Calls to the above islands are normal prices on Telewest, and may be so on BT, and inclusive in many of Telewests call packages.

However beware Virgin and "3" mobile services class these calls as International, and so I believe do all mobile operators.

Perhaps these networks need to be informed that these islands are Crown Protected Islands, and are  fully represented by the UK Government in international affairs.

They send their serious criminals to mainland jails
Mainland police go to the island for many investigations into their crimes.
They have the same Customs and Excise Service as the mainland
Each island has a dialling code issued by Ofcom, starting 01, and is a part of the United Kingdom Telephone System, so how do we know if the number is going to be internationaly rated.

This is a con, if you ring one of these numbers and gets robbed by your mobile firm, then complain, and if all people complained they would have to do some thing.

In the meantime, if you have to ring these islands, to a regular relation etc. from a mobile ... get a free allocated 0845 or 0870 number and have it pointed to the 01 number of the person or firm you call on one of these islands.

This might save you money ... well there is a use for 0845 or 0870 numbers ....perhaps

But mobiles are a con. Anyone who is happy to pay over the odds for UK calls surely isn't going to mind paying international rate to phone the Channel Islands.

wrote on Aug 15^th, 2004 at 2:42pm:

But mobiles are a con. ...

Couldn't agree more with you! Text messages have recently gone up to 12p on some networks' PAYG tariffs. They pretend that they're trying to give us something by offering bundles! The fact is that having a bundle puts you in a corner whereby you need to use so many texts to cover the cost of the bundle else it's a waste of money, which is going into their pocket!

Also, let's not forget that an SMS is only a few hundred characters. Compare that with GPRS prices and you can see what a rip off it is! We're talking a few pence (if that) to send these messages in reality.

As for talk plans, most pay monthly (contract) tariffs charge you as much as PAYG when you go over your inclusive minutes. Charging less wouldn't encourage people to go onto higher tariffs, so that's why they do it. Also, contracts include a handset, so if you don't want a new phone every 12 months, then you're wasting money.

Add to that the fact we have four (2.5G) networks in this country! If we put our money into one network infrastructure we could increase the coverage no end, as well as reducing the number of base stations in built up areas.

I had trouble recently with this.

I visit a site that gives free ringtones and logos, but in order to prevent sending ringtones to wrong numbers, you have to type in a code given on the screen, from the mobile, and send it to 07624??????

This is an Isle of Man pager number.  On vodafone, this number is treated as inclusive texts, but on t-mobile this number is charged separately as 10p a text, and appeared on my phone bill as "international text"

Surely it might be a good idea to check carefully with each network operator, as to what they define as "UK calls/texts" and "international calls/texts"

Whilst we all agree that the Channel Islands are part of the UK, BT do not include them in any Together Option / package - they are always chargeable calls, even though they are 01 numbers.

This is hidden on the BT website

Sorry to be pedantic, but neither the Channel Islands nor the Isle of Man are part of the UK; nor are they in the EU. They are British Crown Dependencies: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Channel_Islands

But if they are going to be charged as international calls, they should have a separate international code so that people realise they will be paying more.

wrote on Aug 16^th, 2004 at 11:44am:

But if they are going to be charged as international calls, they should have a separate international code so that people realise they will be paying more.

I think that's the point everyone's trying to make. I would agree with that. I assumed that any 01/02 geographical number is the same as any other.

So who is the regulator for telecoms on these islands?