Letter:Misuse of telephone network
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Your support makes all the difference.Sir: It has been well documented the effect "phONEday" had on both business and domestic users. The now seemingly pointless change cost business in excess of pounds 3bn - what cost the new changes?
Oftel suffered from a short-sighted approach to the demand on the telephone system and the chaos caused by the continued changes to area codes. Rather than take time to come up with a long-term solution to the problem, they seemed to have adopted a "fire fighting" stance.
Small to medium-sized businesses, such as ourselves, have plenty to worry about with the everyday constraints to cash flow without having to worry about the additional outlay on new letterheads and informing our customers of our "new" telephone number.
I commend Oftel however for introducing the "07" prefix for personal telephone numbers. Personal telephone numbers are numbers that are not attributable to one specific land line but can be re-routed to any phone within the UK.
It is estimated that 25 per cent of short-term business is lost every time a business moves office or changes its telephone number. It is a sad indictment of British industry that other countries, such as New Zealand, are 10 years ahead of us in the telecommunications field.
MIKE BUSSON
Aksuna Ltd
West Drayton,
Middlesex
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