Quote:
Originally Posted by Stu
My Truphone UK number has run into blocking and unregistered surcharges by UK providers even though it is a genuine UK mobile number (Oftel approved -- not Jersey or IOM). Their termination rates match UK rates and they offer free forwarding to UK mobiles (at one time including IOM and Jersey numbers -- I am not current on this).
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Apologies to all if this post is a bit too much about only from the UK:
Until about a year ago, there were quite a few callthrough or forwarding operations inhabiting some UK mobile prefixes, one or two of which could even reach for example most European mobiles on weekdays, and all of which would reach India/Pakistan/Bangladesh and similar cost places.
This caused the main networks to regard all non main networks with some suspicion, and exclude many of them from inclusive minute packages, or even also just bar the calls. Truphone's switch to their own prefix may have suffered through happening at around the same time. In the slightly earlier case between Truphone and T-mobile, the latter alleged that as Truphone was not a GSM mobile network, its costs were supposedly less and it shouldn't be entitled to the higher termination fees; it was hearsay that one of their offers was well under a penny a minute.
Ofcom doesn't seem that inclined to mediate or arbitrate these issues. When people spoke to them about the 07744 prefixes that some main networks changed their minds on 2 or 3 times, most were told that what the networks included in bundles was their business, not a regulatory issue. I suppose they have a point, as contracts with across-network inclusive minutes was an invention of the networks themselves, and even now there are still plenty of cases of differential rates on prepaid. From the point of the main networks, one can see that they would be paying out to these small providers, but rarely getting reciprocal revenue from the majority of them.
The disparity continues on to the Isle of Man and Jersey numbers of the various roaming SIMs, which some of the main UK networks include (one added several 07x in March this year), while some exclude and charge even up to something ludicrous like 80 pence a minute
Back to worldwide interest: many cheap calls providers don't make any rate distinctions between any UK 07x numbers (x not 0). Others have a default higher rate for all otherwise undefined prefixes, which may include both IoM and Jersey, small UK operations, and slow reaction to new issues on the main networks. Oddly, Voicestick even publishes varying rates on the same network. But if numbers are unreachable, it may be due to them never being added to a dialplan, or being excluded as too expensive.