People are changing from 0870 to 0871/2/3 and 0844 because their providers are no longer paying out the revenue share.
This is because on 1 August Ofcom stopped BT from having to pay a revenue share on 0870 calls. From that date BT, Talk Talk and Sky stopped charging any premium on 0870 calls. (BT had previously made 0870 calls inclusive in its call plans, ahead of this change.)
Because the rate that BT is required by regulation to charge for 0845 calls is much less than what it chooses to charge for ordinary calls, it has been able to make these inclusive in its call plans also. Shortly after doing so, BT increased the charge for call plans (presumably to cover this).
From 1 October the rate BT charges for ordinary calls will overtake (by a fraction of a penny) what it has to charge for the most expensive 0844 calls. I doubt that the necessary increase to call plan charges that would be required to cover 0844 calls being included would be tolerated - but you never know. It is even possible that BT could include 0871/2/3 calls in call plans when its rates for chargeable ordinary calls overtake these. It could only hope to get away with this if its competitors keep copying what it does, and unless Ofcom stops it.
All other providers (apart from the copycats Talk Talk and Sky), notably Virgin Media and the mobile telcos, reflect their costs more directly in their charges to customers, and therefore quite naturally charge a premium for calls to revenue sharing numbers. They however have not reduced their charges for 0870 calls and are thereby simply profiteering, as many of the mobile providers do when charging quite unnecessary levels of premium for all 08xx calls.
There are no good guys and bad guys in this.
Someone is paying the premium that funds the revenue share and the margin that any telco needs to make. For BT and 0845 it is now all call plan customers - not just those who call the numbers - previously it was only those who paid for ordinary calls as they made them. The cross-subsidy that is going on with Talk Talk and Sky must be even greater, because they are not forced to do it by regulation, which does ensure that BT at least covers its costs on regulated call charges.
Calls to revenue sharing numbers will always cost the telco that places the call more. Jennie, ask yourself whether cross-subsidy is a good or bad thing before asking for the premium charges on revenue sharing calls to be dropped.
There is more on this on
this blog.