egafd.com

Sorry, that should read

Before deregulation in 2003 (not 2005) BT had the monopoly on Directory Enquiries and charged 40 pence to use their 192 service.

I find those ad's on TV so irritating that I've purposely avoided using their service. If it wasn't for those two moustached goons making fools of themselves on the telly I might have used 118 118. So the ad's are actually LOSING them customers! I instead use 118 500.

And before that the service was free.

"And before that the service was free."

When BT had the monopoly it was 40 pence.

I suppose by "before that" you mean before 1980 when the telephone service was a Nationalised Industry operated as a monopoly.

You are most probably correct there.

Isn?t privatisation wonderful?

In reality it means :-

They sell you something you already own.

They make you pay for stuff that you used to have for free.

They tell you they are giving you a choice, but strangely the price you pay wherever you go is about the same, and a lot more than it used to be.

They then sell the industry into foreign ownership, and the price to the consumer continues to go up and up and up.

And this is supposed to be an improvement on ?dinosaur Nationalised Industries??

I use and use the "Find A Number" facility there.

No charge at all (yet !oops!)

Myson
!oldie!

jimslip wrote:

> Go to Garwick airport long term carpark to witness the joys for
> "Competition". Can't remember exact amounts, but when you hit
> the T juncition, left is ONLY ?8.24 per day and the car oark on
> the right is, ONLY ?8.24 per day. Call me naive, bt isn't
> corporate price fixing a criminal offence?
>
planeterotica wrote:

Yes Airports and Railways also Car Parks are now franchised which goes out to the highest tender, this is great for the goverment of the day but not so good for Joe public, as the highest tender means more we have to pay so they can recoup their dosh and make a profit !sad!

spider wrote:

> "And before that the service was free."
>
> When BT had the monopoly it was 40 pence.
No, it wasn't until the last year or two before 118 xxx was introduced and even then you could still get the number free from BT if you used a phone box.

>
> I suppose by "before that" you mean before 1980 when the
> telephone service was a Nationalised Industry operated as a
> monopoly.
>
I certainly don't mean before 1980. I was at school then so would have had no need to ring directory enquiries. I mean well into the 90s.

"I certainly don't mean before 1980. I was at school then so would have had no need to ring directory enquiries. I mean well into the 90s."


Can you tell me then how are we better off from the deregulation of the Directory Enquiry Service?

These bastards must be raking it in from the amount of annoying adverts by the two fucking moronic Dave Bedford lookalikes. Whenever that oone comes on I just channel hop for a couple of minutes.
Anybody else feel pissed off with this ad?

We're not.

I used to work for BT directory enquiries back then and was heavily involved in the transition. Deregulation was all part of the Ofcom and Competition Act rules that required BT to make its numbers database available to other companies so that they could run a directory enquiry service (and other services - like providing number lists to direct marketers) themselves. The numbers 192 and 142 (for Londoners) were seen as giving BT a competitive advantage so they were told to switch them off and apply for one of the 118xxx numbers allocated by lottery.

As for charging, BT didn't introduce charging for directory enquiries until the early 1990s, when it was 44p for up to 2 enquiries. Until then, the cost of running the service had been part of the line rental, so everyone paid a bit for a service only a few people used - including some companies who would do hundreds of searches at no direct cost to them. When the charge was introduced, BT argued it was a fairer system and cut the line rental for all customers, but the volume of calls to directories dropped dramatically, meaning that there was no increase in revenue or profit to BT.

A couple of years later, when several sites had been closed, the efficiency improvements allowed BT to charge 25p for up to 2 searches. Then Ofcom intervened with the 118 debacle and BT couldn't run the service as a loss leader, so the price went up. The charging models are much more complex now, with most providers making an initial 'connection' charge, followed by a per-minute charge, followed by an extra charge if you ask to be connected onward to the number they've found you. All of that means you pay well over a quid per call.

As a result of the deregulation and charging, as well as the growth of websites allowing internet searching for phone numbers, the number of directory enquiry centres in BT went from 50-ish, employing 5,000 people in 1993 to now, when there are around 6 sites and 300 people. Several of the new companies also use call centres located outside the UK, further eroding the jobs market in this country.

Thanks Ofcom.