Freephone numbers really are now free for all

This change massively simplifies the system.

Previously there were 300 price points covering the 17 000 blocks of allocated 084, 087 and 09 numbers and each of those price points was charged at a different rate on each network because the quoted price covered both the part retained by the caller’s provider and the part that was passed on.

Now the cost has been split in two, there are 80 price points for the Service Charge and this charge is the same irrespective of which landline or provider is used to make the call and each provider declares a single Access Charge covering calls to all 084, 087, 09 and 118 numbers.

The call cost is no longer allowed to vary by time of day or by day of week. Connection fees have also been banned on these calls.

The cost of these calls has become largely irrelevant. Forced to declare the Service Charge, most organisations have switched to 03 numbers where no such charge is imposed. For most people calls to 03 numbers are inclusive in their calls allowance on their landline or on their mobile.

Re: I am not going to celebrate until numbers with an access charge and a service charge are withdrawn.

Exposure of the Service Charge makes it easier to challenge inappropriate usage of these numbers, and that is what consumers must now do.

When you call an 084 number, including 0845, depending on the level of Service Charge, your landline or mobile provider has to pay out up to 7p per minute (up to £4.20 per hour) to the organisations that you called.

When you call an 087 number, including 0870, depending on the level of Service Charge, your landline or mobile provider has to pay out up to 13p per minute (up to £7.80 per hour) to the organisations that you called.

This is why these calls cannot be inclusive.

Previously, the payout for 0845 and 0870 numbers was lower (0845 was 2p per minute, 0870 was 0.5p per minute). The changes on 1 July 2015 increased them such that 0845 is now treated the same as 0843 and 0844. Likewise, 0870 is now treated the same as 0871 and 0872.

Organisations still using 084 and 087 numbers and who are unable to justify the Service Charge, or who are prevented by other regulations (e.g. CCR 2013 published by BIS, or forthcoming regulation published by the FCA) or guidance (published by Cabinet Office) from imposing it, must change their number. Ofcom made matching 034 and 037 numbers available for this purpose in 2007.

The new charging structure requires all users of 084, 087 and 09 numbers to declare the Service Charge. This makes it much easier to challenge inappropriate usage of these numbers. Many organisations using these numbers have been unaware of what callers pay for these calls. Under the new system there can be no doubt.

Re: You question why Ofcom didn’t abolish the 084 and 087 racket altogether. I question why Ofcom (or previously Oftel) ever allowed this racket to evolve in the first place.

In the 1980s, all telephone call costs were high. Everyone had a BT landline and mobile phones were analogue and hardly existed. Calls from landlines to geographic numbers were charged as local, regional or national calls. The latter were very expensive. It cost a fortune to ring the head office of a company if it were outside your immediate local area. Inclusive calls hadn’t yet been invented.

Non-geographic numbers were developed and these were charged the same as a local call or as a national call. This allowed the caller to speak to a company at the other end of the country for the price of a local call. At the time, these numbers were a good thing. Businesses took them up as they allowed one central number to be published and calls routed according to caller location, time of day, or from options selected from a menu.

The telephone market was then opened to competition and the concept of termination rates introduced. To begin with they were quite high and, initially, the cost of calls to geographic or non-geographic numbers hardly changed. The concept of revenue sharing on 0845 and 0870 numbers was introduced and much later new revenue sharing ranges (0844 and 0871) were added in 2001.

Non-geographic numbers had originally been a good thing, but the tide was turning. Organisations such as banks and travel agents started introducing 0870 numbers for their individual branches, meaning that calling your local branch incurred a national rate charge. Opposition to these numbers started to appear.

Over time, the termination rate for calls to geographic numbers began to fall. By 2003 it had fallen to such an extent that landline providers could now begin to offer inclusive calls to 01 and 02 geographic numbers anywhere in the country for a small monthly fee. With much higher termination rates, calls to 084 and 087 numbers were excluded. Organisations such as sayNOto0870 stepped up the fight against usage of these expensive numbers and published lists of unofficial 01 and 02 numbers to help callers avoid the expense of calling 084 and 087 numbers.

In 2009, Ofcom removed revenue sharing from 0870 numbers and these calls became inclusive from landlines but not from mobiles. BT wrongly anticipated that Ofcom would remove revenue sharing from 0845 numbers and made 0845 calls inclusive. A few landline providers followed BT’s move in including 0845 numbers and found themselves paying out 2p per minute while collecting nothing from the caller that had made the call. Most users of 0870 numbers simply moved to 0844 or 0871 numbers to carry on receiving revenue share payments and consumers gained nothing. The cost of calls to 0845 and 0870 numbers from mobiles remained high.

Ofcom had introduced 03 numbers in 2007. These are non-geographic numbers charged at the same rate as calling 01 and 02 numbers and which count towards inclusive allowances on landlines and on mobiles. The call handling and call forwarding costs incurred in the use of a non-geographic number are paid for by the called party. Take up of these numbers was low. It was now time to change that.

In 2010, Ofcom kicked off a far wider review of all 08, 09 and 118 numbers. After multiple consultations and sustained opposition from mobile networks eventually followed by a long implementation period, the new call charge system came into effect on 1 July 2015.

The new system treats all 084, 087, 09 and 118 numbers the same way with a declared Service Charge and a standard Access Charge. Where the Service Charge cannot be justified, users of 084 and 087 numbers have a clear migration path to 034 and 037 numbers. In the meantime, other regulations (from BIS, FCA, DoH) and guidance (from Cabinet Office) has forced many organisations to make the move to 03 numbers. Declaration of Service Charge increases pressure on many other organisations to follow.

In future, 084, 087, 09 and 118 numbers will be used to provide recognised chargeable services with a declared Service Charge. Ordinary day to day communication with businesses will take place only on 01, 02, 03 and 080 numbers.

Nowadays, the normal way to pay for telephone calls is through an inclusive call plan covering calls to 01, 02 and 03 numbers at any time of the day or night, seven days a week. Most people should have no need to call 084, 087 or 09 numbers unless they are accessing a chargeable service.

Where users of 084 and 087 numbers fail to declare the Service Charge they must be challenged to declare it else change their number.

Where a Service Charge is declared but it is clearly inappropriate and unjustified they must also be persuaded to change their number.

Ofcom made the matching 034 and 037 numbers available for this purpose in 2007. Public services also have the option of a new 030 number.

The changes made on 1 July 2015 simplified the system to this:

01, 02, 03 – inclusive in allowance, else charged at ‘geographic rate’.

071-075, 077-079 – inclusive in allowance, else charged at ‘mobile rate’.

080, 116 – free from landlines and from mobiles.

084, 087, 090, 091, 098, 118 – Access Charge plus Service Charge.

Other numbers, such as those starting 055, 056, 070, 076, will be reviewed by Ofcom at some point in the future, perhaps next year. The 0500 range was reviewed in 2014 and these numbers will be phased out by 3 June 2017.

Re: There is no technical reason why a recorded announcement by the telecoms service provider cannot be relayed every time a chargeable service number is called saying something like “You are calling a chargeable service line. The responder must inform you about the charges payable”.

By the time the caller picks up the receiver, they have already made te decision to make the call. It’s already too late to be informing them to go look up the call costs.

The strapline for the UK Calling changes that came into effect last week was “know the cost before you call” and places an obligation on all users of 084, 087, 09 and 118 numbers to declare the Service Charge immediately adjacent to the telephone number everywhere that it is advertised.

Once you have remembered that 080 is free from landlines and from mobiles, it shouldn’t be too difficult to remember that all other 08 and 09 numbers are chargeable calls with an Access Charge and a Service Charge.

Some landline providers continue to confuse the situation by providing inclusive calls to 0845 and 0870 numbers where the Service Charge run up by the caller is paid for by all subscribers rather than by only the particular caller that made use of the chargeable service.

DQ services throughout Europe use numbers starting 118 which explains why there is a separate number range for that.

Re: “Being informed that ‘Calls from other networks may vary’ is not a great deal of help to me.”

Since 1 July 2015, any such declaration is a clear breach of the new Ofcom and ASA rules.

Feel free to raise the issue with Advertising Standards.

The use of 084, 087 and 09 numbers by insurance companies for post sales lines will no longer be permitted from 26 October 2015.

While the cost of calling 084 and 087 numbers has gone up, the cost of calling customer services, financial services and public services has gone down – because the vast majority have moved to the matching 034 or 037 number or to a new 030, 033 or 080 number.

Calls to 03 numbers cost the same as calling 01 and 02 numbers and count towards inclusive allowances on landlines and mobiles. As more and more organisations change their number, the cost of calling 084 and 087 numbers has become largely irrelevant.

Ofcom’s recent reforms to non-geographic call pricing recognises that all 084, 087 and 09 numbers are premium rate. The premium payment is now separately declared as the Service Charge that is paid to the benefit of the called party and their telecoms provider.

Before 1 July 2015, Three were losing money on calls to most 087 numbers as they had to pay enhanced termination fees that were higher than the retail price of the call. This absurd situation has now been brought to an end and the enhanced termination rate renamed as the Service Charge and separately declared.