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Calling 08xx numbers from overseas

Non-Geographic phone numbers and international calls

Many cheap and free audio conference call providers use access numbers beginning with 08xx. The most common are 0871, 0870, 0844 and 0845 numbers. These number ranges are known as non-geographic or 'NGN' numbers.

Whilst these are accessible from most land-line and mobile networks in the UK there is no guarantee that you will be able to connect to them from overseas. I explain why in the next section.

NGNs and telecoms interconnect agreements

International telephone carrier companies such as BT in the UK, Telefónica in Spain, and Deutsche Telekom in Germany sign up to agreements as to what type of traffic they will pass between them. These are complex commercial and technical contracts called telecoms interconnect agreements.

All telecoms interconnect agreements cover interconnection between 'normal' geographical numbers in the respective countries. For instance, you will definitely be able to call, say, a London number beginning with 0208 from any country in the word. It would be madness for calls to London not to be supported.

In practice calls to all numbers beginning with 01 and 02 are supported as these cover (almost) all the standard phone numbers in the UK.

However, calls to 08xx numbers are often NOT included in the agreements. Even when they are, the prices charged to connect are often extortionate.

In Summary: There is no guarantee you'll be able to connect to an 0871, 0870, 0844 or 0845 number from abroad and even if you can, you are likely to be charged an arm and a leg!

The overseas NGN connection rip-off

One of the reasons why overseas telephone operators do not like to connect to NGNs is the revenue sharing model upon which they are based.

You see, when you call an NGN your telephone company charges you and then passes on a percentage of what they make on the call to the owner (or renter) of the NGN in commission.

The amount of commission varies considerably by number range from a few pence a minute on the 0871 numbers down to a few fractions of a penny (or even nothing at all) on the 0845 numbers.

This mechanism works well within the UK since all the UK operators work within UK law and are able to pass commission payments around easily and cheaply.

The sums involved are often very small and hence it would be difficult to do this economically when you have overseas transactions or currency exchange risks in the loop.

It is because of the cost and complexity of dealing with NGNs that many overseas telecoms operators simply decide not to bother providing connections to UK NGNs. Those that do often charge very high rates for the calls to cover the extra costs and risks involved.

In Summary: Overseas operators often charge rip-off rates to connect to NGNs in the UK or simply don't connect at all.

What are the implications for your audio conference?

Put simply, if you are using an audio conference provider which requires overseas participants to call a non-geographic number in the UK, i.e. 0871, 0870, 0844 or 0845 there is no guarantee that the connection will work and no way of telling how much it will cost without first checking with the telephone company in the country you are calling from.

Please note, it makes no difference which conference call provider you use. If they issue you with an 08xx access number, you will run into the issues above.

Our OzoneLITE service uses 0845 numbers which are the cheapest way of providing access to a conference call from within the UK but it is also the reason why we don't recommend OzoneLITE for overseas access.

If you need reliable overseas access then you must use a service similar to our OzoneENTERPRISE offering which provides local and freephone access to overseas participants via our global virtual private network (VPN). A VPN can be thought of as a private telephone network for the use of our customers only.

In Summary: Relying on NGN based audio conferencing is risky and potentially very expensive where overseas callers are involved.

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