Dial 087.. / 084.. numbers from your mobile using inclusive minutes

Goldust

Don't know if this is the right place for this so please move it it's not. Or if it's already been posted please remove.


I just discovered that if you replace the 08 in and 084.. or 087.. number with 03 you still get through to exactly the same place but 03 numbers are taken from your inclusive minutes!


Most of us have hundreds or unlimited minutes so put them to good use and save money at the same time. Beats messing round with saynoto0870 as well

mobilejunkie

It doesn't beat calling them on one of my contracts which include ALL 08 numbers as part of the bundle.

grumbler

Goldust wrote: »

I just discovered that if you replace the 08 in and 084.. or 087.. number with 03 you still get through to exactly the same place but 03 numbers are taken from your inclusive minutes!

Are you sure it works for all numbers, not just for those you tried?

Recently, all financial companies were required to get rid of 084/087 numbers and many (most?) replaced them with same numbers starting with 03.

Ian011

Goldust wrote: »

I just discovered that if you replace the 08 in and 084.. or 087.. number with 03 you still get through to exactly the same place but 03 numbers are taken from your inclusive minutes!

It doesn't work for all 084 and 087 numbers, but a very large number of retailers, traders, passenger transport companies, banks, insurance companies, government departments, local authorities and other public services have swapped to the matching 034 or 037 number over the last couple of years. Others have moved to a new 01, 02, 030, 033 or 080 number. Necessarily, the change of number comes first and the publicity about the change comes later. In some cases it can take many months for paperwork to be updated, e.g. on things that are renewed annually.

mobilejunkie wrote: »

It doesn't beat calling them on one of my contracts which include ALL 08 numbers as part of the bundle.

Where a landline or mobile provider offers inclusive calls to 084 or 087 numbers, that provider still has to pass on the Service Charge revenue which is ultimately paid to the benefit of the called party and their telecoms provider. This is up to 7p per minute (up to £4.20 per hour) on calls to 084 numbers and up to 13p per minute (up to £7.80 per hour) on calls to 087 numbers. As the caller doesn't pay the Service Charge, the revenue is instead raised by increasing the cost of line rental, inclusive call plans and non-inclusive calls. For those callers who are with a provider that offers inclusive calls to 084 and 087 numbers but who never call those numbers, they will be paying inflated charges for all other calls and services in order to subsidise those who do.

mobilejunkie

I don't think 30p per month for 250 minutes, data and texts is exactly expensive - do you??

Ian011

mobilejunkie wrote: »

I don't think 30p per month for 250 minutes, data and texts is exactly expensive - do you??

If you use your allowance to make 250 minutes of calls to an 087 number with a 13p per minute Service Charge, your provider has to pay out £32.50 to the organisations that you called. The revenue for this is raised by increasing all their other prices.

mobilejunkie

Then people who are happy to pay those prices can do so. I don't.

J_B

Goldust wrote: »

I just discovered that if you replace the 08 in and 084.. or 087.. number with 03 you still get through to exactly the same place

This information is incorrect!

I have an 0870 fax to e mail number, I just tried it .....
"This number is not allocated and is not in service"

Thomas Cook have 0844 numbers for their shops (bless them) - just tried and it gave unobtainable when dialling 0344

Ian011

This Information is, in many cases, correct.

Telephone numbers starting 034 and 037 are non-geographic numbers that are reserved for the exclusive use of any organisation that already uses the matching 084 or 087 number. This Ofcom rule has been in place since 2007.

In order for the 034 or 037 number to work, the user of the matching 084 or 087 number has to tell their telecoms supplier to activate it. Tens of thousands of organisations have made this move, but there are also many others that have not.

Wherever you see an 084 or 087 number advertised always try calling the matching 034 or 037 number first. If it works, it will be a cheaper call. If it doesn't, there's no charge for trying.

Those who continue to use 084, 087 or 09 numbers are required, since 1 July 2015, to declare the Service Charge everywhere their number is advertised or mentioned.

J_B

Ian011 wrote: »

This Information is, in many cases, correct.

But not in all cases! The OP didn't make that clear.

zagfles

Ian011 wrote: »

If you use your allowance to make 250 minutes of calls to an 087 number with a 13p per minute Service Charge, your provider has to pay out £32.50 to the organisations that you called. The revenue for this is raised by increasing all their other prices.

And if, instead, and more commonly, they have an access charge of 45p/min for 084/087 numbers, they are clearly making a massive profit from callers of those numbers which they can use to cross-subside cheaper prices for everyone else.

Why do you keep banging on about cross-subsidy of about 13p/min service charge when inc mins include 087 etc but not about much higher cross-subsidy of over 3 times that amount going the other way when mobile companies charge 45p/min "access charge"?