03 numbers to overtake 0845

03 Numbers to overtake 0845 for new business connections

03 Numbers exhibit the benefit that they have to be charged at the same rate as the 01/02 rate that a caller is due to pay on its tariff. Therefore, as most businesses have free landline minutes within their mobile phone tariff packages, this means that calling back to the office on the main number will also be free.

Some companies who front their businesses with 0870/0844 will now find that they will have extraordinary large phone bills. Funny when you think this is most telephone companies.

i.e. when they use BT’s Presentation Number Service and transmit their 0844/0870 from the office as a CLI to to the mobile handset, users will naturally just dial back and therefore will be charged at the going rate which is typically between 10p-£1.50/minute.

According to recent news articles, 03 Numbers are likely to overtake 0845 numbers as the popular type of business phone number. Some of the reasons for this lie in the following:-

1. They offer a national presence. Therefore businesses who are based in Northumbria can have the feel of a company that is based in London or indeed anywhere throughout the U.K.

2. They offer smart call handling features in much the same way as 0845 numbers such as call whisper, call recording, and auto-attendant features, so there is no loss in the quality of the service being offered.

3. For instance, callers into the service can be presented with Press 1 for sales, 2 for service and 3 for accounts, etc.

4. 03 Numbers are great if a company is likely to relocate – often new start businesses may move two or three times in the short history.

5. It is possible for businesses who get in early to select their numbers from niche players in the market rather than be randomly allocated the numbers by the carriers such as BT and C&W.

6. It is easy to set up and can be provided across all types of numbers such your local business number and also to mobiles and international numbers.
0300 numbers are exclusively for public service bodies so it is likely that over time people will become far more familiar with the concept of these numbers and start to use them for businesses purposes.