I've been having a think what can be done about automated systems such as alarms. This is what I came up with.

If operators charge the same for 0870 as for 01, the calls work as normal. If, however, they charge a premium, they have to play a pre-call announcement of the cost, which mustn't be charged for. The announcement should also apply to 084 numbers.

There would be a new prefix that suppresses call announcements, just as 141 stops caller ID. Providers must also provide a free service in which they will suppress all announcements if, and only if, the customer requests it, again just as there is for caller ID. If the customer has an alarm that starts to play up, they make a call to the phone provider and ask to have the announcement removed on that line. Most people won't need this, so hopefully the fact that the vast majority of consumers hear messages saying "you are being ripped off" whenever they call an NGM will be a big deterrent for companies trying to use those numbers.

David_H wrote on Dec 6^th, 2008 at 4:25pm:

In fact, this has already happened, in anticipation of a ban on revenue sharing on 0870. Many organisations have switched either to 0844 or 0871, both of which are more expensive in many cases.

What many of the contributors here would like to see is a ban on revenue sharing on any 08 numbers. All revenue sharing should be done via 09 premium rate numbers, as that's exactly what such services are, with the full regulation that's applied to premium rate numbers, including a ban on queueing. Companies might think twice about using 09 numbers, which are more recognisable to customers as rip-off numbers, which would give the company a bad image (in the way that 08 numbers do to people here and others in the know!)