I'll start off with some basic background information: 

1 Taylor Close
Kenilworth
Warwickshire
CV8 2LW

Website: www.anxietyalliance.org.uk

The website says that the helpline, 0845 296 7877, is open 10am-10pm everyday. And it says that "Calls charged at Local Rate"... 

I wonder if the reason for the number change is because the helpline is operated from elsewhere. Could it be operated by volunteers that work from home? If so, perhaps it (the 0845 number) points directly to the home number(s) of the volunteer(s) who is manning the line at the time. 

yes the anxiety alliance helpline is offering the telephone service from volunteers homes I believe, not sure how to access the landline numbers hidden behind the current 0845 number they now are offerring, if anyone can explain where the email adrress is I could try emailing to see what happens.....I,ve asked one of the volunteers if they know the landline number for the helpline, told by this particular volunteer they don,t.....any further help would be appreciated, thankyou.

dandy wrote on Aug 1^st, 2010 at 9:16pm:

May I ask where you are ringing it from? What provider and what tariff? 

looks like with the fact that volunteers operate from their home and the 0845 number diverts to the volunteer when it is rung that this is going to be a difficult one to crack..I got a reply to the email I sent, merely stating the helpline couldn,t afford the continuing use of the landline number ( though no explanation what costs were associated with this ) and that moving to an 0845 number was " inevitable ", she said the woman who replied to me. Think I,ll reply asking why the landline number is unafordable..think she,ll tell me why ? I,m not clear as to when an 0845 number diverts calls is it still operating from a hidden landline number ? Anyone know ?

dandy wrote on Aug 9^th, 2010 at 4:37pm:

I can only speculate, but I think that the old 01926 number was often diverted to volunteers' own 01/02 landline numbers, and thus this would have been likely to incur costs on a per minute basis.

The 0845 number will probably be set to point (put calls through to) different landline numbers at different times.


If you are with BT or TalkTalk, then the cost of a 0845 call will cost you no more than a geographic call (to a 01/02 number).

dandy wrote on Aug 9^th, 2010 at 6:14pm:

In essence, yes, although a more in depth explanation may be useful:

Strictly speaking, the 0845 number doesn't divert calls anywhere because the word "divert" implies that calls are sent elsewhere from their normal destination. With respect to the 0845 number, a call is routed to a destination number, or to phrase it differently, the 0845 points to a 01/02 number.

The user of the 0845 number receives a subsidy which (in general) covers the cost of routing the call to the destination 01/02 number. The user of the 0845 number will not 'see' the subsidy, other than it won't have to pay for calls put through to the chosen 01/02 destination number(s). This happens behind the scenes, as it were, between the caller's telephone company and the receiver's telephone company (which operates the 0845 number).

dandy wrote on Aug 9^th, 2010 at 10:51pm:

Companies often cite that they need a 0845 number because it allows them more flexibility to route calls. For example, routing calls to another office may form part of a disaster recovery plan or in the event of a fire evacuation.

In 2007, largely as a result of this campaign, 03 numbers were introduced. These provide exactly the same technical/operational benefits as 0845 (and 0844 etc) numbers, but without passing back some of the service costs onto callers.

Prior to this time, having such routing facilities on a non-geographic number meant taking a subsidy from callers. This covered the cost of the 0845 number delivering calls to the destination 01/02 number(s).

So organisations were quick to say that they needed these facilities, but they didn't have to pay for them. Like Anxiety Alliance does, they trumpetted calls as being charged at "local rate" so as to paint the picture of costing no more than a normal "local" call.