Is it worth having an 0870 number?
poppasmurf
Posts: 1,782 Forum Member
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I've just booked our family holiday in the USA for next year. Six of us are off to California for 3 weeks. I've booked with American Aurlines as their telephone number was a normal London 020 line. British Airways was an 0870 number so I called the American Airlines 020 number at local rates instead of paying Premium Rate 0870 number charges. That little bit of profiteering by BA has just cost it a smidgen over £6000 in lost revenue. I now refuse on principal to call 0870 numbers. I hope these firms think their 0870 scams are worth it. 
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Calling peak time (06:00h - 18:00h) Mon- Fri using a BT residential landline costs 7.509p per min
Off peak (18:00h - 06:00h) Mon-Fri using a BT residential landline costs 3.749p per min
Sat & Sun using a BT residential landline costs 1.5p per min
Or try http://www.saynoto0870.com to obtain a geographical equivilent if you can call those numbers cheaper.
(Prices relate to BT residential customers on a BT Together tariff)
Certainly not.
As posted above, costs from 1.5p/min to around 8p/min depending on time of day and day itself.
0870 also do not come out of inclusive minutes.
Compare that to BT charges for local and national calls (01 & 02):-
3p/min daytime.
5.5p for up to 1 hour evening and weekends.
Also if you use 1899, you can call real local and national numbers (01 & 02) for 3 pence per call - A big difference to 8p per minute.
Our Drs surgery has just changed to an 0845 number and try and state it is local rate, yet costs a lot more to call (for me) than the 0121 number it lands on.
Thankfully the 0845 number is just a simple timed number translation, daytime you get through to the surgery, out of hours through to the out of hours team. At least it isn't an 0870 number or a 5p/min 0844 number that puts you in a queuing system.
Therefore I can still use the actual numbers. But that is not the point.
Mobile network operators now have another of doing this, when calling your mobile operators customer service line and you choose to speak to a customer service advisor, you will be charged something like 25p per call.
0870 was and still is known as 'BT National Rate'. In fact national rate call charges no longer exist.
0845 was and still is known as 'BT Lo-call/Local rate'. In fact local call charges are now the same as standard daytime calls between landlines.
Companies should no longer use the term 'BT national rate' and 'BT local rate' anymore.
0871 numbers are 10p per minute. Ofcom now classifies this as premium rate. This number should be changed to 09071 or 0971 since this will cause confusion.
0845 numbers are similar to geographical charging structures.
(This applies to BT Together residential landline customers - other tariffs, networks and mobile charges will vary)
See my earlier post for more details.
Oh yes they do
It depends on which BT tariff you are on. e.g. BT Light User Scheme customers still have different rates when dialling local and national geographical numbers.
http://www.bt.com/customerservices/downloads/light_user_scheme.pdf
It is true however that the majority of BT residential customers, who are on a BT Together tariff, now benefit from all geographical calls being charged at the same price as local calls
I've just discovered there is also a BT Together Local Calls Option tariff, where local and national calls are charged at different rates.
http://www.serviceview.bt.com/list/current/docs/Cust_Opts_Res.boo/32123.htm
But some of these options include "free calls", in which case 08xx numbers won't be included... right?
Yes, and there is the problem. Whether BT or not or mobile, most people have already paid for a bundle of calls in their monthly bill and resent paying again.
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?newsid1086555604,78422,#thecost
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=2857316&postcount=3
08081703703 4p connection + 3p/minute
As they all appear to charge these pesky connection fees these days, the per minute rate is the vital part.
Using 18185's freephone gateway number from a BT landline, the peak per minute rate from a BT landline to an 0870 number is 3p.
I NEVER quote rates excluding VAT because doing so (as some devious firms still do) is insulting to us ordinary folk who cannot avoid paying it.
www.saynoto0870.com will often provide 0800 or geographic alternatives to 0870 numbers.
0870 numbers are included in O2 contract call bundles.
I should, of course, have pointed out the need to 'think outside the box' to get that rate but, as the link shows, I was in MSE mode when I posted and thought that'd be apparent to anyone viewing the post under the link.