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Annex A - Mystery Shopping Details

Selection criteria

Number selection

A1. Oftel and ICSTIS carried out market research in October and November 2003 to provide a preliminary evaluation. Oftel selected a total of 30 national DQ in this mystery shopping evaluation. The selection process was based on the following criteria:

• Numbers that appear on 'new directory enquiries' website or 192 recorded message
• Complaints received by Oftel/ICSTIS
• High profile, press coverage
• Testing alternative services offered within provider (i.e. ppm charging versus flat rate/Welsh versus English)

A2. Ofcom re-assessed these numbers for the mystery shopping exercise conducted in March-April 2004, using the same criteria listed above.

Selected National DQ Numbers

118 000	Orange
118 212	Maureen
118 499	Share Charity
118 866	Telegate
118 080	Simunix
118 247	Yell
118 500	BT
118 877	Telco Global
118 099	C&W
118 288	Kingston
118 511	British Gas
118 878	NTL
118 111	One.tel
118 321	Tesco
118 707	BT
118 888	Conduit
118 114	Opal
118 355	Telegate
118 747	UK Directory Assistance (Jumbo Directories)
118 888	Conduit (Welsh)
118 118	The Number
118 404	BT (Welsh)
118 770	Telewest
118 848	Conduit (-7-)
118 119	192.com
118 429	118 GAY
118 800	Directory Enquiries UK
118 180	Telewest
118 453	Freedom
118 811	The Number

 

Pricing structures

A3. All prices quoted in the report are based on calls from a BT landline. Prices have been calculated using information direct from individual DQ numbers (where provided), or based on the latest published price list available on BT's website.

A4. A range of different pricing structures exist and prices are compared on different call types:

• Flat fee for whole call regardless of length;
• Initial connection charge (which includes first minute of call) + pence per minute charge for remainder of call (charged per second);
• Initial connection charge (which does not include first minute of call) + pence per minute charge for whole call (charged per second);
• No connection charge and pence per minute charge for whole call (charged per second).

A5. In addition to the varying prices for standard DQ services, some providers focus on various other charging models. These include:

• Cheaper calls from certain networks/service providers;
• Cheaper call-connect rates; and
• Charity donations made from each call.

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Footnotes:

7:- 118 895 (NTL) is no longer in service, and the survey replaced this number with Conduit 118 848. One comparison website quoted this as the cheapest DQ service, and it offers a ppm charge, as opposed to the flat rate aspect used by Conduit's other services, and therefore met 2 of the selection criteria. Other numbers were considered but did not meet 2 or more criteria.

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