O2 to start charging for 0845 & 0870 calls

billsavings

matrix999 wrote: »

I've spoke to people i know at O2 and there is no confirmation what so ever that 0845/0870 etc numbers will be charged outside your inclusive mins from 01 May 07.

Their already charging if you call them outside your inclusive minutes are they not.

When you ring them different call centre staff will tell you different things because they are not fully briefed on future changes.But i suggest that what damocles says in post 12 in this thread is probaly spot on.;)

hurrah

The original poster in the Niftylist Thread has now returned and confirmed it will affect both new(not existing) retail and online customers from the 1/5/2007.

http://forum.niftylist.co.uk/index.php?topic=2599.0

thor

and once these numbers are no longer allowed as part of the inclusive minutes O2 will lose a ton of business. It was the only thing that made O2 stand out from the likes of orange, vodaone etc. I don't know what subscribers numbers are like for them but surely there will be a huge drop and I would be interested to know if there is a way to be able to check on this.

Portlandbill

thor wrote: »

I would be interested to know if there is a way to be able to check on this.

When it comes out at end of month it will be on their site.;)

digp

Which idiot at o2 dreamt up what is clearly a stupid idea cause they will lose new business over this.

What will happen to existing customers at renewal time?

Thinking about it this really is a stupid idea.

Jarlawuk

It is a terrible idea but to be fair I'm suprised O2 left it so long. Hopefully there will be 03 numbers to call abroad to replace the 08 ones that will become defunct.

billsavings

Jarlawuk wrote: »

It is a terrible idea but to be fair I'm suprised O2 left it so long. Hopefully there will be 03 numbers to call abroad to replace the 08 ones that will become defunct.

How will 03 numbers help ?. Revenue sharing is not allowed on this numbering range. It will be charged as a normal geographical call. The cheap call providers would not make any money using them as access numbers.

fiish

I can see this move making long-term business sense for O2; they probably have lost revenues by including the 08 range of numbers in the inclusive minutes. They might lose customers in the short term (1-2 years) as many of us who took up O2 for these calls leave for other networks. But they can then make their tariffs more competitive, doing what everyone else does like just offering more minutes/texts/internet features.

Fact is we consumers have no more alternatives, since O2 was the only provider including 0845/0870 calls in the calling allowance. These are premium rate numbers we cannot avoid paying extra for. So in the long term I think O2 wouldn't suffer too badly. They probably thought that as well when they decided to drop 07744/55 (which must have been really costly to them given that they did it to existing contracts too).

IMHO O2 still has one strong selling point in that their handsets are generally SIM free for contracts.

si1965

fiish wrote: »

IMHO O2 still has one strong selling point in that their handsets are generally SIM free for contracts.

I nearly switched to Vodafone but have stuck with O2 for this reason.

steven07968

digp wrote: »

what will happen to say cpw customers?

I'd also like to know this please