Free 0870 Numbers

Around 14 million BT customers no longer have to pay steep fees to call 0870 and 0845 numbers, but customers with other telephone companies are still paying up to £2 for a ten minute call.

The vast majority of household service providers, including energy suppliers, telecoms and internet companies, as well as most banks and building societies, use numbers beginning with the prefix 0845 or 0870 as their customer service contact numbers.

These numbers, known as "non-geographic" because the charge for making the call doesn't relate to the distance, often cost more than twice as much as normal calls and can be big revenue-generators for the companies involved.

Until now, 0845 and 0870 numbers have not been included in packages that offer free calls at certain times. Callers can quickly run up a bill if they are kept waiting for several minutes before being connected to an operator.

With effect from last Friday, however, calls to 0870 and 0845 numbers are now included in BT's free call packages for the first time. This means that, for example, an Unlimited Weekend plan customer, who gets free calls on Saturdays and Sundays but who used to have to pay 1.96p and 5.88p a minute respectively to dial 0845 and 0870 numbers - plus a 6.85p connection fee - can now make these calls without charge over the weekend. Outside that period, they will still pay to use these numbers.

Customers with BT's Anytime package will not be billed for 0870 or 0845 calls at all. They will, though, be charged for calls to 0871 and 0844 numbers, which can cost more than 10p a minute.

Those with packages with other telephone companies will still have to pay 0870 and 0845 charges however, even when their other calls are free. For example, a Virgin Media customer calling an 0845 number at the weekend must pay 6.84p a minute, or 9.79p a minute if dialling an 0870 number, plus a connection charge of 6.84p.

But even if you aren't with BT, you can still keep the cost of 0870 and 0845 numbers down. First and foremost, never call calls these numbers from your mobile, as it can be extortionately expensive. According to comparison website Moneysupermarket.com, the average cost of a 10-minute call to the customer service numbers of HSBC, Lloyds TSB, Barclays, Halifax, Scottish Power, npower, and Virgin made from a mobile would all cost around £1.92.

Bear in mind, too, that 0800 numbers, which are free from landlines, also incur steep charges if called from a mobile. For example, it would cost around £1.50 for a 10-minute call to British Gas, EDF Energy or Abbey's 0800 customer service numbers from a mobile.

Making 0871 and 0844 calls from mobiles is even more costly. A 10-minute call to either Tiscali's 0871 customer service number or Sky's 0844 equivalent from a mobile would cost, on average, £2.73 and £2.82 respectively.

Last year Vodafone, T-Mobile and O2 all increased their call prices. Vodafone, for example, upped the cost of calling 0871 numbers to 35p a minute from 25p, while the price of 0870 numbers rose from 15p to 20p a minute.

James Parker, of Moneysupermarket.com, said: "On average in the past 12 months just under half the adult population has called an 08 number from their mobile phone, racking up a massive £88m in additional call charges. Worryingly, two-thirds of people who call 08 numbers from their mobile have no idea how much they are being charged."

If you are calling one of these numbers from a landline, you can use an alternative provider. You don't have to change your home phone company to do this - all it involves is dialling a prefix before the 0845 or 0870 number, and the cost of the call is reduced.

Source: The Guardian, 18th January 2009

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