 numbers available for the same price and call rate as the 03 numbers.


All charges in this post are exclusive of VAT.


The Telephone Number Discount Warehouse looks particulary attractive for mobile users. A tradesman who is often out could get his own number within the local area code and point it straight to his mobile. Rates are lower than BT's diversion charges.

UK2Numbers is more restrictive as you can't change destination number as often. If you wish to have unlimited instant redirection it will cost £59.95 per year.

jgxenite wrote on Jun 9^th, 2009 at 10:35pm:

What are their charges for routing to mobile numbers? What about STD numbers?

jgxenite wrote on Jun 9^th, 2009 at 10:44pm:

This page gives outgoing call charges. Most of the main mobile rates are between 9ppm and 12ppm including VAT.

£1.15 plus VAT per month is very reasonable when you consider that there are no incoming call charges to route it to a landline.

Edited:



I like the Telephone Number Discount Warehouse (Telswitch) "Hunt Group" service which rings up to five numbers when a call comes in. With this it is possible to set it up to ring both landline and mobile numbers and if you are at home, answer it from the landline as it's cheaper. A&A also provide this service.

jgxenite wrote on Jun 9^th, 2009 at 11:06pm:

That's what I was wondering.

£1.15 setup is the lowest I've seen by far!

Is there a minimum call traffic level specified?

A&A look to be setting themselves apart from rip-off changes that have come into telecommunications today:

• Calls are timed to the next second rather than next whole minute.
• Calls are worked out to a "fraction of a penny" rather than being rounded up to the next whole penny for each individual call.
• The minimum call charge is 2.5p whereas landline providers have so-called call set-up fees such as BT's 8p.

Incoming call charges to landlines and mobiles are slightly higher with A&A than Telswitch.


Anyone have any experience of Telswitch? For a 01/02/03 number routed to a landline or mobile, they are cheaper than A&A, although the initial setup fee is higher.

Just as an aside, and to show one way of using VoIP and failure routing..

Several mobile phones these days (such as my Nokia N95) have built-in WiFi and SIP capabilities.  I have mine set up for my home network and asterisk server, but you could just as easilly set it up for A&A's SIP server or whichever other provider you use.  Set the "on fail" number in the control panel to your normal mobile number. 

Then, when you are in range of a suitable WiFi network, the phone logs in automatically and you can make calls via VoIP rather than via your mobile network.  If somebody phones your 03, it'll ring on the phone as normal, but for free!!  Should you move out of WiFi coverage, then it will forward the call via a normal phone call.   

Dave wrote on Jun 10^th, 2009 at 12:41am:

Yep, spot on.  (although I gather some networks were disabling SIP in their locked N95s when it was launched..)

Quote:


Yes, that's one way. There are Wi-Fi cordless phones available too, that don't need any cabling or base station, just a charger, if you've got a wireless router.

Or you can use a router with built in VoIP ports (Here's a cheap one!) that you just plug a standard phone into.  Or an adapter like these) that connects to your LAN and a standard phone.  I'm not sure if any of those particular ones do it, but some types (such as the SPA3000) have a FXO port, or a simpler pass-through port, that allow you to link to your normal phone line and use the same phone for both services.  (I've actually used one of those cheap routers just as an adapter, not using the ADSL part, before now...)

What you DON'T want is anything that says "USB" in the description ..... there are loads of cheap "VoIP phones" that are really juse USB sound devices that have to connect to a PC or laptop to do the work.  Avoid those..

TBH I've not used the forwarding via normal phone call options, so I don't know for sure how they interact with the VoIP.  It'd probably be worth a quick email to sales@aaisp.net.uk to ask, though. I've found them to be very responsive to emails, and, as you say, they've got a pretty good reputation.  Point them at this thread and they'll probably contribute... I can't really comment on reliability, as my usage is minimal, but I've certainly never had any problems.