I also forgot, they have a really cool roaming feature which you can set up to stop your phone ringing (so you don't pay roaming fees) so somebody can just leave a message - you then get a text (free) notifying you which you can then pick up by going on the internet, or calling the voicemail (usual rate to call home to uk) if you decide it's important enough to listen.

All while still being able to make outgoing calls, sending/receiving texts etc which is pretty nifty!

They do on O2.

I inadvertently forgot to charge my phone a while ago and diverted my calls to an Orange mobile (obviously starting 07) and wasn't charged at all.

I think you have the answer to the reason they pulled it...

@Thine Wonk, thanks for the Private Messages. I think the personal comments you make in them really sum up your position. I wont be responding in kind.

I did some call diverts on Three too, and was expecting to be charged. I remember 1 long call with my mate and saying I'd call him back because I was probably having to pay the divert costs.

I looked online and there was no charge! I had received a few calls whilst it was diverted too, none of which I was charged for they came out of my allowance.

So it seems some do and some don't and it may depend on whether you are contract or pay as go too.


No problem, I hope they were useful.

Just realised when I said "wasn't charged at all", I meant that the calls came out of my allowance.

I've just returned from holiday and was most annoyed to find that 1471 has been withdrawn without notice from my Tesco PAYG and 9-1471 has been withdrawn from my corporate O2 number. They could have at least sent a text message announcing this in advance; Tesco always spammed me with unwanted messages.

O2 offers Call Alert which is apparently a free service that can be set up by calling 1710. It could be better than 1471 because they say that it covers every missed call, not just the last one. Presumably another advantage would be that it's a 'set up and forget' service that alerts you automatically rather than the user having to remember to keep checking back with 1471.

Unfortunately I haven't been able to try it out because it seems that for corporate numbers Call Alert can't be set up directly by the user, so I'll have to whinge at the account manager.

Worst of all, the Tesco recorded announcement doesn't make any mention of Call Alert. This is really the last straw: I think I'll migrate to another provider.

I guess that the whole idea is a Ryanair-style hidden price hike intended to force callers to pay for calls that are answered by voicemail, and to make users pay to receive their messages.