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18185 makes 03 numbers available again


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Old 18-12-2014, 19:00
Gerry1
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Following last week's clarification from Ofcom that revenue sharing is not permitted, 18185 (and presumably 1899 and 18866 as well) can again be used to route calls to 03 numbers more cheaply when their landline tariff does not provide free calls.

http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/consultations/03-modification/statement/?utm_source=updates&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=03-statement
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Old 29-04-2015, 20:37
Mike_1101
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They did block 03 numbers for a while but I have been able to reach them over 18185 for a few weeks now.

18185 - a mysterious company that moves in mysterious ways.
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Old 29-04-2015, 22:41
Gerry1
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18185 - a mysterious company that moves in mysterious ways.
Hardly !

There was a scam where people were asked to make very long 03 calls by dialling a number and leaving the phone off the hook for several hours.

As 18185 charge 5p for 03 calls regardless of duration, these scam calls would been very expensive and have broken their business model.

Not surprisingly, 18185 had to block all 03 calls until Ofcom took action to prevent this abuse.
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Old 29-04-2015, 22:44
Mike_1101
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Hardly !

There was a scam where people were asked to make very long 03 calls by dialling a number and leaving the phone off the hook for several hours.

As 18185 charge 5p for 03 calls regardless of duration, these scam calls would been very expensive and have broken their business model.

Not surprisingly, 18185 had to block all 03 calls until Ofcom took action to prevent this abuse.
By "mysterious", I was meaning that we don't really know who 18185 are, apart from their mysterious PO box address in Switzerland.
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Old 29-04-2015, 23:08
moox
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I'm fairly sure I've had foreign sounding "please top up your mobile" type announcements while using one of the Finarea/Betamax services (18185/18866/1899 are part of that company).

I'd vote for them being slightly mysterious/dodgy even if the product mostly works
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Old 29-04-2015, 23:36
Mike_1101
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I'm fairly sure I've had foreign sounding "please top up your mobile" type announcements while using one of the Finarea/Betamax services (18185/18866/1899 are part of that company).

I'd vote for them being slightly mysterious/dodgy even if the product mostly works
I have no problems with it. Even if GCHQ were behind it, they would go to sleep listening to my phone calls.
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Old 30-04-2015, 07:32
EuanMebabe
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I'd completely forgotten about this company. I had an account with them around five years ago but stopped using it because of the enormous number of failed calls. Do calls actually connect most of the time now? If so I might try them again.
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Old 30-04-2015, 11:18
Gerry1
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Do calls actually connect most of the time now?
Well, mine certainly do !

The quality is good and there's no latency. The only difference I've ever noticed is that faxes usually don't go through (at least to the USA) but it's so long since I've sent a fax that it doesn't matter. And you sometimes hear a non-UK ringing tone, but I can live with that. It's also very useful to have a price announcement at the start of the call, an option that all telcos should have to offer.

When the cost of, say, a 100-minute UK call is less than one third of the BT call set up fee, you know you have a good deal ! I'm paying £7/month line rental for evening and weekend calls, so 5p for the occasional daytime call is as good as it gets.

Another feature is that the online system shows your call costs and enables your account to be used from other numbers. That was very useful during an overnight hospital stay: I just added the hospital's main number to my account before making each call, deleting it when the call connected. A dozen calls would have cost a fortune at BT rates (and more if there'd been any mark-up) but only 60p with 18185.

Similarly, you could set it up on a friend or relative's line to allow them to make an international call at Christmas, or on a neighbour's line so that they can call you if you're abroad and there's a problem with your property.

So I can highly recommend 18185. There are some slight price differences between the 18185, 1899 and 18866 flavours, but 18185 is usually the best if you only want to register with one.
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Old 30-04-2015, 11:31
EuanMebabe
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That's a great reply. Thank you!
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Old 26-09-2015, 22:23
errea
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It works from mobiles too.

The 0808 number works now from mobiles for cheap landline calls.

Their London access number saved me a fortune when roaming as i could call locally in the US for 1p per minute and called my mate (with a Singapore mobile) for 1pm per minute when roaming in France.
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Old 19-10-2015, 12:56
binary
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It works from mobiles too.

The 0808 number works now from mobiles for cheap landline calls.

Their London access number saved me a fortune when roaming as i could call locally in the US for 1p per minute and called my mate (with a Singapore mobile) for 1pm per minute when roaming in France.
Your mobile was/is with Three, and so you could take advantage of Feel At Home, right?
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