Today in the news there was a item about a large numbers of GP's who have switched to a 084x number for their surgery. The main reason for them doing this was to offer a "enhanced" service to their callers via use of IVR and call queues. Traditionally GP's would have just a single landline into the surgery which would result in a daily "redial battle" for patients seeking an appointment. However a controversy has arisen over the charges to call 084x numbers especially for low income groups who may not have a landline and rely on a pre-pay mobile. The UK government is now consulting on how to sort this out.
It made me smile that one of the reasons why 084x numbers are used is to help pay for the call handling system. Especially when the hosted VoIP service I run offers all the functionality they need for a small fixed monthly fee on a 01/02/03 number.
