118 services

[Simster]

They're all the same really aren't they? All fairly expensive for a fairly basic service.

Edit: And of course, it doesn't seem to matter what company, the adverts are invariably SHITE.

What was wrong with good old 192?

 

[Skint Gull]

I'm tempted to set one up myself to be honest. All you need to do is sit on Yell.com with a phone by your ear and it's an easy £30 per hour.

Rip Off Central!

 

[Brovion]

...
What was wrong with good old 192?

Competition dear boy, competition. Everything works better when market forces are allowed to operate freely. The best services will be used and the worst will go under - it's why our banking system is the envy of the world. Good old Maggie! Good old Capitalism!


(Eight pages perhaps?)

 

[Couldn't Be Hyypia]

I'm tempted to set one up myself to be honest. All you need to do is sit on Yell.com with a phone by your ear and it's an easy £30 per hour.

Rip Off Central!

These companies paid millions in the first place for the licences and based their business case on a flawed model (they used the old 192 data for projections). Many of these companie shave struggled to survive let alone make a profit despite their high charges. Keep you cash in your pocket and find an easier way to make money, like running a football club for example.

From the guardian:


The country's largest provider of telephone directory inquiries, 118 118, has admitted defeat in the battle to persuade consumers to pay for phone numbers, with the launch of a free service.

The scrapping of BT's monopoly 192 service four years ago led companies to scramble for a slice of the market, hoping to make millions. But confusion among consumers about what they were being charged and a reluctance among many to pay at all, led people to stop calling.

From Monday, the existing operator service 118 118, whose adverts featuring mustachioed joggers have infuriated as many people as they have amused, will be supplemented with a new number - 0800 118 FREE, or 0800 118 3733. Calls from a landline phone to the number, which uses automated voice recognition technology rather than operators to trace numbers, will be free. But mobile users will still be charged by their network.

Having found themselves charged as much as £2 to find a phone number, consumers have been abandoning directory inquiries since the market was deregulated in December 2002. More than 100 companies originally bid for the right to use six-digit numbers starting with 118 to run new services, but only about a dozen serious players remain.

The UK market is dominated by 118 118, which receives 42% of all directory inquiry calls, and BT, with 26%. Both have spent millions on advertising but while consumers might remember their numbers, they are calling them on fewer occasions. Before the telecoms and media watchdog, Ofcom, opened up the market to competition, nearly three-quarters of British adults said they had used 192. Last year only 40% of adults said they had called a new 118 service.

Research by Ofcom this year showed that British consumers still believe the 192 service was cheaper and better and that increasing the choice of provider was "not that important".

As a result of consumer turn-off, companies have struggled to make money out of 118 numbers, despite the impact some people believe the services have had on their bills. The Number UK, the firm behind 118 118, recently saw profits plunge 96%. Its parent company, US-based Infonxx, this year dumped plans for a $1.1bn (£563m) stock market flotation.

The growth in broadband access, with more than 11m UK homes using high-speed internet connections, has also had an impact. The web, where most of the information available on 118 services is free, is the first place many people look for a phone number.

The Number is hoping to reverse this trend with its new free service; 0800 118 FREE will only give out numbers - and callers will not get numbers texted to their phones or be connected with their requested number. The old 118 118 service, meanwhile, will continue to charge while offering extras such as a text-a-question service which will answer any query on any subject. "Firstly, we need to bring people back to directory inquiries," said a spokesman for 118 118.

The ending of the 192 monopoly has not been a complete disaster, according to Chris Williams of consumer watchdog uSwitch.com. "You can get the number texted to your mobile phone or be put through to the person or company you want to call. These value added services were not there under the old 192 system," he said. But he admits consumers are confused about how much calling a 118 service will cost: "That is probably not helped by the fact that the costs change fairly regularly. Always check to see how much it will cost before calling and chances are there will be some cheaper way of getting the information you need."

 

[desprateseagull]

i think there is an advert supported FREEFONE service (0800 100 100?), if not in a hurry for the number..

what i think confuses and puts people off on the 118 firms, is the per minute PLUS the 'connection' charge.. connecting to where? Outer space??

i thought competition was meant to make things CHEAPER, but it aint neccessarily so..

i recall old BT enqs were about 30p per call, for up to 2 searches..

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

The initial connection charge is to speak to an operator and then it is charged at XXp a minute. 118 services bring in extra revenue by texting the number to your mobile or offering to forward connect the call which is very expensive. The major 118 providers also provide 118 directories for the smaller companies on a third party basis. When I left BT some 6 years ago there was already a noticeable downward trend in the directories market as customers became aware of checking for numbers online rather than paying for someone to look it up for them. BT had 3 dedicated call centres handling International directories which all closed with the work transferred to India (which returned to the UK after continuous complaints about poor service.)