Is 0845 cheaper than calling a national geo number?

surely Given the most you are likely to pay to call a landline from a land line is 3p pm the 01/ or 02 number will usually be cheapest as most tariffs no long charge more for NAtional than for local calls ( and likely to apply if using a carrier or a mobile also)

It depends on the numbers you are calling.

From a BT landline, www.call1899.co.uk charge 3p connection and 0p/minute at all times for calls of any duration to UK 01/02 numbers whereas www.call18866.co.uk and www.18185.co.uk charge 4p connection.

However, their rates to international destinations and UK mobiles vary (see the MSE Callcheckers). Of the three, 18185 is currently the cheapest to mobiles - charging 4p connection and 5p/minute (2p/minute at weekends).

0845 numbers are revenue sharing numbers,same as 0870 but a bit cheaper, they will always be dearer than 01/02 numbers, if you have a cheap provider like 1899, an example of how they are dearer in the following text that I copied from the "saynoto0870" site:

I have a BT line but use call1899.co.uk to make my peak calls to 01 and 02 numbers for 3p each (as long as I want for a fixed fee of 3p). I also have a package with Primus that gives me free calls to 01 and 02 numbers off-peak. However, instead of 3p per call peak, I have to pay 3p per minute for 0845 calls (it's less off-peak but the rip-off is the same because anything more than the nothing I normally [don't] have to pay is too expensive in my book).

Ignore me though, consider the poor pensioner who has no home telephone and has to make his or her calls from a telephone box.

To call a standard 01 or 02 number, the telephone box flat rate minimum charge of 30p buys a call of up to 15 minutes duration - probably easily long enough for most calls.

If the 'target' number is an 0845 number, that telephone box flat rate minimum charge of 30p buys only the 10p 'connection charge' and 2 time periods - each of 55 seconds. Consequently, that same 30p minimum charge would run out after only 1 minute 50 seconds - probably just time enough to hear the first set of "Press this, press that" instructions on one of those awful automated systems.

So consider what that 15 minute call would cost if it had to be to an 0845 number instead of an 01 or 02 number.

There are just over 16 periods of 55 second in 15 minutes so, at 10p for each, the call would cost the telephone box flat rate minimum charge of 30p plus 15 more time periods at 10p each.

OK, I'll save you the bother - £1.80 How much loose change do you carry?

That's why 0845 numbers are evil - they rip us all off and they rip off the less fortunate proportionately more.

redux wrote:

derrick, the OP was asking about from a landline, so the lecture about callboxes could have been left as just a link

Heinz has given the best advice - it's the same price from BT, but this is a impetus to review call providers

Yes it was, but the first paragraph relates to landlines and I thought the rest deserved a wider audience to show disbelievers just what these numbers are all about, ripping off the phone users,it is not a lecture, but facts, also as I have copied this into my documents, i could not provide a link.

Heinz is only right up to a point, it is only the same during the day, (but not if you use 1899 or similar), but at weekends and evenings it is much dearer,
01/02 5.5p for up to 1 hour, an hour for 0845 would be 60p, you may not be on an hour, but then you might, i.e. HMRC, DWP etc.