With the launch of the long awaited 03 Geographic Number Range which was set to replace the widely debated 0870 range in some industries it’s going to interesting over the next few months / years to see what the uptake of this prefix will be.

With no revenue sharing on the range many telcos and re-sellers have had no incentive to promote the 03 range and so it’s currently unlikely that the range will become a wide spread landline range, unless telcos being charging companies 1p or 2p per minute to receive calls on this range it’s likely that for the time being the range will simply just be used for Government Offices and businesses who do not wish to generate revenue from their phone lines.

Many have opted for the 0844 and 0871 range in replacement to the soon to be out dated 0870 national rate phone numbers which is expected to take the majoirtiy of the market who currently use the 0870.

Anyone can get an 03 number however unless you’re allocated it by BT, Virgin Media or another network operator who installs the line on site the only way get one is to have it routed to your current 01 or 02 number which landline to landline routing can cost at least 1.2p per minute and so for the time being at least it’s likely to be a niche number range.

It seems certain that on or around November 1st 2008 we’ll see the end of the 0870 number for good. Why? Encase you were not aware a fierce debate over 0870 national rate numbers has been fueling over many years over whether they should be used by companies and organisations has been concluded.

On one side is the companies who but the argument forward that the revenue they receive from customers/suppliers etc calling their number is used to help off-set staff costs and continue the quality of service that the organastion provides and on the other is a certain percentage of the public whom claim companies are “ripping off” callers for no other reason then to make additional profit.

In my opinion it is a companies choice which 08xx number (0800, 0845, 0870, 0871) they choose for their business and so if a customer has such an objection to something as the telephone number then they’re would be dozens of other organisations to choose from or methods of getting in contact with the company e.g. requesting a call back, emailing them, sending in a letter, calling in on the weekend when calls are just 1.5p a mintue.

Some mistakenly class them as “premium rate numbers” which they are NOT, premium phone numbers start with 090 where as the 0870 is a National Rate Number.

However the decision has been long made that the 0870 is on it’s way out and that revenue sharing on this prefix will cease. In addition to this many companies who continue to use this prefix after this cut off date may be suprised to hear that THEY will soon to be charged to receive calls on their 0870 number! Something that I beleive a number of telcos are keeping rather quiete about as the reverse billing for calls to COMPANIES rather than charging callers will simply replace their revenue stream with a brand new one!

Have an 0870? and dont want to start PAYING for people to call you? Additional prefixes such as 0844, 0871, 0800 are unaffected by these changes and each have their own strengths and weaknesses, to find out which is best for you call: 0871 918 0604 today.

There’s one forum post going round the Internet claiming to be a Phonenumbers4u Reveiw and suggests that Phonenumbers4u “rips off” clients this is 100% false and if you read the forum closely you’ll see the post is from a former Phonenumbers4u client whom purchased a SMS Chat service advertised it on Face Book, MySpace etc with NO cost per text or NO alternative contact details and NO age disclaimer (all of which are essential and required by premium rate regulator PhonepayPlus) and then considered it “unfair” that shut down the service upon finding it marketed in this way.

This was done for a number of reasons (1) Users would not have been aware of the cost per text and may have considered it free and therefore become upset when being charged £1.50 per text (2) The premium rate service would likely attract an investigation from the regulator and due to it’s delebarate attempt to mislead the public attract a fine of £500 - £1000 and so in the interest of all the service was disabled.

Should any readers of this post require further client comments or reviews on Phonenumbers4u’s service and rates are invited to visit: www.Premium-Rate-Gurus.co.uk/phonenumbers4u-reviews

It’s been a low few months for Switch Call Ltd and it’s customers since the administration process that began on the 15th December 2007 down to a “share holders dispute”.

This issue which could not be resolved has no doubt damaged Switch’s reputation from which Phonenumbers4u’s hopes is on the mend since the announcement last week that the company has been bought out of administraion and that business is set to return to normal within a matter of months with an array of additional services including Broadband and VOIP.

From what we’ve heard the company attracted a great deal of interest and the bidding came to a head between former share holders and directors Ian Conway and Nick Kalbauch and the another party (who eventually won the bidding due to it’s almost limitlesss reserve of cash). Although Switch will no longer be owned by the founders of the company many of the familuar faces are reported to stay on as employees.

Creditors (customers) look set to lose around 30% of their revenue due to the management dispute although an exact figure or payment date has still not been set.

Looking to adopt numbers on the Elephant Talk Communications number range? Whether you are looking to adopt 09xx premium rate numbers such as those that bill users on a per minute or per call basis Phonenumbers4u may be able to supply you with the requested prefix on Elephant Talk Communications. To find out if we can provide you with the requested number range simply call us on: 0871 918 0604 to find out.