03 number portability

03 Number portability

0300, 0333 and 0330 numbers - also referred to as Non-Geographic UK-WIde numbers, are the latest non geographic numbers to be made available.
0300, 0333 and 0330 numbers offer full flexibility of a Non Geographic including call recording, call queuing and divert to mobiles. 03 numbers have received much publicity and have been introduced to allow flexibility of non geographic numbers.
Portability
03 numbers can be diverted to any phone number in the world. You use your existing phone number as normal and calls will be directed to you as required.
Your 03 Number will automatically follow any diverts set up on your landline. For example if you routinely divert incoming calls to your mobile when you leave your office then inbound calls to your landline made on your local phone number will follow the divert to your mobile.
• Good customer awareness of 0300 and 0330 numbers encourages customers to call.
• 0300 are more cost effective than 0800 or 0808 non geographic numbers for both you and your customer.
• Free numbers show your customers that you value speaking with them.
• Flexible calling plans allows for full number management.

What do 0300 cost?

• No set up charge unless memorable (golden number)
• Calls diverted to Orange, Vodafone,T Mobile and O2 at 13.5p per minute.
• Choose from a selection of 0300, 0333 or 0303 numbers Free of Charge
• Line rental Free of Charge (subject to terms, see full price list for details).
• Calls routed to standard UK landline numbers at 1.5p per minute.

• Calls routed to other UK standard mobile at 20.0p per minute.

GPs 084 numbers are now illegal

GPs across England and Wales are being asked to stop using all 0844 numbers for answering calls to their patients.

Nye Bevan's desire in 1922 to make the NHS free at the point of entry almost should extend to the provision of telephone calls, the government have decreed.

Read the Government’s response

The Department of Health proposes to ban the use of premium rate numbers by NHS organisations. It has recently consulted on the use of 084 numbers in the NHS. The Department’s response to the consultation was published on 14 September, and is available on its website at: www.dh.gov.uk by typing ‘084 consultation response’ into the search bar.

The Department received approximately 3,000 responses to the consultation exercise; 2,000 from members of the public, a further 1,000 from the NHS, and a small number of responses from industry and other stakeholder organisations.

The consultation demonstrated that there is overwhelming support for the banning of numbers which cost the patient more to call than if they had called a normal geographical number (for example, numbers beginning 01 or 02). As a result of the consultation, the Department intends to amend legislation to stop the use of any telephone numbers which charge patients more to contact the NHS than the equivalent call to a geographical number. This will be enforced through amendments to the GP contract regulations, and the issuing of Directions to NHS Trusts and Primary Care Trusts (PCTs).

The ban will be enforced as soon as the necessary legislative changes can be made. This will be early next year for GP Practices, but as soon as practically possible for NHS Trusts and PCTs. The Department’s ongoing position on this issue has been that patients should not be expected to pay more than the equivalent cost of calling a geographical number, and, in the meantime, Ministers expect NHS organisations to continue to take this into account.

0800 numbers from mobiles

0800 numbers from mobiles are very expensive. Ofcom research into this area of the market appears to suggest that most people were aware that 0800 numbers means free.

However, when dialling 0800 numbers from mobiles, it is not very well known that it can cost up to 50p/min., arguably the same costs as it would cost to dial a premium rate number.

Orange used to allow business customers the opportunity to dial 0800 numbers from their mobile network without charge but this is no longer allowed and indeed all mobile operators now charge to make calls from their networks to 0800 numbers.

The general awareness of 03 numbers as being free to dial from mobiles has been less well documented and highlighted by the regulating body, even though they were first issued in March 2007.

Research has shown that most people now understand that 0845 numbers are not considered local as they have not kept with the pace of change on geographic local and national calls which can, in many instances, be free of charge

There has been a rise in the number of 0800 number directory, but when you consider that over 40% of voice calls now emanate from mobile phones, surely a big push towards using 03 numbers should be on the agenda.

Ofcom were due to review the revenue sharing aspects of 0845 numbers in late 2009 once the dust had settled on the whole issue of revenue sharing on 0870 and to date have not made any formal announcements on 0845 but are due to deliberate on 0845 very soon.

However, it should be noted that one of the main reasons that 0870 revenue sharing was abolished was because the 0870 call was considerably more than the cost of a call to a local or national number. Fundamentally, Ofcom should review the tariffs mobile operators charge to carry the 0800 traffic across their network and moreover international roaming charges.

0808 numbers are also the same cost and often a 10 minute call can cost about £5.00 which seems completely unacceptable to most of the public.

0500 numbers are not exempt either and when you consider that BBC's crimewatch programme used these numbers on their DRTV advertising it almosts beggars belief when you consider that it is the poor and marginalisedsectors of society who are askedto pay these charges.

0800 numbers are, however, great from the perspective that they can be routed to mobiles at very short notice that means plumbers, electricians, etc. who cannot affordto man their offices 24/7 can go out and divert their calls to their 0800 numbers to mobiles without fear that they potentially miss an important telephone call.

0800 numbers for small businesses can also decrease the barriers to people calling them for their services and if a 5 minute call costs 50p then that is potentially
money well spent as their average order value may be £200.00 in some cases.

0800 numbers can also offer the illusion to the end customer/potential customer that the company has large and nationwide presence.

Free call recording of all calls can be achieved with 0800 numbers and Interactive Voice Response (IVR) services can be tagged onto the back ofthe numberto improve a customers customer service experience, thereby increasing client retention rates.

What are 03 numbers?

It is possible that you have seen these 03 numbers in the press or on the TV via Direct Response Television Campaigns (DRTV) but we expain what they are in this article

What are 03 numbers?
03 numbers were introduced alternative to chargeable 08 numbers, such Ofcom introduced UK-wide

Revenue sharing

Calls to 03 numbers cost no more than a national rate call to an 01 or 02 number and must count towards any inclusive minutes in the same way as 01 and 02 calls.
These rules apply to calls from any type of line including mobile, other fixed line or public payphone.

Revenue sharing is not permitted on 03 numbers. – where the dialled party receives a share of what the consumer pays to transmit the call – is also not allowed on calls to 03 numbers.

In response to high-profile customer complaints over the various costs associated to 08 numbers, Ofcom introduced the new 03 number range. The release of the 03 range is intended to improve customer confidence by providing a simple, transparent charging for both callers and providers.

Classified as "UK Wide", calls to the new 03 number ranges are charged at exactly the same rates as calls to 01 numbers or 02 numbers.

Unlike any other non geographic number range, calls to 03 numbers must also be included in any inclusive call minute packages or discount schemes offered by fixed and mobile network operators and may be called from payphones at no additional

Which 03 numbers?

0300 Numbers Public Sector and Not for Profit Organisations
0300 Numbers are reserved exclusively for Pubic Sector services and Not for Profit Organisations.

A list of organisations eligible for allocation of 0300 numbers is published.

0333 Numbers for Business
0333 Numbers are available for all organisations to use, and will be predominantly chosen by commercial organizations.
0370 Numbers and 0345 Numbers Migration Ranges

The 0370 and 0345 ranges are reserved for organisations with an existing 0870 and 0845 number. Each 0845 numbers and 0870 has an equivalent 0370 and 0345.

0345 numbers and 0370 numbers!

With a huge number of 0870 and 0845 still unallocated and unused there is the opportunity to take up a new distinctive 0370 or 0345 number which closely aligns with your business name or a specific product, service or promotion by reserving the equivalent 0845 or 0870.

Benefits of 03 numbers?

1) Similar to 08 numbers they can be used to provide a nationwide presence
2) They can be used to provide inbound call statistics
3) They have a range of numbers that operations can choose from
4) They can be used in conjunction with IVR services so that callers can begreeted with 1 for service, 2 for sales 3 for accounts, etc
5) They can be diverted to mobiles and international numbers at the drop of a hat

Free 0845 and 0870 calls for BT Business customers

BT extend their 0845
and 0870
inclusive call packages to Businessses with effect from October 26th 2009.

On January 16th, 2009 announced this offer to residential customers as long as they paid a monthly fee under their 'anytime plan'. It does not include 0844
and 0871
numbers which many businesses have migrated to but it does offer some welcome savings.

The alternative option to 0845 is, of course, 03 numbers, which are free to call from landlines and mobiles numbers.

This is a welcome move for businesses who are struggling n the current climate. The rise of 08 numbers have been dramatic and the costs of calling them have not really been in line with the cost of calling 01/02 numbers.

The benefits of using 0845 numbers are, of course, significant and include but are not limited to:-

A) 0845 numbers are great for new business start ups who may be moving into or out of premises as it means they can keep the same number whiout worrying about the significant costs of changing as the underlying number changes.

B) 0845 numbers are nationally base and are not restricted by Geography. This is great for companies who are attempting to measure the impact of their marketng efforts, when different 0845 numbers are used for different campaigns, etc.

C) 0845 numbers are very flexible in that they can be diverted to mobiles and international numbers at the drop of a hat.


D) 0845 numbers can be used to map against web site and other marketing materials.

E) By using 0845 numbers callers can use auto-attendant or virtual reception services i.e. press for 1 sales, 2 for service, 3 for accounts, etc which gives a far more professional feel to their operation.

F) Organisations can opt for memorable numbers which can be chosen at short notice to dovetail with tight advertising print deadlines.

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Ofcom announces new 111 memorable telephone number

Ofcom have announced that they have issued a new memorable 03 digit telephone number for the use of non-emergency calls i.e. 111.

This number can be called from any ‘phone and will not be charged to the end user. It is for the use of non-emergency care issues and in some ways helps to mitigate the impact to consumers of dialling GP surgeries on 0844 numbers.

Other uses of 111 numbers include the following: -

111 (One hundred [and] eleven) is the natural number following 110 and preceding 112. It is the lowest positive integer requiring six syllables to name in American English, or seven syllables (including "and") in Canadian and British English. Occasionally it is referred to as "eleventy-one".
111 is a perfect totient number.
111 is R3 or the second repunit, a number like 11, 111, or 1111 that consists of repeated units, or 1's. It equals 3 × 37, therefore all triplets (numbers like 222 or 777) in base ten are of the form 3n × 37.
All triplets in all bases are multiples of 111 in that base, therefore the number represented by 111 in a particular base is the only triplet that can ever be prime. 111 is not prime in base ten, but is prime in base two, where 1112 = 710. It is also prime in these other bases up to 100: 3, 5, 6, 8, 12, 14, 15, 17, 20, 21, 24, 27, 33, 38, 41, 50, 54, 57, 59, 62, 66, 69, 71, 75, 77, 78, 80, 89, 90, and 99. 111 is also prime in base 111 (= 1243310).
The number 111 is sometimes called "a Nelson" or "Nelson's" after Admiral Nelson, who allegedly only had "One Eye, One Arm, One Leg" near the end of his life. (This is sometimes bowdlerised to say that he lost "One Eye, One Arm, One Life" during his naval career.).
It is particularly known as a score in cricket or darts. In cricket a score of 111 or multiples thereof (222 = "double nelson", 333 = "triple nelson" etc.) is considered unlucky. This may be because the figures "111" resemble a wicket without bails. Some people, most notably David Shepherd, practise superstitions when the score is on a Nelson, typically by hopping in the air so that neither foot is touching the ground, then standing on just one foot until the score has moved on.[1]
See also Nelson (cricket).
 BAC One-Eleven, also known as the BAC-111 was a British short-range jet airliner of the 1960s and 1970s.
 General Dynamics/Grumman EF-111A Raven was an electronic warfare aircraft in the United States Air Force.
 General Dynamics F-111 ("F-One Eleven”) fighter-bomber
 VAW-111 Grumman E1-B's. Carrier Airborne Early Warning squadron.
 VF-111 Sundowners was a United States Navy fighter squadron established in 1942 as VF-11 and disestablished in 1995
 Marine Fighting Squadron 111 (VMF-111) was a reserve fighter squadron in the United States Marines Corps
 Swissair Flight 111 (SR-111, SWR-111) was a Swissair McDonnell Douglas MD-11 scheduled flight from Kennedy Airport to Geneva,Switzerland, which crashed into the Atlantic Ocean on September 2, 1998
 Heinkel He 111 bomber.
 Opus 111 by Beethoven, often called "the one-eleven", is the composer's final piano sonata
 RIOT 111 was a New Zealand political punk band in the early 1980s
 “111” is the third album by Željko Joksimović, released in 2002
 111 Centoundici was Tiziano Ferro's second album, released in 2003.
 The UKTV TV channel “Dave” is on Sky channel 111
 The channel slot for the Australian Cable Channel 111 Hits on the Cable services for Foxtel, Optus and Austar.
 won by Spend A Buck on May 4, 1985.
 The 111th Boston Marathon won by Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot on April 16, 2007.
 Sonnet 111 by William Shakespeare
 111 is the number of children attributed by "the washers at the ford," to Anna Livia Plurabella (the feminine principle) in James Joyce'sFinnegans Wake.
 In J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings Bilbo Baggins disappears from his 111th birthday party (his eleventy-first) and from the Shire, leaving the One Ring to his nephew Frodo.
111 is also:
 The year AD 111 or 111 BC.
 111 AH is a year in the Islamic calendar that corresponds to 729 – 730 CE.
 OGLE-TR-111 is a distant yellow or orange dwarf star about 5000-light-years away in the constellation Carina.
 111 Ate is a carbonaceous main belt asteroid.
 The Coma star cluster in Coma Berenices, designated Melotte 111 after its entry in the catalogue of deep sky objects by P. J. Melotte.
 The atomic number of the element roentgenium (Rg).
 The chemical compound 1,1,1-Trichloroethane is a chlorinated hydrocarbon that was used as an industrial solvent with a trade name “Solvent 111”.
 The emergency telephone number in New Zealand; see 1-1-1.
 The Great Bear, number 111, was a locomotive of the Great Western Railway.
 Baureihe 111 is a class of electric locomotives owned by Deutsche Bahn AG.
 USS Vella Gulf (CVE-111) was a Commencement Bay classescort carrier of the United States Navy.
 USS Giansar (AK-111) was a Liberty ship originally laid down as SS Thomas Ewing, and renamed in 1943.
 The first USS Ingraham (DD-111) was a Wickes class destroyer in the United States Navy during the World War I.
 USNS Mission Buenaventura (T-AO-111) was a T2 tanker built for the United States Maritime Commission during World War II.
 London Buses route 111 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London.
 STS-111 was a Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS) flown by Space Shuttle Endeavour on June 5, 2002.
 Cosmos 111 was the first Soviet attempt to orbit a spacecraft around the Moon which launched on March 1, 1966
 The meridian 111° west of Greenwich is a line of longitude that extends from the North Pole across the Arctic Ocean, North America, thePacific Ocean, the Southern Ocean, and Antarctica to the South Pole.
 The 111th United States Congress will be the next meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, from January 3, 2009 to January 3, 2011.
 U.S. Route 111 was a U.S. Route that ran from Baltimore, Maryland north to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
 Route 111 is a highway in Quebec, Canada
 N-111 highway is a highway in Spain, connecting Pamplona with Madrid.
 China National Highway 111 runs from Beijing to Heilongjiang province.
 Northeast 111 is a peak-bagging list of 4000-foot (1219.2-m) mountains in the U.S. northeast.
 111 Huntington Avenue ("The R2-D2 Building") is one of Boston's newest skyscrapers and part of the Prudential Center.
 111th Street is a station on the IND Fulton Street Line of the New York City Subway, on Liberty Avenue at 111th Street in Queens.
 ZIL-111 was a car from ZIL introduced in 1959.
 The CAW Local 111 is a local union of the Canadian Auto Workers union representing bus operators in Vancouver, British Columbia.
 'eleventyone' is satirized Internet slang for Over-exclamation in typed statements.
 111 is also an emergency call in New Zealand
 United Nations Security Council Resolution 111 of 1956 said the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization in Palestine violated the General Armistice Agreement.
 Supreme Court of the United States associate justice Sonia Sotomayor is the 111th justice of the United States Supreme Court
 List of highways numbered 111
 Wells, D. The Penguin Dictionary of Curious and Interesting Numbers London: Penguin Group. (1987): 134
 The Number 111 at the VirtueScience Database of Number Correlations

Source:- Wikipaedia

How much does it cost to call a telephone number – 03 numbers explained?

How much does it cost to call a telephone number – 03 numbers explained?

This is a guide to common phone numbers, some of the ways that they are used and the costs of calling them from a BT landline – other providers’ prices may vary. Prices may be higher particularly from mobile phones.
01 and 02 numbers – STD geographic based telephone numbers
These numbers generally cost businesses between 1.5 p/minute to 5.0 p/minute. BT’s standard rate is 8 p/minute but they can discount where they see fit.
Residential calls have a 4.2 p minimum call charge and are typically charged up to 5p /minute unless the user is on a BT discount Package where there are inclusive free minutes.
03 numbers – UK wide geographic numbers
Calls cost the same rate as 01or 02 and are include in any free inclusive calls as applicable. The cost of the businesses using these numbers is typically 2p/minute and they are similarly charged as 0800/0808.
030 numbers – not-for-profit organizations

They cost no more than calls to geographic (01 and 02) numbers and must be included in inclusive minutes and discount schemes. Calls cost up to 4.5p per minute from a BT landline during the day and are included in free call packages.
07 – mobile numbers

Calls to mobiles are charged between 8p and 18p per minute from BT landlines and are not included in free call packages. Call costs from mobiles vary according to the calling plan chosen and are often more expensive than calls from landlines. Calls between mobile phones are often included in free call packages.
070 – personal numbers

070 numbers can cost between 9p and 50p per minute from a BT landline and up to 75p per minute from a mobile phone, depending on the time of day you are calling. The cost of these will obviously change when ofcom make changes in 2010.
0800 and 0808 Freephone

Calls are normally free of charge from fixed lines but charges may apply from mobile phones.
0843 and 0844
Calls are charged at up to 5p per minute for BT customers, calls from other providers may vary and cost more from mobile phones.
0845
Calls are charged at between 0.5p and 2p per minute depending on the time of day from most BT landlines and are included in free call packages. Calls from other providers may vary and cost a lot more from mobile phones.
0870
Calls from BT landlines and some other fixed networks cost no more than a national rate call (01 or 02 between 1.5p and 4.5p) and may count towards any inclusive minutes in the same way. Calls from other fixed networks may vary and from mobile networks will cost a lot more.
0871/2/3
Calls cost up to 10p per minute for BT customers but can cost a lot more from a mobile phone. These calls are now regulated by the Payphone Plus regulating body and will be subject to advertising the rates that are applied to the number and will also require communication service providers to advertise the rates via the end users of these numbers