Choosing business phone numbers is important. You need to get it right to get over the right impression to your customers.

0800 numbers are universally recognised in the UK as being free for the caller. The cost of the call is borne by the receiver.

So why would a company use this type of number if it is costing them money? The biggest reasons are because more people contact them and so more sales occur.

The numbers have helped thousands of successful businesses and new start-ups to gain customer loyalty and confidence because the perception of their customers is that they are dealing with a professional and customer oriented company.

0800 numbers are non-geographic and so not associated with any particular location. This enables companies to target customers at a national level. Other non-geographical phone numbers are available but they aren’t all free to call.

Consistence of communication is a key to success for most businesses and 0800 numbers help with this because the numbers are easily transferable.

So what are the drawbacks? Well the calls aren’t free for people using mobiles. With the increase in mobile phone usage this affects a large proportion of people. Soon there will be more calls from mobiles than landlines and that presents a problem for the apparently free 0800 number. Calls from mobiles can cost the caller up to 20p per minute!

Shockingly, seven out of ten mobile customers using 0800 numbers from their mobile have no idea how much they are actually being charged for the calls. Millions of pounds of revenue are being made by telephone companies from this practice.   

Citizens Advice and other consumer organisations are campaigning for calls to 0800 numbers to be "no cost" from mobiles so that the pricing structure finally reverts back to how it was originally designed to be.

If you are going to buy in a phone number then you must make sure that the company providing it to you is trustworthy. Check prices thoroughly before you go ahead and make sure there are no hidden costs. Remember that if something looks too good to be true, it is.

Contact Solo Communications Information For Today and Tommorow.