T-Mobile - calls to 07404 (Lycamobile) excluded from allowance

hanhan_2

Forgive me please if this is repeat. Can someone please tell me why any numbers starting with 07 is not recognised as a uk mobile. I called t bmobile today they said that lycamobile is a non standard uk mobile number. How on earth am I meant to know that? I now have a bill for over £200 when I thought I was using my allowance. I recorded the conversation with the customer adviser and they say I will get a call back from a managre. Am I allowed to record the conversation and what is the likelihood I will be reimbursed? Right now I have stated I am disputing the charges.


Help please........

tazdevil01985

hanhan wrote: »

Forgive me please if this is repeat. Can someone please tell me why any numbers starting with 07 is not recognised as a uk mobile. I called t bmobile today they said that lycamobile is a non standard uk mobile number. How on earth am I meant to know that? I now have a bill for over £200 when I thought I was using my allowance. I recorded the conversation with the customer adviser and they say I will get a call back from a managre. Am I allowed to record the conversation and what is the likelihood I will be reimbursed? Right now I have stated I am disputing the charges.


Help please........

You are only allowed to record a call and use it if you informed them that you are recording the call and they are happy with that !

Rusty!

Not true.

You can record a call as long as one of the parties is aware that it is being recorded. You are allowed to be that party.

tazdevil01985

The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 in general prohibits interception of communications by a third party, with exceptions related to government agencies. A recording made by one party to a phone call or e-mail without notifying the other is not prohibited provided that the recording is for their own use
As the poster is not using it for their own use but as leverage ! Then he would have to declare it !

simax

So what would happen if you took a Lycamobile number and ported it to O2/Orange/T-Mobile?

That would be funny! Getting one of these numbers ported in to T-Mobile. Let's see them explain that!!

chattychappy

hanhan wrote: »

Forgive me please if this is repeat. Can someone please tell me why any numbers starting with 07 is not recognised as a uk mobile. I called t bmobile today they said that lycamobile is a non standard uk mobile number. How on earth am I meant to know that?

My opinion is that it is a UK mobile number. Just they've told their OPs to say it's not. My contract expired shortly after I started this thread. The T-Mobile shop near me gets customers to sign a cobbled-together separate sheet to agree that Lycamobile will be charged. They are obviously so fed up with complaints (there is a Lycamobile stand nearby - I think there are a lot of Lycamobile users in London).

I think this is an OFT issue. OFCOM is just a toothless tiger. Possibly also an ASA issue - adverts showing "500 minutes to UK mobiles" are obviously misleading even if buried in the T+Cs they do exclude Lycamobile.

Buzby

hanhan wrote: »

Forgive me please if this is repeat. Can someone please tell me why any numbers starting with 07 is not recognised as a uk mobile.

Because it isnt?

Most folk have forgotten that long before mobiles moded onto the 07 numbering space, a whole raft of 'Personal Number' companies were formed and provided services of call forwarding and secreterial services. (The numbers were 070xxxx) Radiopaging devices also were there early on.

Mobiles were gradually moved over, but the number range covers more than mobiles, but this is a red herring. The real issue is that any number you dial has to be explicitly enabled, if it isn't the call will fail. THis is because each network reaches an agreement on how much it will charge to deliver calls to other networks, and how much it will charge those networks to deliver calls on its network.

The Lyca network has a particularly high rate, this is because their business model is to encourage international calls, not ones to other mobile networks, as such their charge to other networks to connect is quite high, so they react by either charging a high cost to call it, or refuse connections entirely whilst negotiations take place.

simax

Buzby wrote: »

Because it isnt?

Most folk have forgotten that long before mobiles moded onto the 07 numbering space, a whole raft of 'Personal Number' companies were formed and provided services of call forwarding and secreterial services. (The numbers were 070xxxx) Radiopaging devices also were there early on.

Mobiles were gradually moved over, but the number range covers more than mobiles, but this is a red herring. The real issue is that any number you dial has to be explicitly enabled, if it isn't the call will fail. THis is because each network reaches an agreement on how much it will charge to deliver calls to other networks, and how much it will charge those networks to deliver calls on its network.

The Lyca network has a particularly high rate, this is because their business model is to encourage international calls, not ones to other mobile networks, as such their charge to other networks to connect is quite high, so they react by either charging a high cost to call it, or refuse connections entirely whilst negotiations take place.

So how does that help Lycamobile customers who port their number to another network?

Seems the best thing to do is to get a free PAYG sim from O2/Orange etc and port that number into Lycamobile.

Buzby

How does that help CALLERS to the Lyca mobile who will be charged the higher rate, despite it connecting to one of the lower-cost metworks? Technology only goes so far, the punter is still exposed. In Eire, the fixed line operator plays a tone if the code dialled connects to a ported number, which at least provides a warning that the costs expected may not be what the caller expects.

In the scenario you suggest, would not be the answer - always assuming the port is permitted. You are not fooling the network connecting the call, it will know the correct cost to charge for the recieving network irrespective of the number dialled. Again, something OFCOM are happy to allow.

Transparency? I've not stopped laughing yet.

chattychappy

Buzby wrote: »

THis is because each network reaches an agreement on how much it will charge to deliver calls to other networks, and how much it will charge those networks to deliver calls on its network.

The Lyca network has a particularly high rate, this is because their business model is to encourage international calls, not ones to other mobile networks, as such their charge to other networks to connect is quite high, so they react by either charging a high cost to call it, or refuse connections entirely whilst negotiations take place.

But they nevertheless remain "UK mobiles". You buy a Lyca SIM, it has a UK number. It is a UK mobile.

If T-Mobile wish to exclude it from mobile packages, it should be made much clearer. And they CERTAINLY shouldn't have changed their charging structure after people had signed contracts.

Their website still includes stuff such as:

Just top up £10 a month to get 100 free minutes to UK mobiles and landlines for the next month.

• Get 100 free minutes worth £20 to call any UK mobile or landline, anytime
• Top up £10 one month to get your 100 free minutes the next month
• You don't need to top up £10 in one go and you keep all your top ups to spend on texts or whatever suits you.

NB "any UK mobile". It seems you are saying that because they have to pay more to connect to Lycamobile they can say it's not a UK mobile.

Incidentally, the ASA has just extended it's scope to include websites...