subject: 0845 Numbers Mean Business [print this page] Whenever you phone a bank, a government agency such as NHS Direct, or a large company, the chances are that you will be dialling a 0845 number. This is a non-geographical telephone number that remains the same from wherever the caller dials from. Without the need of an area code, 0845 numbers remain the same throughout the UK and will always be charged at the local rate.
There has been some confusion about the costs of calling non-geographic telephone numbers. Premium rate numbers, those used for technical assistance and chat lines for example, can charge up to 1.50 per minute and have made consumers suspicious of non-landline numbers. However, 0845 numbers are not premium rate numbers and costs vary between 3.36p per minute peak, and 0.85p per minute off peak & weekends according to BT.
For large organisations, such as government agencies, using 0845 numbers make sound sense and makes life easier for the consumer. Only one number needs to be advertised nationally so is easily remembered and with all calls being diverted to wherever the phone needs to be answered, the consumer does not have to search for numbers or pay the cost of a long distance call.
Using 0845 numbers allow a large business to divert the calls at busy times to enable them to be answered more quickly. Some companies use Indian call centres to cope with out of hours periods. Diverting the call does not cost the consumer anything extra and although some people may complain about this, it does ensure that large companies can provide a 24-hour service.
0845 numbers can be diverted to any amount of phone lines and special phones do not have to be installed to allow the service. The Samaritans, for example, use a non-geographical phone number, which allows their many counsellors to take calls from their own homes.
by: Sachin Kumar Airan
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