As a general rule, BT would not unilaterally change a customers telephone number. An end user might ask their supplier, be that BT or any of the many other companies that provide telephone numbers, to do so, but your contract is not with them.  For that reason alone, I think you would not have a case.   Anyway, BT are still providing you with exactly what they said: inclusive calls to 0845 & 0870 numbers.  It's partly due to the fact that so many companies have moved away from these numbers that they feel they can afford to offer this facility..

I echo what irrelevant and SilentCallsVictim have posted.

A company that has switched could be with any telephone provider, just like your landline or mobile telephone service could be with any provider. Therefore, BT is not forced to be the provider of the 08xx number in question.

There is a contract between the company your calling and its telephone provider for the supply of telephony services and it is not up to the organisation's telephone company to dictate what telephone number it should use.

Where companies have moved away from 0870 numbers, this is probably due to the loss of subsidy that underpinned revenue sharing. This was an industry-wide change that took place on 1 August 2009, as driven by the regulator, Ofcom.

By including 0870 numbers in packages back in January, BT essentially pre-empted this change. But it had no power to stop paying the premiums to the telephone companies of organisations (call centres etc) operating these numbers. Only intervention by the regulator can effect that.


Like with 0870 in January, BT's removal of "per minute" charges for calls its customers make to 0845 numbers has no effect on the subsidy passed to receiving parties (via their telephone providers).


Any migration of companies from any number range is therefore because they wish to change number to increase or decrease levels of subsidy derived from their callers. With 0870 there was a loss of subsidy because of changes made by the regulator.

For 0845, it may be that companies are seeing others move to 0844, and hence they are happy to follow suit in order to increase the subsidy (and hence charges) to their customers for making contact by telephone.

Barbara wrote on Nov 13^th, 2009 at 3:11pm:

From a charging point of view, 0843 is the same as 0844. Likewise 0872 and 0871.

Thank you!

Barbara wrote on Nov 13^th, 2009 at 3:11pm:

Not necessarily.  the differentials within the ranges you menton (0843 numbers are charged, depending on the 5th, 6th and 7th digits, at ½p, 1p, 2p, 3p, 4p or 5p per minute) means they may be cheaper than an 01/02/03 call.

SilentCallsVictim wrote on Nov 13^th, 2009 at 10:06am:
I agree.  Basically BT have agreed to include these calls in with any existing inclusive package and it's not BT's fault that companies are now moving to other number ranges to maintain the revenue sharing/or even increase the revenue sharing.

However, BT obviously knew that most, if not all, companies would eventually move to other number ranges to maintain their revenue share!!

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Unfortunately, I don't believe that 0845 will lose it's revenue share.

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I'm not sure here.  I suspect BT is losing a very small amount (in the grand scheme of things) of profit by including 0845 in with existing inclusive calls and this is why they increase costs elsewhere like the "connection fee" and increase in line rental, etc.