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Ofcom to make 0800 numbers free from mobiles
http://www.x404.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=11846		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  Amnesia10 [ Fri Dec 17, 2010 5:47 pm ]
Post subject:  Ofcom to make 0800 numbers free from mobiles
http://www.macworld.co.uk/digitallifest ... id=3253988

Quote:
Ofcom is about to call time on mobile networks and businesses charging consumers high rates to call 0800 numbers that would be free from any landline.

According to research carried out by the regulator, tariffs to call apparently ‘freephone’ lines can cost consumers up to 40 pence per minute, which along with other calls to non-geographic numbers generates £1.9 billion a year in easy profit for networks.

The proposal is part of a suggested streamlining of the structure of phone numbers in the UK to make call costs clearer to consumers. As well as making 0800 numbers universally free, premium rate numbers would begin with ranges 090, 091 and 098, lower, and fixed-rate calls with 0843/4/5, and 0871/2/3.

This approximates to the situation now, but the difference is that the changes would be mandatory rather than, as now, optional. It is the optional nature of the current number and charge combinations that causes confusion.

Ofcom also wants the cost for calling fixed-rate and premium-rate umbers to be clearly broken down so that callers can see how much is being charged by a company running the line, and how much is being charged by the service provider.

Finally
Author:  JJW009 [ Fri Dec 17, 2010 6:34 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Ofcom to make 0800 numbers free from mobiles
When I had my first Orange contract many years ago, calls to 0800 numbers were free.

Do you know why that all changed? Because it was abused. People started using "calling cards" - dialling a free phone number from their mobile and routing traffic via a third party.

Unlike a fixed line, it costs the operator money to connect an 0800 number because it's using expensive bandwidth. Unless that charge can be passed onto the 0800 provider then it must be charged to the caller.

Personally, I think the best compromise is to simply charge the same as for a cross-network call which would usually come out of the inclusive minutes.
Author:  Amnesia10 [ Fri Dec 17, 2010 9:18 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Ofcom to make 0800 numbers free from mobiles
JJW009 wrote:
When I had my first Orange contract many years ago, calls to 0800 numbers were free.

Do you know why that all changed? Because it was abused. People started using "calling cards" - dialling a free phone number from their mobile and routing traffic via a third party.

Unlike a fixed line, it costs the operator money to connect an 0800 number because it's using expensive bandwidth. Unless that charge can be passed onto the 0800 provider then it must be charged to the caller.

Personally, I think the best compromise is to simply charge the same as for a cross-network call which would usually come out of the inclusive minutes.

The costs of connection are very small. Even if you used a calling card the network still gets line rental.
Author:  JJW009 [ Sat Dec 18, 2010 12:13 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Ofcom to make 0800 numbers free from mobiles
Amnesia10 wrote:
JJW009 wrote:
When I had my first Orange contract many years ago, calls to 0800 numbers were free.

Do you know why that all changed? Because it was abused. People started using "calling cards" - dialling a free phone number from their mobile and routing traffic via a third party.

Unlike a fixed line, it costs the operator money to connect an 0800 number because it's using expensive bandwidth. Unless that charge can be passed onto the 0800 provider then it must be charged to the caller.

Personally, I think the best compromise is to simply charge the same as for a cross-network call which would usually come out of the inclusive minutes.

The costs of connection are very small. Even if you used a calling card the network still gets line rental.

The cost per call on a mobile network cannot be compared to that of a fixed line.

On a fixed line, there is no contention and the line-rental pays for the line. There is zero cost for handling an 0800 call.

All the mobile networks still suffer massive bandwidth congestion, and all the providers are still encumbered with the billion pound debts they paid for that bandwidth. Your monthly rental plus call charges pays your share of that bandwidth, plus the relatively small egress costs of calling off network. Although there is no egress cost for an 0800 number, there is still the bandwidth cost.

If everyone started using 0800 calling cards, they could get PAYG phones and never pay a single penny to the networks. The networks then go bankrupt and you have no more mobile service in the UK.

This is exactly what was happening in the 1990s and it's why no operators now offer free 0800 calls on the cheaper rentals or PAYG products. Unless the 0800 model is changed to a model more like in America where the mobile operator is paid by the person receiving the call, then the only viable model is for the operators to charge an additional monthly fee on all products including PAYG to cover the 0800 costs. In effect, that means all users will be subsidising those that will inevitably abuse the system.
Author:  Amnesia10 [ Sat Dec 18, 2010 3:44 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Ofcom to make 0800 numbers free from mobiles
Limit it to contracts and have a fair use policy on free calls. That will end much of the problems that you assume will reappear.
Author:  JJW009 [ Sat Dec 18, 2010 4:20 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Ofcom to make 0800 numbers free from mobiles
Amnesia10 wrote:
Limit it to contracts and have a fair use policy on free calls. That will end much of the problems that you assume will reappear.

True, but is that what's being proposed in the new law?
Author:  Amnesia10 [ Sat Dec 18, 2010 8:00 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Ofcom to make 0800 numbers free from mobiles
The other thing is that there are still free ways to get free calls such as Skype or FaceTime. So really will it be a problem?
Author:  JJW009 [ Sat Dec 18, 2010 8:33 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Ofcom to make 0800 numbers free from mobiles
Amnesia10 wrote:
The other thing is that there are still free ways to get free calls such as Skype or FaceTime. So really will it be a problem?

If you use them over WiFi then it doesn't congest the expensive mobile bandwidth, so they are irrelevant.
If you use them over your mobile data, then the data usage is paid for. Even on one of the 3 unlimited data accounts, you're paying quite a lot on rental.

As I said, the problem is primarily with PAYG or very low cost low usage monthly mobile rentals being abused to make high volumes of free calls.
Author:  okenobi [ Sun Dec 19, 2010 11:42 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Ofcom to make 0800 numbers free from mobiles
I'm with JJ.

Everyday 50 on Orange was my first mobile experience in 99 and I kept it for 10yrs. Free 0800 numbers were abused and like anything, there's a cost involved somewhere. For me, the main use were things like the AA and other "immediate" needs. The hilarious thing is, I can still remember the Orange commercial touting the "end of the landline". At 1p/min to landlines with 50mins a day for 50p a day, they could've done it, if everybody hadn't wanted to text, go on the internet and join other networks!!
Author:  Amnesia10 [ Sun Dec 19, 2010 4:36 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Ofcom to make 0800 numbers free from mobiles
You make valid points about wifi. Also why not have two free numbers O800 which are free from any number but cannot be used for telecoms etc, and a free number say 0505 which costs 2p per minute from mobiles but is free otherwise. That seems like a reasonable compromise.
Author:  mikepgood [ Mon Dec 20, 2010 2:34 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Ofcom to make 0800 numbers free from mobiles
Ofcom actually doing something.......I doubt it.
Author:  l3v1ck [ Mon Dec 20, 2010 10:19 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Ofcom to make 0800 numbers free from mobiles
About time.
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