0844 numbers - are they better than 0845 “Lo-call” numbers?

08 numbers are having a tough time of it at the moment. Mobile phone users are not their friends. No one likes to pay nearly 40p/min to call their doctor, for example.

Putting that aside, even landline callers are a bit unhappy; particularly with 0845 numbers. How much does it cost to call one these numbers? The answer: it depends. It depends on who provides the landline you call from.

We hear that there are some providers that include it in their packaged minutes, and yet we also hear that other providers, like Virgin Media, are charging nearly 10p/min to call an 0845 number. That’s virtually a premium rate call.

So, when someone comes to us and wants a number for their business, they’re often attracted to the free forwarding to landlines that comes with using an 0845 or 0844 number. But with this negativity surrounding 0845 numbers, we’re seeing that 0844 numbers are rising in popularity.

Why? They’re 5p/min to call from a UK landline. That’s not dependent on your provider. That’s how much it is to call from a UK landline, at any time. How easy is that to communicate to your customers?

You can also benefit from free forwarding to UK landlines, so this can help new businesses that need to be more cost conscious.

Unfortunately, this still doesn’t really help mobile callers, really you need to be looking at using Local Numbers or 03 Numbers for them, but at least you can make it a little easier on your landline callers.