Digit soup

I've been in the UK for over a year, and still have not figured out the difference between the prefixes in numbers.

What's the difference between the numbers that start with:
- 0845
- 0870
- 0800 (easy one, I think)
- 0500
?

Thanks!

I don't think there's any difference. They're all freephone prefixes.

I may be wrong but I think 0845 are local rate no's and 0870 are national rate no.s the other two are freephone.

Dave

This is the link to the Office of Communications website.
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/static/numbering/main.htm

A brief rundown follows:

Geographic Numbers

Geographic Area Codes beginning 01 and 02


Corporate Numbering

numbers beginning 055


Personal Numbering, Radiopaging & Mobile Service numbers

Personal Numbering (070 numbers)
Radiopaging numbers (076 numbers)
Mobile numbers (077 to 079)


Special Services

0800 is free from landlines.
Freephone (0808 1X and 0808 2X ranges)
Local Rate (0845 XXX ranges)
National Rate (0870 XXX ranges)
Up to 5p - non internet (ranges 0844 2XX to 0844 9XX)
Up to 10p - non-internet (ranges 0871 2XX to 0871 9XX)
Internet for Schools (0820 XXX ranges)
Internet - FRIACO (Flat Rate Internet Access Call Origination) - 0808 99XX ranges
Internet - Free to caller (0808 90XX ranges)
Internet - incorporating un-metered access up to 5p (0844 04XX ranges)
Internet - metered access up to 5ppm (0844 09XX ranges)
Internet - incorporating un-metered access up to 10p (0871 04XX ranges)
Internet - metered access up to 10ppm (0871 09XX ranges)


Premium Rate Service numbers

'Content' Services (090X XXX ranges)
'Non-Content' Services (091X XXX ranges)

The present code groupings were introduced about 10 years ago in an attempt to clean up the mish-mash of numbering which had resulted from the numerous new services introduced since the 1980s. 

The 0800 code was used for the first directly-dialable toll-free numbers provided by BT, and 0500 was a later addition for toll-free numbers provided by the competing Mercury Communications.     

The local-rate numbers (originally 0345 and 0645) provide a kind of halfway-house service between regular toll calls and toll-free.  The caller pays the same rate as for a local call, while the party on the receiving end picks up the balance of the tab (remember that all local calls in the U.K. are timed and billed). 

As cellphones here have their own "area" codes, we also saw an explosion of codes allocated for mobile service, and as we also work on the caller-pays principle, it had gotten to the point where it could be very difficult to keep track of just how much a call was going to cost (e.g. at one time 0836 was a cellphone code, but there were other 083x numbers which were just normal area codes). 

When more special-rate, local-rate, premium-rate and a whole load of extra toll-free codes had been introduced as well, it became almost impossible to know whether a call was going to be free or very expensive without either checking a list or just recognizing the code. 

During 1994-95 the changes started to be made, with the following basic groups:

01, 02   Regular geographic area codes
03, 04   Reserved for future use
05         Corporate numbering services, some toll-free or reduced rate
06         Reserved for future use
07         Personal numbering, cellphones, pagers.
08         Toll-free, local rate, national rate, reduced rate etc. 
09         Premium rate numbers -- Anything which costs more than a regular toll call
00         International prefix

The new system is still far from ideal, but it has simplified the structure a little. 

To answer the specific four codes:
- 0845 is charged at the same rate as a local call
- 0870 is charged at normal national rate
- 0800 &  0500 are both toll-free to caller.

Note, however:

1.  That some calling plans now make no distinction between local and national rates.

2.  That calls to "toll-free" numbers are actually charged when calling from a cellphone under some plans.

Thanks All!