Premium Rate Telephone Numbers
Premium-rate phone numbers are used to provide services with an added value. The tariffs used are higher than usual and a part of the amount paid is forwarded to the service providerService Provider
The company producing and providing the actual content, i.e. the technical advice on a support line or the company maintaining and publishing the website with these nasty pictures. as payment.
Depending on country and tariff, the payout from a premium-rate number can vary from 30% to 80% of the net tariff. Other parts of the amount paid by the caller are used for the costs of the telephone carrierTelephone Carrier
A telephone network operator, providing access to the telephone system using his own (or rented) physical telephone network. and the costs of forwardingForwarding
Forwarding or routing a call means that the call coming in at the carrier's switch will be routed to another number, even in another country. For this routing costs are billed to the initiator of the forwarding. the call to the IVRIVR
short for an Interactive Voice Response System. An IVR is an computerized system that allows a caller to hear a message, to select an option from a voice menu and otherwise interface with the computer system. Typically the system plays pre-recorded voice messages. The caller can choose by pressing a number or by speaking simple answers as "yes" or "no" or numbers. of the service providerService Provider
The company producing and providing the actual content, i.e. the technical advice on a support line or the company maintaining and publishing the website with these nasty pictures..
The premium rate charges are billed either included in the phone bill and collected by the telephone companyTelephone Carrier
A telephone network operator, providing access to the telephone system using his own (or rented) physical telephone network. or billed "offline". Offline billing means that either the service providerService Provider
The company producing and providing the actual content, i.e. the technical advice on a support line or the company maintaining and publishing the website with these nasty pictures. himself has to bill the services or, mostly, that the telephone companyTelephone Carrier
A telephone network operator, providing access to the telephone system using his own (or rented) physical telephone network. will bill the premium rate services, but will not enforce it. So, if the caller does not pay his bill or the part regarding the service providerService Provider
The company producing and providing the actual content, i.e. the technical advice on a support line or the company maintaining and publishing the website with these nasty pictures., the telephone companyTelephone Carrier
A telephone network operator, providing access to the telephone system using his own (or rented) physical telephone network. will send a remainder only for their own part of the bill. The service providerService Provider
The company producing and providing the actual content, i.e. the technical advice on a support line or the company maintaining and publishing the website with these nasty pictures. has to use a third-party collector then.
The issuing of premium-rate numbers to service providersService Provider
The company producing and providing the actual content, i.e. the technical advice on a support line or the company maintaining and publishing the website with these nasty pictures. is typically regulated by a national body, such as PhonePayPlus in the United Kingdom, to ensure certain community standards are adhered to both in terms of content and price. Charges are either presented as part of the normal telephone bill or billed separately.
Adult chat lines or tech support are a very common use of premium-rate numbers. Other services include directory enquiries, weather forecasts, competitions and voting (especially relating to television shows). Diplomatic services, such as the US embassy in London, have also been seen to charge premium rates for calls from the general public. In this case, the primary motive behind assigning a premium-rate number may be to reduce the call volume from casual callers, a tactic also employed by tech support lines to also reduce call length.
Dialers are other typical applications for premium-rate numbers. A dialer program creates an internet connection using an analog or ISDN telephone line. In connection with a premium-rate number a pay-per-view solution is created, because the user is paying the higher connection fee while viewing the (mostly adult) content.
dialer programs are frequently used by fraudsters to either replace the built-in dialer of a computer (with the result that premium rates are charged for ALL internet connections), or to dial the premium-rate number at night or when the computer is not used without the user knowing it.
With the introduction of ADSL lines the Voice Dialer was introduced. This is a IVR system announcing to the caller an individual PIN code. After he types in the PIN code on the website, the connection is made between this particular user of the website und the open premium rate connection. As long as he keeps the premium rate line open, as long he will have access to the (mostly adult) content. Voice dialers are simple and fair, they cannot easily be used for fraud.
Premium-rate numbers are usually allocated from a national telephone numbering planTelephone Numbering Plan
A numbering plan is a type of numbering scheme used in telecommunications. This is a set of rules used for making numbers. For example, most telephone numbers belong to the E.164 numbering plan issued by the International Telephone Union. in such a way that they are easily distinguished from other numbers. Telephone companiesTelephone Carrier
A telephone network operator, providing access to the telephone system using his own (or rented) physical telephone network. typically offer blocking services to allow telephone customers to prevent access to these number ranges from their telephones. In some countries customers need to actively authorize their telephone companies to open the access to premium-rate numbers. This is called "Opt-InOpt-In
Some countries, among them Portugal or Danmark, decided that the public has to be protected against possible fraud connected with premium-rate numbers. In these countries premium rate numbers are allowed, but the potential user has first to contact his carrier ant to authorize him to open the access to premium-rate numbers. Naturally this is a very effective barrier and kills the national premium-rate market completely. A typical work-around is the use of international numbers."
