Hiya, I am an international student studying in Sheffield. My telephone number in university accommodation starts with 0870XXXXXXX. I am wondering if this is a landline or internet phone. Coz it seems most local tel starts with 0114 or other numbers in other UK areas.

When my parents call me via IDD, the telecom doesnt classified us as landline, i.e. we need to pay more. Hence I want to find out more. Can any experts advise?

Thanks

All our work numbers start 0870, I think it's a number where you get paid if people call you, so everytime someone calls you at uni the university gets some money ?

An 0870 number is a non-geographical number that is always charged at national rates regardless of where you're calling from.

If you dailled it from Sheffield it would cost you the same as dialling from, for example, Edinburgh.

For anyone having to dial a company with one of these numbers, try this website to look for the real number. This will save you money and stop the company making money out of you. Eg, If you search on "Dixons" it will give you a freephone number rather than a 0870 number for Dixons Online.

http://www.saynoto0870.com/search.php

Does anybody know why the University halls would have an 0870... number? I thought this was just for businesses. I could understand the main switchboard having this dialling code, but why would the hall's phone?

Originally posted by Strix
Does anybody know why the University halls would have an 0870... number? I thought this was just for businesses. I could understand the main switchboard having this dialling code, but why would the hall's phone?
It's because they have a third party company running the network, so whilst internal phone calls are free, they want to make some money out of the incoming calls. Must be part of their business model I guess and since they have a captive audience, it'll work.