VM treat 0845 same as 0870
 

I know VM are uncompetitive on landlines but am I reading this right?

over 10p a min for 0845 24/7 same price as 0870 calls?

Re: VM treat 0845 same as 0870
 

Actually 0870 numbers are now part of your inclusive calls.

However, there is Talk 08 £2 which gives you 250 minutes to call 0845 numbers or alternatively Talk Anywhere also includes 0845,0870,international numbers inlcuding international mobiles and UK mobiles.

There is also Talk 08 £5 offers inclusive calls to all 08 numbers including 0871 apparently.

But unfortunetly at this time Virgin Media's standard charge for 0845 numbers without any special discount or add ons is about 10p per minute.

Re: VM treat 0845 same as 0870
 

are you saying 0870 are inclusive but 0845 are not? if so thats a bizarre policy.

the pdf lists both as 10.22p a minute with a 11.24pp connection charge as well unless on the expensive unlimited call plan. (day time calls) although evening calls arent discounted when charged either. I do see 0870 as you say are inclusive if on a call plan.

whilst BT charge signficantly less for 0845.

so VM charge the same for 0870 and 0845 but actually end up overall charging more for 0845 due to it never been inclusive, I guess due to the huge number of companies using 0845 now VM never include due to call volumes.

Re: VM treat 0845 same as 0870
 

Outside the call plans the cost of an 0845 call is less than a penny more expensive than a standard call on VM now, and the connection charge is less. If you make a lot of calls to these numbers the Talk 08 £2 is certainly a good add-on to have.

Re: VM treat 0845 same as 0870
 

08 only covers 240 mins tho. and yes normal calls are a ripoff on VM also although evenings its double the price of local not 1p more.

Re: VM treat 0845 same as 0870
 

Only for Talk Off Peak customers. Anyone on Talk weekends is charged at 9.94ppm for normal calls, be it daytime or evening as per the April price list.

Re: VM treat 0845 same as 0870
 

Sky Talk does the same.

The thing is, the cost of using a landline is just so expensive nowadays. Same with public payphones, the cost has been increased so high that people are put off from using them.

The thing about 0870 numbers is that most businesses are now migrating to 0844 or 0871 numbers so they can still get revenue share.

This is happening to 0845 numbers since they stopped revenue share.

Re: VM treat 0845 same as 0870
 

I actually very rarely see 0870, 0871 and 0844 its just about always 0845. Even my local GP is 0845 and have joined in on the act.

Ofcom gave me a joke of a reply back claiming noone is advertising 0845 as local rate anymore, I am about to setup a script to grep for ads containing 0845 and "local rate" and will send them a list of a few hundred to wake them up.

This whole farce has got me considering cancelling the landline, I save some of the line rental (not all as bb will go up) and the cost of ringing 0845 on my mobile is only an extra 2p a min over VM.

I just checked sky talk and their 0870 is cheaper than 0845 but at least their 0845 is not far off been half the price of VM. A significant difference.

Its a farce across the board hence the complaint to ofcom, given 0870 is supposedbly national rate and 0845 local rate then 0845 should be in theory cheaper if anything, but suppliers are now charging based on demand and demand for 0845 is obviously higher.

To me local rate should mean any price should match what it costs to ring a local geographical number meaning if the supplier has those local numbers free (inclusive) then 0845 should be also.

Also 03xx numbers apparently have the same advantage of 08xx in that can be kept if they change regions but is a lot cheaper to use than 08xx. So its 03xx that are true local rate not 08xx. 0845 is the new 0870 without the bad stigma.

Re: VM treat 0845 same as 0870
 

Interesting quote from Wikipedia:

"0845 numbers replaced the previous range of 0345 numbers operated by BT and 0645 numbers provided by Cable and Wireless. The older 0345 and 0645 numbers were converted to 0845 numbers as part of the Big Number Change. Until 2004, 0845 numbers were charged at the same rate as a call within the caller's local call area, and were accordingly described as local rate numbers, or using the BT brand name "Lo-call". With few companies now charging domestic customers different rates for local and long-distance calls, 0845 numbers can no longer reliably be assumed to cost the same as a 'local' phone call and can in some cases cost more."

Re: VM treat 0845 same as 0870
 

I refuse to use such numbers. I've always found alternatives to 0845/0870 at :- http://www.saynoto0870.com/

Companies always have a landline alternative, just a matter of finding it. Often they also have a 0800 freephone number. No need to pay these companies for the privilege of listening to never ending Vivaldi, or pay VM for one of their poxy call plans.

Re: VM treat 0845 same as 0870
 

interesting timing.

http://media.ofcom.org.uk/2012/04/04...eo-no-condocNR

some good news at least with 0800 been free from mobiles, that gets rid of a BIG reason to have landlines.

Re: VM treat 0845 same as 0870
 

Same here:) I also refuse to use these numbers.

Re: VM treat 0845 same as 0870
 

I will be using that site from now on, just in the past I didnt feel the need to for 0845 as was much cheaper when I was on BT.

Re: VM treat 0845 same as 0870
 

in regards to saynoto0870 it seems VM are up to no good.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/...php?p=45867521

reports of people dialing alternative numbers and VM auto redirecting to 0845.

Re: VM treat 0845 same as 0870
 

That is an actual issue with Cable and Wireless Worldwide rather than Virgin Media, the same problem has been known to effect Sky Talk customers as well. Cable and Wireless are not entirely stupid when it comes taking money off people, the days of Bulldog broadband should be a reminder of that, when people paid in advance for a service which was never provisioned properly or at all. Although revenue sharing has ended on 0845 and 0870 numbers, phone companies are still able to gain a higher termination fee from them than normal geographic numbers or 03 numbers which is why Virgin Media still uses 0845 numbers for its own customer service lines. Everything Everywhere does the same with its numbers, 07973 for Orange and 084541 for T-Mobile. 3 used 0870 numbers and had to replace its 0870 numbers with 0843 to get revenue share. It is actually up to the phone companies who own such numbers to charge this, if you call a number that is non-geographic and use the geographical number instead, they have the right to charge you the non-geographic rate as the service you are calling has been advertised with that number and cost.