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| Prior to 1966 the UK used a combination of letters & numbers in dialling codes. Automatic exchanges then took over and numerics (numerals) were used exclusively. |
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| In late 1996 Oftel (Now OFCOM - The Office of Communications) issued a strong recommendation that all phone manufacturers follow the European Standard of alpha-numerics and since that time there has been much greater consistency in the placement of letters. |
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| Today, all BT phones, all mobiles and 99% of all remaining phones sold in the UK carry letters on the dialpad according to the European standard. |
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| Unlike other countries which only offer a FREEPHONE range of numbers, the UK has three distinctive non geographic ranges. These are: |
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| 0800 |
| Standard, universally recognised freephone numbers |
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| 0845 |
| Local call - where the caller pays at local calling rates, ranging from 0.85p-3.36p per minute, and the party being called also pays a small incoming call charge |
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| 0870 |
| National rate - where the caller pays at national calling rates, ranging from 1.27p-6.73p per minute and the party being called pays nothing. |
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