About 0844 824 3800 and 0844 858 4660
About our 0844 Local Rate Numbers:
Our Shared Access Number is: 0844 824 3800
Our Service Administration Access Number is: 0844 858 4660 (Note: May vary for some users)
We use 0844 telephone numbers to provide our service to users as cheaply and easily as possible. The 0844 prefix is a "Non-Geographic" telephone number, meaning that is is not allocated to any particular area of the country.
0844 telephone numbers are charged at 5p/min or less from BT landlines but mobile operators generally charge more to call any 08-- numbers. This is recognised as poor practice and call charges to 0844 numbers from mobiles are expected to fall closer to standard call charges in the future.
Many other voicemail and automated telephone service providers use 0870 or 0871 telephone numbers. The are "National Rate" non-geographic numbers and usually cost much more to call than an 0844 number. 0870 numbers are often perceived as expensive or premium rate by the public and have a similar stigma associated with them as 0871 numbers.
Changes to number regulations in 2009 to make 0870 numbers free or cheaper to call from certain landlines mean users of 0870 numbers are now charged to receive calls, rather than paid. Existing 0870 users will most likely want to move to the cheaper 0844 numbers to avoid all of the above issues.
Where providers use 0871 numbers, these are now classified and regulated as "Premium Rate" numbers and have specific requirements for the users to be registered as such and for the call charges to me made clear wherever the numbers are promoted or listed. These disadvantages and additional call costs are avoided completely by using our 0844 service.
Using an 0844 number provides a small (around 1.5p per minute) income from the call which covers our running costs and allows the free service to have no sign-up or subscription charges. This is how the service is funded and it is the lowest possible cost number for users in the UK to call that provides a (small) income to cover our running costs.
Even if you pay more to call our service from a mobile, we receive the same amount (the mobile operators keep the rest) so if in doubt, check the call charges and where possible, use a landline to make the call.