Lee wrote:
> "Ivor Jones" <ivor@despammed.invalid> wrote in message
> news:3jfkanFppnrgU1@individual.net...
>>Is there a difference in cost between a local and a national call these
>>days..? Certainly (apart from non-geo numbers like 0870) in my personal
>>experience the cost of calling any UK number is the same. The only
>>advantage would be not to have to dial the full number but only the local
>>portion after the area code.
>
> I have no idea - I do not really follow telecoms stuff. When did
> local/national stop being different? My mother is on a regular BT landline -
> do they not charge differentially?

Once upon a time there was Local, Reigonal and National. On 1st October
1999 the National rate call charge was reduced to that of Regional rate,
so BT did away with Reigonal and just has Local and National.

With BT, I believe that this distinction would still exist were it not
for their agressive discount scheme which they apply to geographic
numbers and ranges with rate g21 (such as 056 ranges). Once they apply
their retail customer discount to this numbers, they end up being just
day/eve/weekend calls. Local rate (LCFA/0845) and national rate
(NCFA/0870) number ranges are not subject to this discount and appear on
the bill as Lo-call or NationalCall calls.

BT Wholesale charge based on the type of number and the distance on BTs
network the call had to travel before it is passed onto other operators
networks. An operator with a BT interconnect in London only would pay
more for calls to Scotland than an operator with interconnects in London
and Manchester, say.