Following up our customers' excellent feedback earlier this year,
Ofcom have now issued a consultation document, which is available at:
http://www.ofcom.org.uk
The consultation document is lengthy, but it's thorough and informative.
At last it seems that , thanks to the excellent response by our long established members, Ofcom have now recognised the unique benefits of our powerful 070 service. On page 12 Ofcom emphasises its new found knowledge...To save you having to wade through the full 106 pages, we summarise Ofcom's main proposals here."there appear to be few alternatives to this service that would provide the same characteristics that end users value. Any alternatives that do exist are likely to involve additional costs, such as needing two mobile phones or call forwarding charges. Therefore, although the overall market is small, our end-user survey showed that there continues to be demand for PNS".
Summary of Ofcom's Key Findings
- Personal numbering will continue using 070 numbers
- 070 closure is now ruled out
- 070 will remain open permanently
- No need to change your number
- Pre-call announcements dropped - they will NOT be used
- Ofcom will remove the requirement from the numbering plan
- Ofcom will remove the requirement from the numbering plan
- Phone companies forced to improve price lists
- callers will have a better idea of the cost to call you
- so expect lower prices for calls to 070
- Ofcom to strengthen enforcement on scams in the 070 range
- action will be taken against the bad guys - at last
Your Feedback
We're very encouraged with the quality and detail provided in this latest consultation. Ofcom seem to have responded positively to previous criticisms and have reviewed 070 from scratch and obviously listened to you.
We greatly appreciate the strenuous efforts made by so many of our customers in helping Ofcom better understand the personal numbering market. Now it's very important that you support Ofcom's new proposals and complete their on-line questionnaire at:
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/condocs/070options/howtorespond/form
Finally, thank you all, for your continued support and as always we are keen to hear your suggestions and feedback.
Kevin ArcherMarketing Manager
Email: ask@flextel.com
Main : +44 870 3210 100
Now all you have to do is:
- Enter your Flextel Number and your registered email address
- Click the Request button
- Check your email and Click the link
That's it! ...and just as secure!
So, if you've forgotten your password, just go to account logon and click the forgotten password button.
Great News for Apple Mac, iPodTouch and iPhone Users
We've also listened to you about our website performance, so it should now work better for Apple Mac, iPodTouch and iPhone users, which all use Apple's Safari browser. A spin-off is that users of Google's Chrome browser will also get enhanced performance (as Chrome employs the Safari engine). You can expect blistening performance from these browsers, as our technlogy takes advantage of the efficiencies of client based computing and Chrome is the best in class.
However, in case you do find problems or want enhancements, we'd be grateful if you'd tell us about them or email us at ask@flextel.com.
Ofcom Update
Just for the record...070 Personal Numbers
Thanks for all those helped show that 070 is a powerful and useful service, we are still waiting for news.0870 Business Numbers
This has been delayed further, with any change being no earlier than next year. Since the 070 pre-call announcement mess, Ofcom has removed this requirement not only from 070, but also from 0870.
This means that much of the consumer protection benefit of the 0870 disruption has been lost. So Ofcom must now revisit its Cost Benefit Analysis(CBA) for 0870.Ofcom Rebuked
Recently the judges, presiding at the Competition Appeals Tribunal, unanimously criticised Ofcom in two separate and unrelated cases. In particular for "serious errors" and also for a "flawed CBA". They stated that Ofcom's decisions must "meet the test of Profound and Rigorous scrutiny". As a result Ofcom is "reviewing its processes" in the light of these two damning judgements.
So, in simple terms, the CAT have told Ofcom to start again and try harder. These judgements may hopefully encourage Ofcom to deliver better quality proposals. So if you are using 070 or 0870 carry-on, they'll probably be here for a while, yet.
Thank you all, for your continued co-operation and support.
Kevin ArcherMarketing Manager
ask@flextel.com
Main : +44 870 3210 100
Ofcom, the communications regulator, has approached Flextel to ask for our customers' help.
During previous public consultations Ofcom seemed of the view that personal numbers didn't have many genuine customers. However, opinions may have changed following the enforced, disastrous and short lived pricing announcement fiasco of last year.
Ofcom have now set up a completely new team to investigate personal numbers and their uses. They have asked Flextel for details of end users who are willing to give feedback on how the service benefits them.
We need to assist Ofcom as much as possible because we are concerned that a lack of feedback would be a vindication of Ofcom's original stance that personal numbers have no legitimate use in the UK marketplace. This is why we are approaching you and asking for your assistance in maintaining what we know is a really great product.
- So, could you:-
- Give us permission to pass your details onto Ofcom, so they can approach you for feedback?
- Confirm that your current Flextel account details are correct?
- Explain the application that you have for personal numbers and the benefits they give?
- Explain why personal numbers are used, rather than other products e.g. mobile, home line, premium rate etc.?
- Explain the impact on you, if your personal number was forced to change or the service was cancelled?
We appreciate that this is time consuming and you probably have better things to do, but without your help, we will have great difficulty engaging with Ofcom and convincing them to leave your personal numbers alone.
Previous updates are available at www.flextel.com/news/ and we always welcome customer suggestions.
Thank you for your continued co-operation and support.
Kevin Archer
Marketing Manager
ask@flextel.com
Main : +44 870 3210 100
Where do you want to go?
Flextel has long prided itself on providing services with FREE call diversion.
- Well, it's just got better!
- 0871 numbers can now be forwarded to the big 4 UK MOBILE networks (Orange, O2, Vodafone and T-mobile) as well as over 100 international destinations.
No call diversion charges! - 0844 numbers can now be forwarded to many international destinations.
This includes all of the EU, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and China!
No call diversion charges! - 0870 numbers can now be forwarded to USA, Canada and Ireland landlines.
Any changes due to a proposed Ofcom intervention have been cancelled.
No call diversion charges! - Personal numbers have much greater flexibility, as international diversion now extends
to practically all countries, including mobiles abroad.
No call diversion charges!
We hope you will benefit from these changes and naturally we are continuing to work on enhancements to our service, so expect more service updates in the near future. Previous updates are available at www.flextel.com/news/ and we always welcome any feedback and suggestions.
Kevin Archer
Marketing Manager
ask@flextel.com
Main : +44 870 3210 100
