cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Charges for 056 numbers

rtboyce
Hooked
Posts: 6
Thanks: 5
Registered: ‎20-10-2017

Charges for 056 numbers

The web site doesn't say how much the company charges to call numbers beginning with 056, such as I have at home.

The sales staff eventually answered the phone, but didn't know the answer, and would only guess that it would be either free or charged at premium rates.

056 numbers are VoIP numbers, and accessible from ordinary phones. Some companies treat them as ordinary numbers (as they should), others do not and charge extra.

Can someone from the company please state unequivocally how much you charge to call these numbers with a SIM-only mobile plan?

14 REPLIES 14
OliGaffney
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 142
Fixes: 7
Registered: ‎27-09-2017

Re: Charges for 056 numbers

Hi @rtboyce! Thank you for getting in touch with us Smiley

 

I have just contacted the Operations Team for an official response on the charges for these numbers.

They have requested the full telephone number so they can check it for you.

 

Please send me a private message with the full telephone number so I can pass it on to them!

I will post their official response in here for other users and I will also request they make this information available to everyone.

 

Thank you!

-Oli

MisterW
Superuser
Superuser
Posts: 14,572
Thanks: 5,408
Fixes: 385
Registered: ‎30-07-2007

Re: Charges for 056 numbers

Not very good when the support staff don't know the answer....

If it helps , the EE price is 40p/Min for 056 numbers so I would guess the Plusnet cost is similar.

Superusers are not staff, but they do have a direct line of communication into the business in order to raise issues, concerns and feedback from the community.

rtboyce
Hooked
Posts: 6
Thanks: 5
Registered: ‎20-10-2017

Re: Charges for 056 numbers

40p/min is taking the [-Censored-]. They're pursing their lips, saying "Ooh, this new Internet-thingie, got to charge you an arm and a leg." Ofcom introduced these numbers in 2004, and there is no excuse for charging a special rate for them.

Alex
Community Veteran
Posts: 5,500
Thanks: 921
Fixes: 13
Registered: ‎05-04-2007

Re: Charges for 056 numbers

Thanks for info, and I thought it was just 090 (TV show) numbers and 070 (personal numbers), that ripped you off.

Well at least you know where they get their money from. Probably free to sign up, but will cost you a fortune to use it.

rtboyce
Hooked
Posts: 6
Thanks: 5
Registered: ‎20-10-2017

Re: Charges for 056 numbers

I've had my 056 number for many years. It's much cheaper to use for outgoing calls, even free when calling other 056 numbers from the same provider. I think BT treat them as ordinary numbers for many purposes.

 

The only reason we're still mostly using the old-style phone system in the home is to protect the old cash cow. You have to pay line rental to get broadband, even if you don't use the old corroding line to the exchange. That means I currently have an ordinary number too, and I feed it to the same handset. But I want to be rid of the old system.

 

Mobile is almost entirely Internet Protocol these days, so it's more natural to reach a VoIP landline than it is to reach a customer via the old system.

Alex
Community Veteran
Posts: 5,500
Thanks: 921
Fixes: 13
Registered: ‎05-04-2007

Re: Charges for 056 numbers

Yep I want to get rid of my landline, as I hardly use it and have cable broadband.

I only really use it to call my parents - and at the moment I have a family member ill, so I could be called at any time. Middle of the night possibly - and the hassle of getting people to remember another number. Getting rid of it now is not an option.

I suggested once to my dad about getting rid of the landline and he wasn't happy, he said get rid of Sky instead. Now I know he was right.

Landline > Sky for me.

 

ChrisAtBristol
Aspiring Pro
Posts: 152
Thanks: 45
Fixes: 4
Registered: ‎02-01-2017

Re: Charges for 056 numbers

I gave up my landline 4 years ago and only have VM cable and for those that require a landline number to contact me I use Sipgate UK.

You can select a local or almost any other national dialling code number you want (I have one Bristol 0117 and one Bath 01225 number) for free with no monthly cost and if you do need to make calls from the number these are charge the same as PAYG mobile phones where you top-up a tenner and your credit never expires and you pay for what you use.

Calls to these numbers are treated as standard landline calls so included in any call package you may have or the charge for the caller is whatever their calling charges are to any BT line or mobile.

Calling out from the numbers is 1.2p p.m. to landlines in the UK and most of Europe and just under 10p p.m. to UK mobiles.

The downside if you want to use the phone at home like a normal landline phone with a normal landline phone you have to ether buy a VoIP phone or an VoIP analogue adaptor connected to your broadband router else wise you use your computer like Skype or use an VoIP App on your smartphone.

 

 

rtboyce
Hooked
Posts: 6
Thanks: 5
Registered: ‎20-10-2017

Re: Charges for 056 numbers

Very interested to hear that Sipgate currently offer free geographic numbers. When I first started to use SIP-based VoIP many years ago I found Sipgate's service of poor quality and they also taught me to avoid companies that lock their phone adapters to their service, as often happens with mobile phones. I don't know if they currently do this.

I switched to Voipfone, and have had no cause to reconsider my choice because they've been excellent. However, they do charge 2 quid a month ex. VAT for a geographic number in addition to the free 056 number. As you point out, this does work around the abusive charging.

When Ofcom introduced 056 numbers for VoIP services in 2004, they should have taken steps then to control charges for calls to these numbers. We should not have to pretend that we're using old-style phones to avoid having our callers ripped off. This practice of hiding behind a geographic number flies in the face of Ofcom's attempt to assign our phones a distinguishing number prefix.

Does any mobile phone company give their customers an 01 number instead of an 07 number to stop callers being charged extra? I imagine that there'd be to much resistance from other companies, perhaps refusing to route calls.

If Ofcom wants to have different number ranges for different purposes, it needs to regulate against consequent abuses and workarounds. 13 years of abuse is a lot.

RobPN
Seasoned Hero
Posts: 5,103
Thanks: 2,668
Fixes: 13
Registered: ‎17-05-2013

Re: Charges for 056 numbers


@ChrisAtBristol wrote:

 

 

 

Calling out from the numbers is 1.2p p.m. to landlines in the UK and most of Europe and just under 10p p.m. to UK mobiles.

 

 

 


Expensive then!  I'm currently paying 0.3p - yes, about a third of a penny, to call UK mobiles via discountvoip (no setup fees or other hidden costs).  To call UK landlines using the same account costs 0.1p per minute.  Can be done via a VoIP app on a mobile phone via WiFi, dedicated VoIP equipment, or a software phone on a computer.

ChrisAtBristol
Aspiring Pro
Posts: 152
Thanks: 45
Fixes: 4
Registered: ‎02-01-2017

Re: Charges for 056 numbers

@RobPN

Hi Rob, Yes Sipgate is expensive and over the past 7 years I’ve used as much as £15 worth of calls Grinso not really looking to cut cost.

The point of the VoIP phone number is for calls into, and not so much out of with your own personal VoIP landline number for those few who still do not use mobile phones and anyone calling my Sipgate number have no idea that there even calling a VoIP phone, no access numbers, just a simple personal virtual STD number that works with both incoming and outgoing calls.

I think it’s the best way around the problem that the OP has and I’m not sure of his or her reservations about Sipgate analogue phone adaptors being locked to Sipgate and is something I’ve not come across but I bought a Cisco phone adaptor on Amazon for £28 unlocked but that said due to the popularity of these adaptors there more likely to be around the £40 mark today.

RobPN
Seasoned Hero
Posts: 5,103
Thanks: 2,668
Fixes: 13
Registered: ‎17-05-2013

Re: Charges for 056 numbers

@ChrisAtBristol

I appreciate what you're saying about Sipgate numbers for incoming calls (I've several Wink ), but combining a Sipgate number with a company such as DiscountVoip gives you the best of both worlds as DiscountVoip and most (all?) of its stablemates let you set any telephone number you can verify as your own (via a quick call-back and a 4-digit confirmation code) as CLI.

e.g. you make outgoing calls via DiscountVoip at cheap rates, but send the Sipgate number as CLI, so for all intents and purposes the person you are calling sees the Sipgate number and if necessary calls you back on that Sipgate line.

However, you do need equipment which can handle more than 1 VoIP 'line'.

rtboyce
Hooked
Posts: 6
Thanks: 5
Registered: ‎20-10-2017

Re: Charges for 056 numbers

Plusnet have now confirmed that they charge 40ppm for calling 056 numbers. I guess that rules out me moving to Plusnet mobile. That's the most that I'm aware that that any phone company charges, so I think this might be a good time for a formal complaint to Ofcom. One should not have to give these phone lines a geographic alias to avoid such gross overcharging.
Oldjim
Resting Legend
Posts: 38,460
Thanks: 787
Fixes: 63
Registered: ‎15-06-2007

Re: Charges for 056 numbers

are you sure as at a first glance it is cheaper than O2 which is 55p per minute for 05 numbers

https://www.o2.co.uk/help/account-and-billing/other-numbers-and-charges

 

 

rtboyce
Hooked
Posts: 6
Thanks: 5
Registered: ‎20-10-2017

Re: Charges for 056 numbers

55ppm!! At least they publish their extortionate charge on their site. Plusnet's seems to be hidden behind a sign saying "Beware of the Leopard".*

 

 

 

* Wth thanks to the late author Douglas Adams.