Deals such as this only serve to push up everyone elses bills.

"Make calls with up to £39 worth of Service Charges and push up to £36.50 of those charges on to the bills paid by the rest of the customer base through higher charges for other types of calls."

An important principle of Service Numbers, as they return to being used for chargeable services paid for as the call is being made, is that only the caller using the chargeable service should pay the Service Charge for that call.

Vodafone, as the second largest supplier of 0845 and 0870 numbers to businesses, seems keen to try to keep up the pretence that 084 and 087 numbers are cheap to call. Inclusive deals such as this go against the clarity that Ofcom is trying to achieve with Clear Call Rates for Everyone.