Will all providers comply with Ofcom's new rules from 1 July 2015?

Ian011

On 1 July 2015, the biggest change to 08, 09 and 118 non-geographic numbers for more than a decade takes place with major changes to the way these calls are charged and especially to how the call prices for calls to 084, 087, 09 and 118 numbers are advertised.

As of today, there are just 30 days to go until the new rules take effect.

It's concerning to see that even at this late stage, some providers have absolutely nothing on their website about the forthcoming changes.

These include:

Post Office Home Phone
Lyca Mobile
Lebara
The People's Operator
Utility Warehouse
White Mobile
Delight Mobile
Family Mobile
GT Mobile
Kingdom Mobile
Vectone
Zen
Eclipse
18185.com
1899.com
... and several others.

If you're a customer of one of these networks, now would be a good time to ask them whether they will be complying with the new rules, whether calls to 080 numbers will be free from 1 July 2015, and how much the Access Charge for calls to 084, 087, 09 and 118 numbers will be.

Providers that promise to give 30 days notice of any price changes have already failed to do so. At the time of writing there are just 29 days and 13 hours until the new system should be in place.



See also:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5219756
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5230983
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5230985

oldharryrocks

18185,1899, and 18866 are pay monthly or more indirect cheap call brokers they dont require you to call a 084, 087, 09 and 118 service number to access them, so why do they need to declare a service charge.

Ian011

oldharryrocks wrote: »

18185,1899, and 18866 are pay monthly or more indirect cheap call brokers they dont require you to call a 084, 087, 09 and 118 service number to access them, so why do they need to declare a service charge.

The first post in this thread is all about the need for each telecoms provider to declare their Access Charge for calls to 084, 087, 09 and 118 numbers.

If these providers connect calls to these numbers they will need to declare their Access Charge by 1 July 2015 in the same way that they publish their rates for calls to 01, 02 and 03 numbers.

It is the organisations being called that will declare their Service Charge.

Orlanth

AFAIK the changes are on the 26th June.

Also the changes are by law, so if a service provider doesn't offer free 0800 etc they can be held accountable. Whatever that happens to mean.

OldGreyFox

Orlanth wrote: »

AFAIK the changes are on the 26th June.

Also the changes are by law, so if a service provider doesn't offer free 0800 etc they can be held accountable. Whatever that happens to mean.

No it starts on the 1/7/2015

http://www.ukcalling.info/whats-happening

Ian011

Orlanth wrote: »

AFAIK the changes are on the 26th June.

The implementation date was originally planned to be 26 June 2015 but has been subsequently amended to 1 July 2015.
http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/consultations/simplifying-non-geographic-numbers/

OldGreyFox

Will we see a return of the situation where mobile suppliers blocked or charged for access to 0800 numbers that were being used to make cheap intl calls ? i wonder.

Some mobile networks already do charge to certain mobile numbers that are used for call forwarding purposes.

Ian011

After 1 July 2015, landline and mobile providers cannot charge for calls to numbers starting 080 or 116. Ofcom has set a maximum retail price of zero.

They could still selectively block access to some numbers.

mjr

Zen have today emailed the following:

I take voice services from Zen - how does this affect me?
From 1st July, Zen will set its access charge at 8p/minute for calls made to 084, 087, 09 and 118 numbers. This price includes VAT.

That's one price, across the board. No increased costs at weekends or in the evenings; just one fixed charge. No matter which 084, 087, 09 or 118 number you call or when, you'll always pay the same access charge.

I take a call bundle from Zen allowing unlimited, free calls to 0845 and 0870 numbers – how does this affect me?
Calls to 0845 and 0870 numbers will still fall within the inclusive minutes of your bundle.

However, calls to any other service number – that's any 084, 087, 09 or 118 number other than 0845 and 0870 – will be charged according to the new rules.

That is, you'll be charged an 8p/minute access fee by Zen, and a service charge from the organisation you're calling.

Ian011

While Zen may have started writing to customers, they, along with all of the others listed in the first post in this thread still have absolutely nothing on their website about the forthcoming changes.

There's now only three weeks until the changeover date.

Nuuk

Is this one of the biggest cons in telephone history?

All this stupid campaign has achieved is to give telephone service providers the opportunity to hike their prices (no doubt to compentate for them not being able to chage mobile users to phone freephone numbers).

Talktalk has to take the prize though - they are removing 0845 and 0870 calls from the calls packages, doing nothing to help the consumer, and everything to cause many of them maximum stress.

Let me explain. I am on a low income (£30/week) and pay Talktalk £5 a month for an 'anytime' calls package that includes 0845/0870 calls. We all need to call these numbers on an increasing basis theses days, and they are typically the calls where you wait to speak to somebody at the other end - 20-30 minutes is not unusual. The stress of knowing that the cost of the call is rising by the minute is too much for me, particularly as my health condition already places me under stress. But with the cost of those calls included in a set payment, I can at least put the phone into speakerphone mode, enjoy a cup of tea, and play Freecell until I get somebody to speak to.

Now I am back to square one. And it appears that companies like Talktalk will now get a cut of these calls, as well as the people who we are having to phone. In other words, this campaign will increase the cost of calls while purporting to be for the good of the customer by making call charges clearer.

Well done Ofcom, you are like having Jimmy Saville for a babysitter!

(I did contact Ofcom who weren't interested in my complaint)