1850 telephone calls to cost no more than a local call from Sunday

Comreg’s overhaul of rates comes as survey shows 37% of consumers believe freecall 1800 numbers are charged

A dramatic overhaul of the telephone numbers commonly used by banks, charities and other organisations means that from Sunday they will not cost more than a local call.

Under the changes, which have been in pipeline for almost a year, the phone numbers will also have to be included as bundled minutes in consumers’ phone packages.

The so-called Non Geographic Numbers (NGN) numbers are those beginning with 1850, 1890, 0818, and 076 and many large and small organisations, Government departments and charities use them with the suggestion being they are entirely to the consumer’s benefit.

However, the cost of making calls from a mobile phone to some of these numbers can be as high as €0.35 a minute.

And, unlike landline numbers, which are routinely included in bundled “free” minutes offered by phone operators, calls to 1890, 1850 and 0818 numbers are excluded from such deals.

Under the new rules imposed by the communications watchdog ComReg, calls to all these numbers will cost no more than a call to a landline and they will be charged per minute, as opposed to a per second charge, and be included in bundled minutes price plan.

1800 numbers, meanwhile, will remain free to call.

The measures are intended to reduce “bill shock” and increase consumer understanding of charges for NGN calls.

Ahead of the changes coming into affect, ComReg has published research suggesting a widespread lack of understanding as to how such phone numbers have been operating .

Its research shows that 86 per cent of consumers are not able to estimate the cost of calling NGNs, while 61 per cent call them only reluctantly out of fear that their bills will climb significantly.

Despite 1800 NGNs being free to call, 37 per cent of consumers believed that the caller pays to call these numbers.

“The introduction of this new charging regime for calling these phone numbers is the first step towards creating a simpler NGN system that consumers can trust and have greater confidence in using,” the chairman of ComReg, Garrett Blaney said.