How to avoid paying for calls to Freephone numbers from your mobile
Mobile phones are now more popular than ever – but are you getting ripped off?
A recent survey by Express.co.uk found that “51 per cent use their landline rarely or never”
But despite the increased use of mobiles, many people do not realise the hidden costs in calling ‘free phone’ numbers like 0800, 0808 or 0500.
Here is the typical cost of calling a free phone number from a mobile in the UK.
| EE | GiffGaff | O2 | Orange | T-Mobile | Three | Vodafone | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Contract | 20ppm | – | 20.4ppm | 20ppm | 20.4ppm | Free | 20.4ppm |
| PAYG | Free | Up to 20ppm | 7ppm | 20ppm | Up to 15.3ppm | 14ppm |
There are several different ways that you can avoid paying for calls to Freephone numbers:
0800 Wizard App / 0800 Buster App
Both of these number routing apps are available on iPhone, Blackberry and Android.
The apps work by essentially re-routing any calls to a 0800 number via a standard 01 / 02 geographic landline. This means that the call you make from your mobile is actually to a 01 / 02 phone number and then this call is routed from the geographic number to the 0800 number (which is free).
The benefit of this is that normally calls to 01 / 02 numbers are included within any free minutes you get on your phone so the calls are often free. If you don’t have any free / inclusive minutes then calls will be significantly cheaper than calls to a 0800 number. The apps work really well for both contract and pay-as-you-go (PAYG) customers.
Alternative Number Service
Most people don’t realise that almost all non-geographic phone numbers (0800, 0845, 0870 etc) all have equivalent 01 / 02 numbers that calls get re-routed through to.
There are a number of services like SayNoTo0870 and SmartCaller which provide the alternative 01/02/03 phone number for most premium rate numbers.
You can use the websites like a phone directory to search for an individual company name or enter a phone number that you want to call. The advantage of using these alternative number servies is that as well as providing cheaper calls for Freephone numbers, they also have a database of business rate numbers (0844, 0845, 0870 etc) along with the geographic versions of the numbers whereas the apps only deal with Freephone numbers.
By using either of these free services you should never have to pay a premium for calling those “Freephone” numbers.
