How much does it cost to ring an 0845 phone number?

In general, all UK numbers beginning with 084 or 087 are nearly always more expensive to call then regular landline numbers beginning with 01 or 02.

0844 numbers are almost never included in any 'free' minutes or talktime included in a phone package.

From a BT landline, an 0844 number will typically cost up to a maximum of 5p per minute to call. However, charges made by other providers will vary. From mobile phones, it is not uncommon for charges to be closer to 40p per minute.

The only way to be certain of call charges is to contact your telephone service provider and check the charge for the specific number you wish to dial.

Breakdown of charges

Calling an 0843, 0844, 0871 or 0872 number has three cost components:

1. The "Service Charge" or "premium".

This varies from 0.5p/min to 4.3p/min depending on exactly which number you call. It's up to 9p/min for 0871 and 0872 numbers.

Every caller, whether from landline or mobile, pays the same amount of "service charge" when calling the same number.

This money is either shared out between the called party and their phone company in a "revenue share" arrangement, or the money is used to reduce their phone bill.

Ofcom maintains a list of these rates.

2. The "Access Charge" or "markup" or "profit".

Callers from BT landlines pay ZERO for this component. BT is regulated to make no profit on calls to 0843, 0844, 0871 and 0872 numbers.

Callers from other landlines pay zero to 10p/min "access charge" and this varies depending on who you pay your phone bill to; e.g. Sky Talk is zero and Virgin is approx 2p/min to 6p/min for 084 numbers and 6p/min to 10p/min for 087 numbers.

Callers using mobile phones pay 10p/min to 30p/min for this component, and it varies depending on which mobile operator you pay your phone bill to.

The network the caller used to make the call keeps this money.

3. VAT

VAT is currently 20% of the total price.

Note: 0845 numbers currently work slightly differently. The revenue share for 0845 numbers is approx 2p/min but varies depending on the provider. The call price from landlines is usually about 5p/min but some landline providers allow these calls within inclusive minutes and therefore subsidise the revenue share element. Ofcom will align 0845 pricing with that for 0843 and 0844 numbers in 2014 with the introduction of the recently announced "unbundled tariffs" scheme.

See the related link for more details.