What are 070 personal numbers?
Telephone numbers beginning with 070 are known as ‘personal’ or ‘follow me’ numbers and are different from the other 07 numbers used by mobile phones and pagers.
Personal numbers allow a person or businesses to give out a single phone number, then redirect their incoming calls to different locations as and when they choose.
As an example, an organisation may publish an 070 number for out-of-hours enquiries and then redirect it to the mobile phone of whoever is on duty each day. Or, an individual could set up an 070 number to ring their home, work or mobile phones in a set order or even simultaneously at different times of day.
070 numbers can also be used as temporary numbers. For example, somebody selling a car through classified adverts could set up an 070 number to receive enquiries then disable the number after the car has been sold, rather than publishing their real home or mobile number.
070 number call costs
Historically, 070 personal numbers have usually cost much more to call than normal mobile numbers or landlines.
New regulations came into force during October 2019 which are starting to bring prices down and in some cases these numbers are now included in free minutes or call allowances.
Examples of typical charges for UK numbers starting 070:
| Operator | Standard cost |
|---|---|
| BT landline | 5p to 20p per minute |
| Sky landline | 16p to 29p per minute |
| TalkTalk landline | 18p per minute |
| Virgin Media landline | 51p per minute |
| EE mobile | 5p per minute |
| O2 mobile | from 55p to 66p per minute |
| Vodafone mobile | from 45p to 55p per minute |
Prices for personal customers as of October 2019 and intended as a guide only. Additional connection charge or minimum fee may apply. Numbers starting 07015 11 are for Jersey and may be charged at higher rates.
History and notes
Adoption of personal numbers
Demand for personal numbers has remained low, with Ofcom reducing the quantity of numbers reserved for such purposes from 600 million to just 100 million. Most users who need to redirect calls appear to prefer simply diverting their real mobile or landline number to other locations as required.
As such numbers are easy to acquire and hide the underlying landline or mobile number from the caller they have at times been favoured by fraudsters or individuals who wish to conceal their identity.
However, 070 numbers are well established in a few niche areas such as bedside telephone services in hospitals, telephone dating mailboxes and disposable numbering for classified advertisers.
Pricing regulation
In October 2019, new Ofcom rules came into force restricting the amount that telephone companies can charge each other for connecting calls to 070 numbers. This is expected to eventually result in call charges for consumers reducing accordingly.
| 1993 | First personal numbering services launched using 0956 7xxxxx range. |
| 1995 | Dedicated 070 personal numbering range introduced. |
| 2001 | Old 0956 7xxxxx numbers move to 07010 7xxxxx. |
| 2009 | Telecoms companies banned from sharing revenue with 070 number users, to try and reduce scams. |
| 2019 | New price capping comes into effect and call charges begin to fall. |
See also: ‘07 numbers’ overview.