Background information Article supplied by Alan Kaye
The contents of this article are based on my own practical telecoms experience spanning 20 years, plus information sourced from Ofcom. It is reproduced here as a useful tool to help you better understand the issues surrounding the use of non geographic numbers and in the hope we can enable you to be more informed users of the UK phone system - both as someone who must, from time to time, dial all of the kinds of numbers available and also potentially a user of such numbers for your business.
Ofcom is the organisation responsible for planning the telephone number range in the UK. Some years ago you may recall there was a major upheaval of numbering in the UK. This was when most landline numbers had a '1' inserted after the zero. A few years later some big cities were re-numbered completely with all London numbers beginning with 020. Mobile phone numbers had '7' inserted - for example 0836 numbers became 07836.
Around this time the concept of Non geographic numbers (NGN) was also expanded with a much bigger range of numbers being made available.
Most of us have become familiar with the 0800 number. A number that can be used free of charge by the caller and is provided by many companies to enable us to contact them at their expense. For example a breakdown organisation like the AA needs to offer the 0800 service to its members to enable them to be able call at a time of crisis without the concern of having to fund the call. Plus many companies believe they can encourage you to become a customer of theirs by enticing you to contact them initially by not having to pay for the phone call.
0800 numbers are an excellent example of an NGN. Not only is the call free to the caller, but when we dial it we have no idea where in the country (or even the world) that call is being routed to and we don't mind as long as the service for which we are dialling is delivered as required.
With 0800 numbers the company you are dialling will fund the call. Typically that Company will pay about 5p per minute or less depending on the deal they have with there Communication Provider. They also have a number of other services available to them from the Communication Provider. They can receive detailed statistics about calls they have received and they can choose to have the calls routed, as required, in a number of different ways.
If a company is running several call centres they may automatically want the calls spread around the country to different call centres, perhaps which ever is least busy at the time. Alternatively the company could choose to advertise one 0800 number nationally and have the calls delivered to the nearest branch from where the caller is phoning from. So the person calling from Cornwall will be routed to the branch in Bodmin, while at the same time a caller phoning the same number in Scotland would be routed to the Glasgow branch. There are also many other additional services that Communication Providers can supply to increase the desire for companies to use non geographic numbers.
It was recognised by Ofcom that companies may want to take advantage of such additional services, but without at the same time wanting to pay for the calls they received from their customers.
Therefore a variety of numbers started to be introduced and used by a variety of companies for a variety of reasons. Indeed the type and selection of companies wanting to use these types of numbers, and the services for which we, the public, were being asking to dial these numbers, exploded.
The most common of these were the 0845 and 0870 Numbers. These were promoted as being the same cost to dial as a 'local call rate' for an 0845 number and a 'BT national call rate' for an 0870 number.
Sadly the explosive growth in the numbers was not matched by the public's understanding of what exactly the numbers were to be used for and, more importantly, how much they were costing to dial. What exactly was 'local call rate' or 'BT national call rate'?
As well as the general confusion amongst the public about the cost of dialling certain numbers, a number of other things also happened simultaneously. The competition between Telecoms Providers has become very fierce and the cost of making a landline call has fallen dramatically. The public have been getting used to buying 'call minutes' in 'bundle packages' for their mobile phone use, and some Landline Providers had been supplying call packages for a fixed fee for dialling landline numbers (numbers starting 01 and 02). Often the fixed fee to cover all landline calls would exclude NGN numbers.
The main reason these numbers were excluded was because the Communication Providers had been offering incentives to companies to use these numbers in the way of 'kick backs', or 'revenue share' as it is better known. So businesses like the large power companies who asked their customers to phone 0845 or 0870 numbers actually receive money on their inbound calls!
Having included these payments in the Communications Providers strategy, there was a disparity between the NGN numbers like 0870 and 0845 and Landline numbers like 01xxx and London 020. As discounts on landline numbers grew, the price difference between regular numbers and NGN numbers also grew larger, until it made the NGN numbers look expensive in comparison to regular numbers; Ofcom decided to review its policy towards NGN numbers.
In a published document named 'NTS - A Way Forward', Ofcom expressed concern about the way that some companies use 0870 and 0845 numbers.
The intention of the latest revision of numbers in the UK is to:
"Raise consumer confidence, which is threatened by confusion about the prices and services associated with certain numbers, including services beginning with 08 numbers."
Ofcom therefore:
"decided to provide a new range of numbers - beginning with '03' - which we [Ofcom] think many customers will trust more than many current 08 numbers. Consumers will pay the same amount for calls to 03 numbers as they would for calling a [landline] geographic number (beginning with '01' or '02'). We think that many businesses, public services and voluntary services will want to enable their customers to call them on 03 numbers rather than 08 numbers."
Ofcom therefore:
"are creating a new type of number - starting with 03 - for those organisations who require a national presence, but who do not wish to make an additional charge to consumers for contacting them. We expect the new range to become trusted by consumers as covering clearly-understood services and price ranges. The new range will meet the need for consumer certainty and confidence in making calls, mainly due to the charging features of 03 numbers:
consumers will have a clear understanding of the price that they are paying for a call, mainly as call tariffs and call discounts will be required to be the same as if the consumer was calling a [landline] geographic (01 or 02) number. This will apply to all call minutes, including ones that are part of the customer's inclusive minutes."
Ofcom goes onto say that:
"Creating 03 does not mean that 08 numbers will disappear. Services requiring small micro-payments will stay on the 08 range."
The Future Structure of the 03 and 08 Number Ranges
Number range Tariff/Service:
03 Calls at the same rate as calls to landline geographic numbers, no revenue-sharing permitted
080 Freephone
084 Calls up to 5ppm, revenue-sharing permitted
087 Calls up to 10ppm, revenue-sharing permitted
The Future Structure of the 03 and 08 Number Ranges
0300 0303 & 0306 For public sector and not-for-profit bodies
0330 and 0333 For Businesses
034x For migrating numbers from matching 084 numbers
037x UK-wide Numbers at a geographic rate: migrating numbers from matching 087 numbers
Calls are charged at up to the same rate the customer would normally pay to call a UK Landline Geographic Number, with calls to 03 numbers counting towards inclusive call minutes if the customer has remaining inclusive minutes to UK Geographic Numbers, and included in any discount structures that apply to UK Geographic Numbers.
So you can choose to use 0844 or 0845 numbers which are currently well known by most people but cause suspicion with some, or you can adopt a number from the 03 range of numbers which Ofcom hope will become more popular and become numbers that the public trust and have confidence in.
If you choose to use an 03 number range in your business and advertise on your website then you can add a click through by any 03 number to a page that is specifically set up by Yours Virtually to explain to anybody with concern about dialling an 03 number. It will explain what an 03 number is and what they cost to phone - and the fact that they should be included within their call bundle from land line and mobile providers.
click here to view the page.
Finally, a couple of extra bits of information about numbers that are NOT be included in bundle packages:
- " Just to make things a little more complex, Channel Island (01534 and 01481) and Isle of Mann (01624) numbers are 01 numbers but may not be included in bundle packages.
- " Mobile phone numbers begin with 075,076,077,078 or 079. If you dial a number that starts 070 it is NOT a mobile number. It is a personal number and costs you more to phone it!
Ofcom, as part of the review, have made the decision as outlined below:
"We have already decided to end the scope for confusion with mobile numbers in the longer term, by ending the use of 070 for personal numbers. The "06" ranges of numbers has instead been ear marked to meet future demand for such numbers. A pre-call announcement system would also be expected to apply to 06 numbers."
Phone numbers have become very confusing and not made any easier by the fact that often they are displayed incorrectly even by people like the BBC on occasions. For example the code for London is 020 but you will often see a London number on TV or a vehicle displayed something like 0208 565 xxxx.
Confusion can often be avoided if people can be encouraged to write numbers down in a more disciplined way, especially when jotting down numbers used in messages. To download a training sheet click here
For more information on non geographic numbers, click here
