On Thu, Jun 21, 2012 at 02:16:44PM +0100, Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 13:21:50 on Thu, 21 Jun
2012, Mizter T remarked:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/-7872099.html
That articles a bit at the "bleeding heart" end of the spectrum. No-one
forced those households to eschew a landline for a mobile whose costs
were well known.

Quite.

It's full of lies from the companies they talk to though.

Churchill said "The 0800 numbers are used for new customers looking to
take up our insurance cover and 0845 for existing customers seeking
changes to policies or making claims. We cap the 0845 numbers to local
rate so existing customers can take time to discuss their policy with
our experts without worrying about premium rate phone calls."

But if they only care about people worrying about premium rate phone
calls, they could use an 0800 number, or an 03whatever number, or a
geographic number. On most tariffs these days there's little difference
between calling a local number and any other geographic number, and 0845
is sometimes more expensive than both.

HSBC said "Our use of differing prefix telephone numbers enables us to
ensure we offer an effective, flexible and resilient service for the
tens of millions of customer calls we receive each month."

The prefix has nothing to do with it. Offering different *numbers* for
different purposes might make sense, but different prefices are *only*
useful for doing different billing and charging.

Scottish Power said "The main reason we use non geographic numbers is
because we operate across multiple locations and call centres in the UK.
Non geographic telephone numbers allow us to direct customer calls
quickly and efficiently to any call centre agent at any location"

Any number can be directed to any place these days. I know people who
have 020 numbers that ring phones in Cornwall, but which get forwarded
to all kinds of different places in Cornwall (home, office, mobile,
whatever) depending on how the PBX is set up. If an individual can do
that, so can Scottish Power, and so can anyone provided a phone service
to any business.

--
David Cantrell | Cake Smuggler Extraordinaire

" In My Egotistical Opinion, most people's ... programs should be
indented six feet downward and covered with dirt. "
--Blair P. Houghton