O3 numbers have increasingly grown in popularity and are now a firm favourite for businesses of all sizes, especially those who want to create a national presence. Much like other geographic numbers such as 0800 or indeed 0808, 03 contact numbers are a caller-friendly option in terms of their attractive affordability factor.
What’s more, with a wide variety of 03 prefix variants available including 0330, 0333, 0345, 0370 and 0300, there are plenty for businesses to choose from. Such choice makes them an ideal addition to many different brands. In addition, should you run a charity or be from the Government sector it is worth noting that 0300s are dedicated exclusively to you. In fact these can only be allocated to those registered as such within those specific sectors.
It’s true that the 0333 range can often be free to call, as can the other prefixes in the range. Let’s have a look at exactly why that is…
Is Calling an 03 from a Mobile Phone Free of Charge?
Thankfully all 03s are nowadays included in the majority of free mobile minute bundles, however in some instances they are not. In such cases their price is influenced by the individual mobile provider a caller dials from. Although typically no more than a local rate call the ppm price depends on the specific mobile network as to how much the pence per minute rate will be.
So let’s take the example of the Lycamobile rate to call 0333s for instance…
The charge for callers to use 0333 numbers from Lycamobile is 12p per minute outside of discount packages and inclusive minutes bundles. Obviously users can however buy one of the prepaid mobile packages that Lycamobile routinely offer. Such packages would mean customers could then access 0333 numbers free of charge as part of their inclusive mobile minutes.
03 phone numbers are known as UK geographical wide numbers (regularly described as geo numbers) and are used in the same way as a normal landline number (01 or 02) would operate. So, they are included in discount packages and inclusive minutes the same way as a landline would be. These national numbers are regularly used by big businesses and government organizations as a non-specific geographical number. It’s a really easy way to ensure companies are not tied to a specific location within the UK. Similarly smaller concerns often opt for them as they create a larger presence for their brand in an instant.
0345 Call Charges – How much are 0345 numbers from a mobile?
According to information on the Lycamobile website there are varying rates for different phone number prefixes. Listed below are the call charges those who use the Lycamobile network can expect to incur. It is important to note that these rates may be liable to change, but were believed to be correct at the time of their publication.
Number range | Cost /min | Service fee |
01 | £0.12 | Free |
02 | £0.12 | Free |
0300 | £0.12 | Free |
0330 | £0.12 | Free |
0333 | £0.12 | Free |
0345 | £0.12 | Free |
0370 | £0.12 | Free |
0843 | £0.23 | May vary |
0844 | £0.23 | May vary |
0845 | £0.23 | May vary |
0870 | £0.23 | May vary |
0871 | £0.23 | May vary |
0872 | £0.23 | May vary |
09 | £0.23 | May vary |
118 | £0.23 | May vary |
0800 | Free | Free |
0808 | Free | Free |
116 | Free | Free |
Lycamobile members | Free | Free |
Other UK networks | £0.19 | N/A |
SMS to Lycamobile members | Free | N/A |
SMS to other networks | £0.19 | N/A |
Data | 12p/MB | N/A |
No more than a local rate call…
So, if not included in free mobile bundles rates do tend to vary from mobile network to network. Take TalkTalk for example who regularly offer packages which include a free 60 minutes on all 01, 02 and 03 telephone numbers. Having said that it is worth noting that in general 03 numbers tend to cost no more than a local rate call from mobiles and landlines (Local rate is generally charged up to 16 pence per minute). In fact this this applies when dialling from any sort of line, whether that is a mobile, BT, payphone or fixed line.
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