Phone Numbers 08 Numbers 0845 Phone Numbers

In times of sickness when you’re not feeling your absolute best, it seems more effort to go into work and less effort to see your doctor - but with many local surgeries enforcing premium rate numbers when calling up to arrange appointments, perhaps it’s a case of less effort to go into work and more effort to ring your GP.

Patients at Wokingham GP surgeries have no choice but to pay up to 35p per minute for calls made to their doctor, despite the recent legal regulations preventing surgeries from charging callers more than the normal local rate.  But for those held in a queue, patients could be paying several pounds, costing them both time and money.

Brookside Close Surgery patient Sunil Dharmabandhu has expressed his dismay for paying roughly 35p per minute for each call.  He said: “When you ring up you always go through to the information system and then you have to listen to that and the cost goes up.

“Then it gives various options and you press numbers and you have to wait for your turn because you are in a queue and all the time the clock is ticking.

“It’s not too bad for us because we can afford to pay but in this time of recession there are lots of other people who find it difficult have to pay these premium rates just to get an appointment”.

Whilst 0844 and 0845 codes are no currently banned under new Government legislation, patients are entitled to pay no more than the cost of a local geographical phone number.

Sometimes we think that advanced technological minds much prefer to sit and ponder the future of technology rather than actually fuel it. Some tech watchers are now saying that the end for phone numbers is nigh and it’s all thanks to the more convenient juggling of IP based telecoms and social networking.

With predictions declaring that the beloved phone number may have less than five years left in circulation before becoming obsolete, or facing severe decline, Nikhyl Singhal, co-founder and chief executive of voice-application startup SayNow, stated that people have lost the importance of the traditional phonecall, and kids are growing up without ever having to pick up a Yellow Pages.

He blames the wonder of social interaction over the internet, saying that the advantages of such methods far outweigh the traditional phone call, e.g. being able to send out group messages on Facebook.

VoIP services such as Skype are also adding to the vulnerability of the phone number, which offer cheaper calls than landlines.



 

 

 

 

 

 

We don’t believe in the demise of the phone number, as we think they will always be essential for businesses and a company's image, especially with regards to freephone numbers and other non-geographic numbers. However, whether this will soon be adopted by companies via VoIP rather than a traditional phone system is relatively unknown. (But there are lots of predictions).

Singhal says smartphones will be the essential communication device for contacting people however, but instead of punching numbers, users will be able to contact their friends through their social network accounts as accessed via their phones.

What do you think?

BT has this week cut the prices on its bundle telephony and broadband services after last year saw the UK telecoms regulator Ofcom removed monopoly restrictions. In competition with BSkyB, TalkTalk, Virgin Media and Carphone Warehouse, BT is basically offering UK calls for free.

The bundle comprises 20Mbps broadband and calls to UK landlines, 0870 phone numbers and 0845 numbers (at any time) for under a tenner a month. The price is the same as BT’s broadband only package, so calls are basically free. Not as cheap as Elite, but still pretty good!

From 18^th November 2009 the rate for 0845 number ranges will change. This is due to an increase in the BT interconnect price which is automatically passed on to all service providers.

If you have 0845 numbers, there are 3 options available: -

1 – Retain your current 0845 numbers. From November 18^th 2009 there will be a call delivery charge of up to 2 pence per minute applied to 0845 traffic.

2 – Replace your current 0845 numbers with an alternative number range, this can be either 0843, 0844, or 0800.

3 – Introduce new numbers (as per option 2) alongside your existing 0845 numbers which can be gradually phased out. The call delivery charge will still apply from all calls made to 0845 numbers from November 18^th 2009.

If you choose to introduce new numbers you must also think carefully about where your new alternative numbers need to be added and the 0845 numbers removed:

Directory Enquiries

Stationary – pens, paper, compliment slips, business cards, etc

Website/online material

Fleet of vehicles

Email signatures

Branded merchandise, branded clothing and signage

Advertising – posters/press/banners

Voice recordings

Leaflets/company brochures

Internal communications and key contact information for staff

Online/printed directories - (Yellow Pages/Applegate.co.uk/Yell.com etc)

vCards sent by email - (Outlook business cards)

If you use 0845 numbers so you can receive calls from overseas, you will typically need to continue with this number range as normal to ensure that customers outside of the United Kingdom can reach you.

A UK council is under fire from local residents for having a memorable 0845 phone number. Sefton council originally chose the number because it would be ‘easy to memorise’ and from a landline, calls are charged at a local rate.

Sefton Citizen’s Advice Bureau (CAB) however, say that as some people cannot afford a landline, they call from a mobile instead and are charged a lot more. The Sefton CAB are urging the council to change its number to a less expensive 0300 number.

A piece of advice – if you can’t afford a landline, do what we used to do in the olden days. Namely, find a pay phone.

People are once again kicking up a fuss over phone numbers. There’s now talk of banning the 0844 and 0845 numbers that apparently a fifth of 8000 GP Practices are using. And lest we forget, the 0845 NHS Direct number too!

Well, let’s take a look at 0844 and 0845 shall we? 0844 and 0845 numbers are not, contrary to popular belief, premium rate numbers. Let me repeat that – 0844 and 0845 numbers are not premium rate! It does not cost the national debt to ring them and I seriously doubt that people would actually appreciate a local number for NHS Direct.

With 0844 and 0845 numbers, GP Practices can gain Network Level Services. This means that call recording, call statistics, call reporting and call re-routing to contact centres are all features available to GPs because they have an 0844 or 0845 number. So imagine the line’s busy when you ring your doctor – we can divert you to a contact centre or to another GP Practice. Calls can be recorded for legal reasons and training purposes. Listen to me when I say, 0844 and 0845 numbers are not the enemy! Instead, they enable your GP to offer you a better service – and let’s face it, we’d only complain if they didn’t.

A Case Of Every Man For Himself

Dawn Barnett, of Lion Mews, Alnwick has hit out at her local council after having to ring a premium rate 0845 phone number to get through to someone in authority. She says that as the council works for the people, they shouldn’t be allowed to charge them premium rates for phone calls – and I wholeheartedly agree. When did the world change so much that everyone is out for a profit? No wonder Ms Barnett is outraged. Once upon a time councils were there to serve the people. Not rob them.