I am off on a long weekend holiday this weekend - Rome - I'll post some pictures when I get back. Then I have to dash off to Scotland on Tuesday night for this stupid court case. Once that is over, however it goes, I plan to do a nice exposé on the whole operation of this guy. The bullshit is strong with this one, in my honest opinion. I hope I come back happy with Scottish justice.
All this whilst still trying to join all of the dots together with BT Wholesale, Talk Talk Wholesale and Openreach over "Notice of Transfer" stuff by end of next week. Finally making some progress on the actual cancellation orders today so we should be ready in time. Stuart and Shaun and myself have been hassling BT and TalkTalk all week over this - several things not quite right.
Then, before end of month, we have to sort the other OFCOM mess with charges for special numbers. Basically we need to set our pricing on a whole load of numbers based on the rate defined by the operator for the number plus a single "access charge" we add on top. Given that we don't do premium rate, this should not be too hard, but yet another load of faffing about week after next.
What will be fun is 0800 calls. They are to be free, which is fine. Of course our SIP2SIM simply connects to a VoIP gateway for a fee per minute regardless of number called. If the gateway makes 0800 free, as it will, that does not negate the charge we make for the mobile access to that gateway. Let's hope OFCOM do not see it some other way. If they do, it will be interesting when someone using a VoIP app on a mobile is paying by the MB for data, and so their call to an 0800 costs them in mobile data costs and so is not free! I am not looking forward to that debate if OFCOM want to start it.
Then we have some new stuff which I hope we can start next month - no promises, but it may finally mean some new broadband packages which I am quiet sure some people will like. Just watch this space.
There is a load of other stuff going on - some major infrastructure work over the next few months, and stuff with text messaging and all sorts. Lots of investment in the future, as always.
Anyway, tomorrow I sort the paperwork for this court case, and then go on holiday and try very hard to forget it for 4 days. When in Rome... don't worry about Scotland!
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I will be *amazed* if Ofcom considers that your SIP2SIM service falls into the pricing rules framework that way.
ReplyDeleteWhereabouts in Scotland is this hearing? I'm in Edinburgh and thought it might be amusing to show up and watch.
ReplyDeleteFalkirk Sherrif's Court, 9:30 Wednesday
DeleteLooks like a busy list - be prepared for a long wait Adrian - there's 36 cases listed for hearing that day, and they call them all for 9.30 and just work through!
Deletehttps://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/current-business/court-rolls/court-roll?id=23e7dba6-8980-69d2-b500-ff0000d74aa7#SMCL
It's an interesting list. I particularly like case F377/10 which, for comedic value alone, would be worth seeing. If the Sherriff is called Melchett it would be a winner.
DeletePETER MCGHIE seems to have a number of dissolved companies in his history! http://www.ccdni.com/director-peter-mcghie-3
DeleteThe numbering changes don't apply to business lines - so assuming you offer the service only to business customers, you don't have to change things.
ReplyDeleteFor example, calling 0800 from a mobile on an EE business account I believe will remain chargeable - whereas from a personal one will be free to the caller.
Ofcom merely "hopes" and "anticipates" that business lines will change, but it isn't required.
Oh really, that is mental - easy to say SIP2SIM is a "Business" service!
DeleteAlthough to do so might be to tacitly admit that it falls within the rules. This might be better as a position of last resort and, even then, I suspect such a change has its own problems.
DeleteI am training regulators from eight or nine different countries (all non-European though) and, tomorrow, I will be covering regulation of over the top services. SIP2SIM is a bit too specialist / esoteric for me to weave in (although I will be encouraging them to think about WebRTC, with a call from my website terminating on my phone), but I will see if, purely for interest, I can get a general sense of their views. (I suspect that it will be confusion, with a general attempt to regulate quite heavily arising from it being trickier to understand than most services, but I'll see what I can do :))
From the Ofcom website which states "clear call rates for everyone" - but not an everyone that includes actually everyone...
Deletehttp://www.ukcalling.info/industry/business-faqs
"Most businesses make outbound calls to 08, 09 or 118 numbers. The new charging system (the access and service charges) applies to calls made from residential lines and consumer mobile phones. However, Ofcom anticipates that providers may extend the same pricing arrangements to business customers. You should speak to the phone company which provides services to your business about this."
...Yep that's right. It isn't actually for everyone.