084 and 087 support lines were banned 12 years ago — with 138 days of copper left, swap them now

There are 138 days left until the UK's copper phone network closes on 31 January 2027, and the number migration is in full swing. As contact pages get rewritten, one decade-old rule deserves a second look from every consumer-facing business: since 13 June 2014, the route a customer takes to post-sale support or to complain must be a basic-rate 01, 02 or 03 number — never 084, 087 or 09.

What the rule says

The Consumer Rights Directive took effect across the UK on 13 June 2014 and drew a line between selling and serving. Sales lines may still be non-geographic; but once a customer has bought, the number a business publishes for post-purchase enquiries — and for complaints — must cost the caller no more than a standard geographic call. Before the rule bit, helpline calls could cost mobile users up to 41p a minute.

Twelve years on, 0845 support numbers still turn up on contact pages — usually inherited from a legacy phone system rather than chosen. The migration prompted by the PSTN switch-off is the natural moment to catch them.

What callers pay under today's tariffs

Ofcom's UK Calling reforms, in force since 1 July 2015, reshaped the rest of the non-geographic market:

• 0800 and 0808 freephone became free from mobiles as well as landlines.
• 084, 087 and 09 numbers were split into an access charge set by the caller's phone provider (uncapped, and varying widely) plus a service charge set by the number's owner — between 0p and 7p a minute for 084, displayed wherever the number is advertised.
• 03 numbers sit outside this machinery: by Ofcom's rules their retail price must not exceed a call to 01/02, and they count towards inclusive mobile bundles.

The compliant swap — done once

1. Label your lines. Identify which published numbers are post-sale support and complaints routes — those are the ones the rule governs. Sales lines can stay.
2. Move support onto 03. An 03 number from DIDcomms keeps the national feel, is cost-capped for callers by design, and satisfies the rule outright. How the range works is in our 03 numbers guide.
3. Keep a free front door. A 0800/0808 freephone number is free to callers from any UK phone and suits the main contact line — the cost model is unpacked in our 0800 numbers guide.
4. Port rather than surrender. Whatever the range, port the numbers onto a virtual service so they outlive the copper network: DIDcomms' virtual numbers answer over SIP from day one, with a £9.97-a-month plan when volumes justify bundled minutes.

Related: Ofcom's porting rules mean every business number can be kept · 141 days left: the PSTN countdown