SAYNOTO0870.COM - Lyca mobile ripp off warning

sherbert

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Re: Lyca mobile ripp off warning
Reply #15 - Mar 28^th, 2011 at 12:09pm

Well, to be honest, the last time I dialled one of these numbers was in the days when 'Patient Line', or what ever it was called, was in existence and I seem to remember it was 'Patient Line' that gave out what the call was going to cost. I vaguely remember the announcement, said how much it was, from all land lines and mobiles will be dearer.

Maybe it has all changed since then. Huh

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farci

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Re: Lyca mobile ripp off warning
Reply #16 - Mar 28^th, 2011 at 12:15pm

Ofcom sent me the following reply to my questions on the 'dodgy' number ranges:

Quote:

To confirm, all 07 numbers other than 070 (which as you say are designated for Personal Numbering Services) and 076 (which are designated for Radio Paging Services) are in fact mobile numbers and not premium rate numbers. The numbers you have highlighted below may not be included in some mobile plans because they belong to smaller mobile communications providers. Our recent statement on mobile call termination looked at these other providers and they are now included within our regulation of termination rates (although not to the same extent as the main five providers). There is a table in Annex 1 of the statement which highlights the different mobile number ranges and which provider they belong to (and these include the numbers you’ve highlighted below).

These numbers are often not included within some providers’ bundles because of differing/higher termination rates. Our recent statement will lead to a reduction in termination rates over time and therefore it is likely that these differences will decrease over time. We do not, however, regulate mobile providers retail prices or packages

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Dave

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Re: Lyca mobile ripp off warning
Reply #17 - Mar 28^th, 2011 at 2:06pm

sherbert wrote on Mar 28^th, 2011 at 12:09pm:

Well, to be honest, the last time I dialled one of these numbers was in the days when 'Patient Line', or what ever it was called, was in existence and I seem to remember it was 'Patient Line' that gave out what the call was going to cost. I vaguely remember the announcement, said how much it was, from all land lines and mobiles will be dearer.

Maybe it has all changed since then. Huh

The point is that if there is to be advisation (is "advisation" a word?) of price, whether that be verbal or written, then it must be applicable for any individual caller.

In a market where each seller (call provider) can impose their own charge, then it stands to reason that it must be it which gives the pricing information and not the party being called (Service Provider).

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sherbert Supreme Member Offline Posts: 2,011 Gender:	Re: Lyca mobile ripp off warning Reply #18 - Mar 28^th, 2011 at 3:51pm Dave wrote on Mar 28^th, 2011 at 2:06pm: (is "advisation" a word?) No! But I know what you mean Dave....thanks
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Xady

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Re: Lyca mobile ripp off warning
Reply #19 - Apr 5^th, 2011 at 7:02pm

It's not Lyca at fault, but T-Mobile. Here's a post detailing what actually happened:

Quote:

Some of the information here is correct but some isn't. The situation is that basically, in the Netherlands, Lycamobile used to be a MVNO (virtual network in the same way Virgin is an MVNO hopping on the back of T-Mobile in the UK) of T-Mobile but has moved over to Vodafone. T-Mobile also were fined in court for not allowing bulk migration over to Vodafone. In retaliation, in all countries T-Mobile are involved in, they blocked calls to these numbers. When OFCOM and their counterparts in other countries got involved and said you can't do that, they connected calls but stopped calls coming out of your allowance so these TM customers could get their friends to move away from Lyca because of the costs.

Source: T-Mobile Forum Link (2nd from last post)

You'll notice people on other networks like O2 don't get charged ridiculous amounts it's only T-Mobile. I've not used Lyca but found this while i was researching cheaper international calls, but makes T-Mobile sound pretty bad so i'm happy that i'm in the process of moving over to GiffGaff.

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« Last Edit: Apr 5^th, 2011 at 8:17pm by Xady »

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Trenod

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Re: Lyca mobile ripp off warning
Reply #20 - Apr 25^th, 2011 at 12:35am

videospy wrote on Mar 28^th, 2011 at 8:30am:

Allegro is absolutely correct BEWARE of 070 numbers. They are a premium rate personal number made to look like an ordinary mobile costing up to 50p per minute.

See the BBC warning below!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/working_lunch/6527127.stm

Interesting that Ofcom said four years ago that these sneaky numbers would be "phased out". We're still waiting... Roll Eyes

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« Last Edit: Apr 25^th, 2011 at 12:36am by Trenod »

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Trenod

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Re: Lyca mobile ripp off warning
Reply #21 - Apr 25^th, 2011 at 12:41am

sherbert wrote on Mar 26^th, 2011 at 2:54pm:

From the o2 web site http://shop.o2.co.uk/tariffs/24_months

Inclusive minutes
Inclusive minutes can be used for calls to standard UK landlines (starting 01, 02 or 03) and all UK network mobiles. It excludes calls to non-geographic numbers (starting 05, 08), 07744 and 07755 numbers and premium rate (09) numbers.

From this statement one would assume that 074 numbers are included.

Giffgaff excludes those two, plus a load of others (no explanation given): http://support.giffgaff.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/521/related/1

Conversely, T-Mobile appears to allow both 07744 and 07755...

Ofcom should not allow this terrible confusion!

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« Last Edit: Apr 25^th, 2011 at 12:51am by Trenod »

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Dave

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Re: Lyca mobile ripp off warning
Reply #22 - Apr 25^th, 2011 at 8:56am

Trenod wrote on Apr 25^th, 2011 at 12:41am:

sherbert wrote on Mar 26^th, 2011 at 2:54pm:

From the o2 web site http://shop.o2.co.uk/tariffs/24_months

Inclusive minutes
Inclusive minutes can be used for calls to standard UK landlines (starting 01, 02 or 03) and all UK network mobiles. It excludes calls to non-geographic numbers (starting 05, 08), 07744 and 07755 numbers and premium rate (09) numbers.

From this statement one would assume that 074 numbers are included.

Giffgaff excludes those two, plus a load of others (no explanation given): http://support.giffgaff.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/521/related/1

Conversely, T-Mobile appears to allow both 07744 and 07755...

Ofcom should not allow this terrible confusion!

This is grassroots stuff; not the effect, but the cause. In fact there are much similarities with the 084x and 0871, 0872, 0873 and 09 numbers.

People seem quick to criticise the effect when on its receiving end which means they pay higher call charges.

At the end of the day, the grassroots I am referring to are termination charges. Where termination charges are significantly higher within a given range, as is assumed to be the case here, then the general net effect is that call providers will pass on those premiums directly to those customers who ring the numbers.

We can't have a situation whereby call providers are forced to charge the same retail price for calls with (greatly) differing termination charges. If we did, then it would force up the price of those calls as a whole, as well as benefitting the users of those numbers.

The fundamental rule must be that termination charges are determined by number range so as to allow call providers to charge all numbers within each range the same.

Slight variations in termination charges may be permitted, but the current approach is a dog's dinner numbering plan and lots of confusion to callers.

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« Last Edit: Apr 25^th, 2011 at 9:26am by Dave »

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Dave

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Re: Lyca mobile ripp off warning
Reply #23 - Mar 27^th, 2013 at 6:42pm

The following are prefixes allocated to Lycamobile (followed by "change" dates):

07404* 08/2009
07405* 08/2009
074173 09/2010
074174 09/2010
074175 09/2010
07424* 03/2010
07438* 09/2010
074400 09/2010
074401 09/2010
074402 09/2010
074403 09/2010
074404 09/2010
074405 09/2010
074406 09/2010
074407 09/2010
07448* 08/2011
07459* 06/2012
07466* 03/2010

I've checked the following provider's sites and found the following:

3 - Near the end of the Price Guide (PDF) there are "Non Standard 07 Numbers" of which the Lycamobile prefixes do not appear.
O2 - The Special numbers page does not list these prefixes, nor do they appear as "Temporarily Suspended Numbers".
Orange - Pay Monthly Guide and Pay as you Go Guide pages list "call forwarding services" that use normal 07-mobile numbers, but the Lycamobile prefixes don't feature.
T-Mobile - Non-inclusive numbers don't list Lycamobile prefixes.
Vodafone - Can only find "Call forwarding services (e.g. 07744, 07755)" charged above other 07-mobile numbers.

This leads me to suspect that the issue of these being charged at a premium may now have been rectified, or at least for the main operators.

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