It's been in the pipeline for what seems like years, but 03 numbers have finally launched. "So what?" I can already hear you say.

It might not seem that important, but 0844/0845 "local rate", 0870 "national rate" and more expensive 0871 numbers have been getting my goat for some time now. You've all seen them, practically all big companies use them. So why are they so bad? Because 0845/0870 numbers haven't been "local rate" or "national rate" for years now.

Just another consumer rip-off

Officially charges for 0845 and 0870 numbers are pegged to BT's standard rate, but BT's "standard" tariff was abolished in 2004. Since then, the de facto standard BT rate for local/national calls was 6p for up to an hour in the evenings and at weekends and 3p/min during weekdays. 0870 numbers on the other hand, which companies have continued to misleadingly advertise as "national rate", cost 6p/min during the day including at weekends, 1.5p/min in the evenings). Compare this with an 01/02 number which you can call for 3p/call (any length) at any time of day using services like 1899.

Follow up:

It gets worse though, because mobile networks (with the exception of O2) have never allowed you to make calls to 084x or 087x numbers from your bundled minutes. Recently even O2 have joined in as mobile operators have hoiked up the charges for calling these numbers to extortionate levels.

• O2 20p/minute
• Orange 25p/min
• Vodafone 30p/min or 10p/min depending on time of day
• T-Mobile just say anything "up to £2.50 a minute" for all 087x numbers

The worst of it is that when your bank or utility company makes you call an 08 number to speak to someone (even in your home town!) you are actually paying the the company supplying your service (as well as your phone company) for every minute you're on the phone because these numbers are "revenue sharing" meaning the phone company shares the profits with the company you're calling.

As a result of all this, I (and many others) really don't like calling them to the point where I'm put off contacting companies using these numbers unless I can find an alternative freephone or 01/02 (geographic) number to use. It's not right that these companies can continue to profit from you when you're already paying for the service they provide and are usually only calling to let them know they've screwed something up!

So what's all this 03 nonsense about?

03 numbers are to replace these "national" and "local" rate numbers and will actually cost the same as a call to a local or national (ie 01/02) number. This is because Ofcom are forcing phone companies (land-line and mobile) to charge the same rate for these calls and to allow calls to 03 numbers to be deducted from bundled pre-paid minutes at the same rate.

The number ranges allocated are as follows:

• 0300 and 0303 - registered charities and government bodies
• 034 and 037 - reserved for companies migrating from equivalent 084 and 087 numbers
• 033 - available for general use by businesses

As of January 2008, revenue-sharing on 0870 numbers will be ended and they will cost the same as 01/02/03 numbers as was always intended. Of course companies may fight this, by moving to more expensive 0871 numbers (which cost up to 10p/min), but 0871 numbers are now going to be regulated as premium rate numbers, as they always should have been.

Basically this is very good news if companies start using them. Charities like the RSPCA are already using an 0300 number (well done guys). Now it's up to consumers to start pressuring companies using 0870 numbers to switch. I would urge everyone to mention this each time they have to call one of those god-forsaken 084/087 numbers to speak to a company, especially if you're already paying for their services directly.