1 July 2015 is rapidly approaching. Many business telecoms providers have declared their Service Charges. Retail telecoms providers have yet to declare their Access Charges (there's a separate thread for that).

A number of myths are beginning to start up, mostly based on misunderstandings and misreadings of Ofcom's extensive documentation.

Feel free to add to this list if you discover others...

Several NGN supplier websites and various blogs have mentioned that the new call charging system for 084, 087 and 09 numbers requires an announcement of the Service Charge at the start of the call.
 
There is no such requirement. I am guessing this misunderstanding is simply a misinterpretation of the words "declare the service charge" in Ofcom's "final statement" on implementing the unbundled tariff.

Even after declaring that calls to their 0845 number (or in some cases 0843 or 0844 number) incur a Service Charge, there are many sites that still claim that the call is "local rate".

There hasn't been a distinct "local rate" charge since 2004. From 1 July 2015, calls to 084 and 087 numbers will have a declared Access Charge and a declared Service Charge.

From 1 July 2015, all service providers using 084, 087 and 09 numbers must declare their Service Charge wherever their number is shown. This applies to advertising, websites, brochures, press releases, etc. There are no exceptions.

From the same date, all retail landline and mobile providers must charge calls to these numbers using the Access Charge plus Service Charge system.

Telecoms suppliers who provide landlines and mobiles to business users do NOT have to charge calls to 084, 087 and 09 numbers using the "unbundled tariff" system.

At least one telecoms supplier is telling their business customers that if they only supply to other businesses that there is no requirement for them to declare the Service Charge. This is not true. All users of 084, 087 and 09 numbers must declare the Service Charge for their numbers.

Dave wrote on Apr 23^rd, 2015 at 8:39pm:

Good question. There seems no sensible reason for having a zero Service Charge. Maybe one of the small number of providers that have these would care to explain their reasoning?

Various providers are saying these numbers are "typically used for banks, utility companies, customer helplines, government departments", but in reality this is no longer the case.

Various changes in regulation and guidance over the last 18 months or so means that those services mainly use 03 numbers these days. A small number may use 01, 02 or 080 numbers.

Suppliers of non-geographic numbers are now communicating the respective Service Charges that their customers, the users of these numbers, will have to display on their websites and everywhere else that their numbers are advertised.

The Service Charge rates must be stated including VAT. Unfortunately, several of the suppliers of these numbers are communicating the ex-VAT rates leading to a number of websites declaring that their Service Charge will be, e.g., 5.8p per minute.

• What is a 'service number' ?
  Domestic, non-domestic, a doctor, HMRC, the Jobcentre, a bank, Ofcom ??
• Why is the 'access charge' priced per minute? If I pay my phone company to access a service, I dont expect to pay to my phone company again for 'access', for every minute I use the 'service'.
  eg if its £5 to the film makers and £5 to access the cinema (of my £10 cinema film ticket) to cover cinema wages and running costs, I dont expect to pay more to the cinema if my film is 110 minutes long vs a 90 minute length?