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900 901 902 Numbers
Whether you have been in Spain for just a few days
or for years one of the things which confuses many foreigners is
telephone numbers. There is a logical system of numbering in.
There are two main groups of numbers - those beginning
in 6 and those beginning in 9. Mobile phone numbers begin in 6 and
fixed line phone numbers begin in 9. Five years ago there were 12
million fixed line numbers and 1 million mobile numbers. Now there
are approximately 17 million fixed numbers and 25 million, and rising,
mobile numbers.
If the number begins with 9 you can tell the location
of the person or business by the second number. For instance a number
starting with 91 is in Madrid, a 93 number is from Barcelona and
a 95 number indicates Andalucia. You can find the full list of these
in the phone book. You can call these numbers using either Telefónica
or any of the competing telephone companies.
The numbers which cause most confusion are the
ones starting with 90. These numbers can only be called using Telefónica
and can be divided into two groups.
903 to 909 numbers are for special services, for
instance 909 numbers are being used for flat rate Internet access
plans by some companies. 903 to 906 numbers are for various premium
rate services. Be aware that when you are calling these numbers
you are paying more than the standard rates for phone calls. 906
numbers especially are used by pornographic services, TV competitions,
and any service where the company receiving the call wants to make
money out of you phoning them. Game shows like "Who wants to be
a millionaire" and "Survivor" receive millions of calls and make
huge sums of money from them. Most of the cost of these calls is
passed onto the companies supplying the services - only the normal
cost of a national phone call is kept by the phone company.
The numbers 900, 901 and 902 are used by normal
businesses to encourage you to call them and to allow them to operate
nationally without the need for local numbers in each area. People
are often very wary of calling businesses that they know to be on
the far side of the country. For instance the Linea Directa insurance
company uses a 902 number in all of their advertising. Do you know
where there offices are?
900 Numbers
900 numbers are freephone numbers in Spain. You
do not pay for this call. The company offering this number is interested
in receiving the maximum number of calls and will pay the full cost
of these calls.
901 Numbers
901 numbers are low cost call numbers. You pay
less than the cost of a provincial call (for example within Malaga
province) using Telefónica. The company wants to receive calls from
clients prepared to pay a small cost to contact them but does not
want freeloaders. (Believe it or not there are people who spend
there leisure time calling freephone numbers) The company receiving
the calls does not pay for calls coming from within the same province
and pays a small charge for interprovincial (national) calls and
calls from mobiles.
902 Numbers
The client pays the full cost of these calls which
is less than the standard rate for an "interprovincial"
(national) call using Telefónica. In this case the company only
wishes to receive calls from people prepared to pay the full cost
of contacting the company.
Call Costs
The cost in eurocents of calls to these numbers
is set out below:
900 numbers - Free
901 numbers - Connection Peak Off-peak
Provincial: 4,51
4,05 2,01
Interprovincial: 4,51 4,05
2,01
Mobile: Price differs with each mobile phone company
902 numbers: Connection Peak Off-peak
Provincial: 9,02
8,10 4,03
Interprovincial: 9,02
8,10 4,03
Mobile: Price differs with each mobile phone company
Why use one of these numbers in Spain?
The major differences between one of these numbers
and a normal fixed line telephone number is that they are not associated
with a local telephone exchange and they are very flexible and cheap.
A company (or individual) can "attach" one of these phone numbers
to a telephone in any location. This telephone does not even have
to be in Spain. It can be anywhere in the world. All you need is
another phone number to "attach" it to.
Calls to these numbers can be received in different
locations depending on the time of day, day of the week, and day
of the year. For instance you could receive calls in an office in
Marbella during working hours and in a house or call centre in London
at the evenings and in New York at the weekends.
Call reception can be split. You could receive
30% of calls in Marbella, 30% in London, and 40% in New York. Using
only one number you could receive calls from Andalucia in Marbella,
calls from Levante in Alicante and calls from the Balearics in Palma
de Mallorca.
When you move your number moves. If you move office
your number moves with you. If there is a disaster and your phones
no longer work the number can be moved immediately and "attached"
to another number.
Anyone can have one of these numbers. They only
cost 18 euros per month from a competitive provider and can give
a "big" image to a small company or individual.
Only two companies in Spain provide these numbers
on a national basis - Telefónica and Ignite BT, the European operation
of BT the UK national telephone company. Ignite BT call costs for
the receiver of the calls are approximately 25% cheaper than Telefónica.
Anyone with a 900, 901, or 902 number from Telefónica can transfer
their current number to Ignite BT and benefit from these savings
and additional flexibility in these services.
Steve Day is a director of Fortec Comunicaciones, distributors for BT Global Services and Vodafone, and providers of competitively priced voice and internet services for both fixed and mobile, and switchboards. He can be reached on 902 02 03 04
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