Unicom say their 0800 and 0808, 0845, and 0870 products provide significantly better subscription and call deals than those provided by BT.
The new services mean a £120 a year rental saving on all 08-prefix numbers, plus a 40% saving on the cost of paying for Freephone calls (0800 and 0808), a saving of 3.48 pence per minute saving on Local Rate calls (0845) - and a doubling of earnings to be made on National Rate calls (0870).
In planning the new products, Unicom discovered that many of its customers did not know the difference between the various 08-prefix phone services, so have introduced a firm directive that customer service staff spell out the differences to subscribers.
"0800 and 0808 numbers are free phone numbers. There is no charge for calling those numbers because the business that you are ringing pays for the call," said Chris Earle, Unicom's Operations Director.
"0845 numbers are Local Call Rate numbers. That means the customer dialling the number is charged at the Local Call Rate - regardless of locations - some providers, including BT, also charge the business for receiving the call.
"0870 numbers are National Call Rate. The caller pays the National Call Rate, but the business that has the number is actually paid by the telecoms provider for each call received."
Unicom's NTS service undercuts BT prices. Unicom 0800 and 0808 Freephone numbers have no monthly rental charge (BT charges £10), call cost per minute is 3.00p (BT charges 4.98 pence per minute) and have a minimum call charge of 1.00p (BT charges 1.7p). This saves Unicom NTS subscribing businesses £120 rental charges, plus 40% on all calls.
Unicom 0845 numbers have no monthly rental charge (BT charges £10), there is no call cost to the business (BT charges 3.48 pence per minute) and there is no minimum call charge (BT charges 1.2 pence). This saves Unicom NTS subscribing businesses £120 rental charges, plus 3.48 pence per minute on all calls.
Unicom 0870 numbers have no monthly rental charge (BT charges £10), peak earnings per minute are 3.00p (BT pays 1.50 pence per minute) and off-peak earnings are 0.50 pence per minute (BT pays 0.25 pence per minute). This saves Unicom NTS subscribing businesses £120 rental charges, and means double the earnings from all calls received.