Question: when is a freephone number not a freephone number?
Answer: when you call it from your mobile phone

Most people are aware that calling an 0800 or 0808 freephone number from their mobile phone is not a free call. In fact it can cost up to 40p per minute. Ofcom have now issued proposals that freephone numbers should be free of charge from mobile phones.

They are also looking to simplify how non-geographic numbers (0844/0845) and premium rate numbers are charged due to confusion and uncertainty about how much it costs to make a phone call to them from a mobile.

The price structure of these calls would change so that the phone company's charge and the charge made by the business would be presented separately, enabling customers to compare the different rates charged by phone companies and even shame some of them into reductions. Similar rules would apply to 118 services.

Transparent pricing of these calls should improve competition between operators and bring down the call costs.

When we analyze business mobile packages we often see these type of calls bumping up bills considerably. These "out of bundle" calls can be a real problem but there are now business tariffs which offer some inclusivity.

For instance Vodafone offer an "Extra" on their business essentials tariff which allows 0800, 0870 and 0845 numbers to be decremented from your inclusive bundle of minutes. This can represent a real saving for businesses who call these numbers regularly.

Any business looking to reduce its mobile call spend can submit their bills to us for analysis. This service is free of charge and gives you the opportunity to see where savings could be made.