bigjohn wrote on Sep 30^th, 2012 at 9:22am:


I agree, so I shall e-mail them and give them some kind feedback..

I urge anyone else to do the same: http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/Energy-Saving-Trust/Contact-us/Email-us

The address is: customer.feedback@est.org.uk

Sadly, at the present time there is no simple widely-understood phrase (i.e. “

xxx rate

”) to describe the cost of calling a 03 number. In fact the terminology is highly confused.

It is quite true to say that the cost is the same as that for calling a

national rate

number. It is possible that the EST consulted Ofcom, maybe reading this Ofcom publication - What are 03 numbers?, or others which I believe have been updated.

If there were any cases where calling a

local rate

number was cheaper, the higher

national rate

could apply to 03 calls. When this last happened (with Talk Talk including local, but not national, calls in some call plans), exceptional arrangements were made to treat all 03 numbers as

local

.

Ofcom's changing position

1. Ofcom originally proposed the term

UK rate

when 03 was launched, but this did not gain general acceptance.

2. Ofcom’s initial proposal under its “Simplifying non-geographic numbers” project was for the term “

Geographic

”, as shown below from the 2010/11 consultation:



3. Ofcom then returned to proposing the term “

UK

”, as shown below from the 2012 consultation:



4. Subsequently, Ofcom has changed its mind again. In further proposals, preliminary to the next major announcement expected at the end of 2012, it has returned to use of the phrase “

Geographic rate

”.

The solution?

A problem with the term “

Geographic rate

” is that there is no regulatory obligation not to offer calls to local geographic numbers at a lower rate. If this is done, then calls to 03 numbers do not have to be charged at this lower rate. (Talk Talk has now ceased its special arrangement, but there is nothing to prevent it from returning or being adopted by others.)

There is therefore no certainty that there will be a single rate for geographic calls, even though this is now the established practice for residential services. If local calls were to be charged at a lower (or more inclusive)

local rate

, is the higher alternative to be known as

national rate

or

geographic rate

?

It will be interesting to see if Ofcom moves to guarantee the clarity of “

Geographic rate

” by prohibiting discounts on local calls. We may then face the difficulty of whether or not to support, or call for, such a move. The objective of “simplification” would seem to demand it, but Ofcom would not be keen to prohibit discounting.

---

I seek here to outline a very confused position, which readers may wish to understand. Those who would rather not engage with confusing situations should disregard these comments.

bigjohn wrote on Sep 30^th, 2012 at 5:23pm:

The quoted text is lifted directly from the Ofcom publication referred to in my previous posting -

SilentCallsVictim wrote on Sep 30^th, 2012 at 3:00pm:


The term

National Rate

was also used here - http://consumers.ofcom.org.uk/2008/12/the-03-alternative/.


I have dug up another Ofcom proposed term from 2006 - "

countrywide

":



Any other suggestions?

Quote:

That seems the clearest, though I would add the word geographic in there somewhere.
Quote:

It would appear it pays to contact them,

http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/Take-action/Get-free-advice

Now reads "All you pay for is for a standard geographic rate call!"

in that case perhaps you'd like to contact them and point that out?

But if you want "Advice about travel and transport", it is an 0845 number, (0845 602 1425), with no mention about the costs.

.