Why do companies use 0845/0870 numbers?
Discussion
I've just phoned up HMRC to chase up a tax repayment I'm owed and rather than call their 0845 number advertised I stuck it in www.saynoto0870.com and used the geographical number to help me save the pennies on my phone bill.
After the nice lady at the other end had told me it was somewhere in their month + backlog
she said I'd come through on the wrong number and that the geographical number should only be used by people calling from abroad and I had to use the 0845 number in future.
My question is why? It does exactly the same thing, connects me to the same person and saves me money on my phone bill. Is it just a case of the government wanting to rake in a few extra pennies for Prime Minister Clown and his cronies to piss up against the wall or another reason?
After the nice lady at the other end had told me it was somewhere in their month + backlog
she said I'd come through on the wrong number and that the geographical number should only be used by people calling from abroad and I had to use the 0845 number in future.My question is why? It does exactly the same thing, connects me to the same person and saves me money on my phone bill. Is it just a case of the government wanting to rake in a few extra pennies for Prime Minister Clown and his cronies to piss up against the wall or another reason?
john_p said:
I guess in the "old days" 0845 and 0800 numbers were great because the benevolent company was saving the caller money.
Nowadays with 0845 and 0800 numbers not coming out of (most) inclusive minutes on mobiles it costs me far more to call either of those numbers...
That's where I'm getting stitched up, with no landline currently I'm calling from the mobile, so it makes far more sense to use the geographical number as it's inclusive.Nowadays with 0845 and 0800 numbers not coming out of (most) inclusive minutes on mobiles it costs me far more to call either of those numbers...
Nic Jones said:
After the nice lady at the other end had told me it was somewhere in their month + backlog she said I'd come through on the wrong number and that the geographical number should only be used by people calling from abroad and I had to use the 0845 number in future.
My question is why? It does exactly the same thing, connects me to the same person and saves me money on my phone bill. Is it just a case of the government wanting to rake in a few extra pennies for Prime Minister Clown and his cronies to piss up against the wall or another reason?
Tell her to get stuffed and use the free/cheaper number. she said I'd come through on the wrong number and that the geographical number should only be used by people calling from abroad and I had to use the 0845 number in future.My question is why? It does exactly the same thing, connects me to the same person and saves me money on my phone bill. Is it just a case of the government wanting to rake in a few extra pennies for Prime Minister Clown and his cronies to piss up against the wall or another reason?
I think in some cases becasue it hides you place of business. How many people from would not want to do business with a company say based in say Teeside or Newsactle or other smaller cities places?
and before anyone starts Im from the northeast and love it up here.... Also if your company coveres a big area it makes you look "bigger"
In my previous company london based they simply would not entertain dealing with other companies outside london becasue they think they would not be able to cope and provide the right service (sad I think)
0845 numbers just divert to a standard 01/02 number anyway as said before say no to 0870 is your friend. It has nothing to do with having more lines avalible as some people think. Our 0845 number diverts to a local number provided on an ISDN 30 with 12 channels in use.
and before anyone starts Im from the northeast and love it up here.... Also if your company coveres a big area it makes you look "bigger"
In my previous company london based they simply would not entertain dealing with other companies outside london becasue they think they would not be able to cope and provide the right service (sad I think)
0845 numbers just divert to a standard 01/02 number anyway as said before say no to 0870 is your friend. It has nothing to do with having more lines avalible as some people think. Our 0845 number diverts to a local number provided on an ISDN 30 with 12 channels in use.
We got them as our clients could, apparently, call them for the same price as a local or national call wherever they were. We were also going through a temporary office, so having portable numbers was a plus.
We've dropped them as it becomes clear that Ofcom will keep pissing around with 0870,0844,08whatever without actually make the 'local rate' and 'national rate' numbers do what they say on the tin.
We've dropped them as it becomes clear that Ofcom will keep pissing around with 0870,0844,08whatever without actually make the 'local rate' and 'national rate' numbers do what they say on the tin.
Silverbullet767 said:
The only reason I have a landline is to receive calls from my parents, they 'dont like' mobiles....
Don't blame em. Calling mobiles is invariably more expensive.And (assuming you arn't temporarily renting) is bloody antisocial to expect people to call you on them when you're at home.
0800's/0845's/0870's are mainly used to provide redundancy in an emergency situations, which you are unable to do easily with a block of DDI/DID numbers. It could be used to hide geographic location but I doubt that is the main worry of most companies. To hide your location on outgoing calls you can change your CLID fairly easily.
Edit to add.
It can also be to generate revenue from other number types or keep the callers costs down by providing a local rate. Either way its not all the doom and gloom you lot seem to make out.
Edit to add.
It can also be to generate revenue from other number types or keep the callers costs down by providing a local rate. Either way its not all the doom and gloom you lot seem to make out.
Edited by ChristianZS on Tuesday 17th February 12:49
bigTee said:
0870 will be ending soon.
Don't hold your breath on that - the price to call 0870 was supposed to be sorted out a year ago.In answer to the OP's question
In the case of 0870 the receiver actually makes money when you call them.
In the case of both (and any 08xx/09xx numbers, they are what's referred to as non-geographic numbers & the whole point of them is that calls can be pointed at anywhere & possibly bounced around between different offices depending on different things.
For example you can have 4 offices & set a plan where calls into a given 08xx number are distributed between the 4 offices in a ration of 15%:25%:40%:20%.....except after 6 o'clock (but before 8pm ) where one of the offices is closed & so the plan/ratios change. Maybe between 8pm & 8am calls are fed to a recorded message.
At the same time if a call is sent to an office & not answered in say 10 seconds, it could automatically get diverted to another office etc etc etc...
....and then the platforms generate stats on where calls have been delivered, where they came from etc etc etc. Inbound call solutions are complex & expensive to implement/operate & are processed/handled through quite complex (and expensive) platforms in the Telco networks.
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