Ntl's 192 replacement 118878
 

192 is to be no more.

If you are a BT phone subscriber you have plenty of choice as to what new directory enquiries service you use. Great, just as Oftel intended to open up the market, each offers differing facilities for differring call rates.

What does ntl do? Well apparently you can only use the ntl service number that they have just started promoting: 118 878. Ok so the call rate does appear reasonable - a straight 40p charge for 2 enquiries and no charge per minute. However, ntl will only allow you to use their service:

At ntl's normal pace of "coming soon" don't hold your breath for increased choice.

So much for Oftel's planned competition.

what happens when you phone 192? I cant really understand all this 118xxx crap like i could 192 :(

According to all the propaganda spouted by ntl on "buy ntl" channel, once 192 dies you'll get a recopded mesage giving you an 0800 number to dial for "help".

not until towards the end of august though can't remember the date off the top of my head though!! :(

I can't see why they don't open it up to all 118 numbers, after all, 11 88 88 is cheaper and is already used by most mobiles.

Ain't they the people you're working for these days ;)

Well yes, but that's besides the point :angel:

All the info, including prices of the new services here:

http://www.newdirectoryenquiries.com/

Wasn't there a way round the old 192, that if you dialed from a phone box you didn't get charged for it! Are you now going to be charged or will you still get it free from BT's fancy new number what ever that is?! :shrug:

I can - ntl get a couple of pence from a call to your number, but 40p from a call to their number. Easy to see why they block calls to your number.

The only way they will change is if they get a lot of customer complaints about the situation.

& thats the whole point - the idea of the change was to open up directory enquiries to competition, not have a closed shop.

Come on ntl - what are you afraid of?

thinking about it why bother with calling directory enquiries when you can get 10 free searches a day (10 per day + 200 additional per month if you register) from BTs website (assuming you're at home with a net connection) after all its the same database isn't it ???

EDIT: *grin* you just have to love clearing your cookies out :cool:

Why change the 192 any way we have had it and used it for years its easier to remember than some 118 118 or any of ther numbers
if it aint broke why fix it:shrug: :confused:

118 is handy when you don't have enough information to use an online service...

Just how much less information than partial surname, partial location do you need ?? The online version allows wildcard searches e.g.Roberts or Robe* and e.g.London or Lond* and allows you to browse at your leisure.

Afraid you'll be put out of work ;)

You can't do accurate national searches on those and it's a little easier to call 118 when you're wandering down the street on your mowbilee ;)


More chance of that happening to you sir ;) :D

I did say

what do you call an accurate national search ??

Russ, as you're working for them, do you think you could tell me how much it costs me to call your company from an O2 mobile please? O2 don't seem to know, which is amusing!

Our database is larger than that of BT's - indeed they rent some of ours :)

I'll ask my TL and post back later :)

Unless the site has been radically updated recently, this only gives prices of calls based on those from BT landlines. There is still much confusion as to how much it costs to call from mobiles and other landline networks.

It's becuase they were on shaky ground from a monopoly point of view, and needed to be opened up to competition. The end result is people will go where they get the numbers 1st time for the lowest cost, which can only be a good thing.

Seeing what has happened in other countries where this has happened, however, looks like it has backfired somewhat - some companies have pulled out leaving only a few big players left.

All mobiles are free to set their own tariff and because it's subject to change, we aren't told what each network charges. O2 should be able to tell you but after my experiences with them I'm surprised they know what day it is......

Interesting...thanks for the info Russ I appreciate it. Perhaps this is indicitive of the games that these companies like O2 and NTL are playing. You'll notice that both of them also seem to have directory enquiries services, but will only tell you how much their own one costs. Strange that isn't it?

I cannot believe I'm reading this:

Since when did ntl feel the need to vet the service standards of companies we might want to phone up? Do they phone all chat lines before allowing them to be accessed through the ntl network? Do they phone all the banks to see if their call centres are up to it before we are allowed to use our home phone to call them?

I don't need this big brother approach from ntl. I'm old enough to decide for myself who I want to call from my home phone, and mature enough to decide for myself whether I'm getting decent quality service from those I choose to call.

Let's be honest about this. Ntl are not forced to provide access to competitor services through their network in the way BT is and have chosen to take advantage of this. Once they have got all their customers used to dialling 118 878, and the competition's ad campaigns have finished running on TV, then they will 'decide' who is up to scratch and give access to those numbers. Of course by then it will be too late for most folks, who will have forgotten they are meant to have a choice.

LMAO

Almost as good a job as the caption writer or nipple tweaker for Page3.