How do 1890/1850 save you money?

decbuck

Hi,

Does anyone else have my thoughts on these numbers. I mean should comreg be able to answer my concerns.

Most people nowadays have a bundle on their house phone, or minutes on their mobile.

These bundles and minutes include calls to any landline in ireland, but not 1890/1850 numbers.

So you are charged extra for these. 20cent for 1850 roughly and then per minute for 1890.

Does this not seem rediculous to anyone else? I mean effectivley for most people, it is cheaper to dial the 01-xxxxxx version of the "callsave" 1850 number, as it will be taken from their minutes, or included in their bundle.

Any thoughts?

decbuck

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Foxwood

decbuck wrote:

Hi,

Does anyone else have my thoughts on these numbers. I mean should comreg be able to answer my concerns.

Most people nowadays have a bundle on their house phone, or minutes on their mobile.

These bundles and minutes include calls to any landline in ireland, but not 1890/1850 numbers.

So you are charged extra for these. 20cent for 1850 roughly and then per minute for 1890.

Does this not seem rediculous to anyone else? I mean effectivley for most people, it is cheaper to dial the 01-xxxxxx version of the "callsave" 1850 number, as it will be taken from their minutes, or included in their bundle.

Any thoughts?

"Most people" don't have bundles on their house phones. If it's cheaper for you to call the 01 version of the number, then go ahead. Not all services offer an 01 version of their number, because a small percentage of the call charge goes to them.

misterq

That is not correct Foxwood. You are thinking of 0818 numbers where the caller is charged national rate and the company gets a cut, for example everyone's favourite company, Ticketmaster.

1890/1850 numbers are designed to be cheaper for callers.
If you happen to have a calling plan that just so happens to not include calls to the above number types then your options are to like it or lump it.

Maybe some phone companies include them. I know they are included in my Blueface VOIP service.

bowsie casey

I know TalkTalk charges for the 1890/1850 calls. As I have a bundle, I always look to see if a company has a 01 number and use that, as it is free to me.

The 1850/1890 numbers were introduced to save people money before the advent of the bundles. In general they are a good thing (at least for those of us outside the Pale), but I agree that it defeats the purpose for people on bundles.

I have found that most companies will list a 1890/1850 number and a standard line number, which allows everyone make cheap calls, no matter what type of package they have.

Our man in Havana

But some companies go to great lengths to hide the real number.

gerrowadat

This would be either because they're using a premium-rate number, in which case both they and the premium-rate number provider are lsong money by someone using the DDI, or they want to mask their DDI range (i.e. it's a common tactic if you're not getting satifaction from 01-XXX1000, that people start ringing 1001, 1002, 1003, etc., until they get someone who's naive or bored enough to help them out.

Also, for a lot of services the direct dial number is in a range that might be shared by premium rate numbers, which points back to the first problem.

Also, DDI ranges are tied to provider, so the person who's got an 1890 number who also gives out the direct dial can't switch providers. You cannot imagine the hassle of changing DDI range when a bunch of people know it :-)

Random

Bond-007 wrote:

But some companies go to great lengths to hide the real number.

Just ring them up and ask them how to contact them from abroad.