Free 0870/0845 calls

MIKEGEANEY

Sorry all
Try again....
Background
Like lots of you out there, I use an ISP which gives me telephone goodies (In my case, Tiscali with free weekend calls). When I look at my bill, I see 0870s, 0845s etc which are billed at ISP rates which may differ to BT and it's a bit annoying (but understandable as all suppliers involved in delivering your call to the true destination number charge for carrying the call over their network). Particularly frustrating when some companies!are!playing fair by using 0845's (local rate) - you will pay far more than this via your ISP!
FREE/cheaper solution
1) For this, you will need Skype/similar (haven't checked other suppliers) and monthly subscription of £2.24 (can cancel any time) which gives unlimited free calls to UK landlines. If you don't have skype, do you have a local friend who does - see below?!
2a) follow link to http://www.saynoto0870.com/ to find geographic (std) number
2b) Using postal address of company search on BT phone look up/similar :http://www.thephonebook.bt.com/publi...earch.publisha!to find a standard landline number with a geographic STD code (e.g 01274 Bradford)!
2c) If 2a fails, go on to company's web site - look for tabs 'about us', 'contact us' etc to look for head office (true) number. Companies are often nervous about using non geographic numbers for their BIG clients (Tough luck for customers!)!
2d) Any other suggestions from forum re getting 'proper' number welcome but saynoto0870 seem to have it boxed off (congrats)
3a) If you have skype, call the landline number FREE (it's called a TAD in GeekSpeak - yes I'm a geek with many years experience of telephony networks)!
3b) If no skype but you have a local friend with the skype package, call them at local rates!using the skype local number they get with the package. Then get them to add the company to contacts and then , in contacts, highlight this (new) contact and then click on 'conference'. May be free (depending on your ISP package) but at least it will be cheaper.!
3c) Suggestions welcome re if 3a or 3b not an option but (super geeks only) use of TAC's on the local exchange (to go out via BT trunks) may be a possibility - Comments welcome. At the end of the day, you should be billed by BT. On reflection, if 3c works and is cosher, this may well invalidate all of my idea above. SUPERGEEKS - comments welcome
Disadvantages
Can't see any way with skype to simulate normal key depressions to satisfy those frustrating messages like 'press 1 now so that we can put you on hold for ages playing music you hate and make more money for ourselves and the !network companies'.!Geeks!: Do you know how to simulate the key depressions?
All!: just sit tight until you get through to an agent. If we all do this, the Managers of the call centres will see their 'average time to answer KPI' start to go through the roof and will, hopefully, get rockets for it. Do NOT feel sorry for them. It's their inability to correctly capacity plan which results in you paying more for your calls
Looks complicated?
Easy for a geek like me to say it's easy - try it for yourself. Costs nothing/minimal to try it out
Spooky new world/death knell for non-geographics?
Now some really geeky stuff (hope I don't have 'an accident')...
1) One of the advantages for companies to use non geographics is where they have multiple call centres scattered around the globe. The (e.g) 0870 will try one site but, if busy or under heavy load, it can route to another site!at no cost to the company. Yet, often enough, these companies have internal networks between the sites which support telephony by the use of VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) i.e they can take calls on a geographic number (e.g. 01274 Bradford) and spread the load around their centres. This may well be happening now (depending on the keys they ask you to press).!
2) However, they may have to pay for increased bandwidth between sites. For them, it's cheaper to pass the cost of the multiple site issue on to the consumer (and get a kick back into the bargain)
3) Use of non-geographics means that a company can shut down a call centre and other centers will still take the calls.
4)Question!: Most of these (big) companies are already using the internet - so why don't they provide VOIP numbers so that we can call from our desktop/whatever for FREE?!Answer!because they would lose a source of revenue (0870 etc) and, heaven forbid, you might actually get through to a person (rather than an automatic messaging system). YOU CAN FIND THEM if they are using skype by searching for their email address
Final points
1) I made a 17 minue call yesterday to an 0845 for free (I need the skype anyway)
2) Do NOT try the conferencing trick by calling a mate at a big company to set up a conference call. It's a version of Toll fraud, illegal and can result in dismissal for your mate and prosecution. The telephony networks track everything (despite what the providers may tell you)
Merry Christmas & Good luck all