The real cost of 1890, 1850 and 0818 numbers
We have published a new page on the site detailing the cost of calling 1890, 1850 and 0818 numbers from as many phone companies as we could find.
The Call Costs page, linked above also, now shows the real costs of calling these numbers - particularly if your phone package has inclusive minutes.
Calls to 1850, 1890 and 0818 are not deducted from inclusive minutes on any phone minute packages provided by Irish telecoms companies (except for one).
This shows how beneficial it is that you are able to use geographical telephone numbers instead - it saves you money if you have an inclusive minutes package with your phone provider.
So, what can we do?
- The ideal thing we should be demanding is that our phone providers include these 1890, 1850 and 0818 numbers in their inclusive minutes packages.
- Failing that, we should share any geographical alternative phone numbers that we know of with everyone else to allow us all save money on these calls.
And that’s what this website is for. If you know of any geographical alternative phone numbers that can be used instead of 1890, 1850 or 0818 numbers, e-mail us here, and we’ll share them with everyone else.
Alternative numbers for Department of Social & Family Affairs
Thanks to one of our readers who sent on these geographical alternative phone numbers for the Department of Social and Family Affairs.
- Child Benefit 1890 400 400 Ext 44496 - Call 074 916 4496 or 01 704 3000 Ext 44496
- Treatment Benefit 1890 400 400 Ext 44480 - Call 074 916 4480 or 01 704 3000 Ext 44480
- Maternity/Adoptive Benefit 1890 690 690 - Call 074 916 4491 or 01 704 3000 Ext 44491
- Pensions Office 1890 500 000 - Call 071 916 9800 or 01 704 3000
- Information Service 1890 66 22 44 - Call 071 919 3300
Plus, another number for the Appeals Office 1890 747 434 - Call 01 673 2800
And finally, another couple of useful Government area numbers:
- Ombudsmans Office 1890 22 30 30 - Call 01 639 5600
- General Register Office 1890 252 076 - Call 090 663 2900
Another way to find alternative phone numbers
From one of our readers, we have received this e-mail on an alternative way to find geographical alternative phone numbers:
A great way to get alternative numbers is to use the Archive.org website enter the url and look at the website as it was a few years back before the 1890 or 1850 numbers were so popular.
We haven’t checked this out fully, but looking at ryanair.ie as an example, it does give old web pages back to 1998. Could be a decent source of information.
New Number for FBD Insurance
Provided by a reader of this site, here’s the geographical alternative number for FBD Insurance.
- FBD Insurance 1890 617 617 - Call 01 4093200
Website Downtime
Our apologies for the site being down for most of Wednesday and Thursday. As you can see, we’ve upgraded and redesigned the site, but as part of the changeover, I forgot to redirect from the old to the new site, and hence the problem.
Everything is fixed now, and hopefully you’ll enjoy the new look & feel of the new site. If you have any comments, please let us know.
Spanish Equivalent Site
Thanks to the reader who sent us details of the Spanish equivalent site to this one. According to them, it may no longer be fully active, but there may be some details available:
I can see you have a post for other countries but looks like the page for Spain is not longer working you can include if needed http://nomasnumeros900.com/ user type the number without spaces or the company name and they get the result if any, handy if trying to book a place with no international number only number with 902.
We have added this site, plus equivalent sites from some other European countries to a new section on our links list to the right.
Chorus/NTL - Now UPC
We’ve received a couple of e-mails recently about the numbers for Chorus/NTL changing. The older numbers are also on the Utilities link, but here apparently are the new numbers.
Chorus / NTL - UPC
- Customer Care: Freephone 1908 - or call 01 245 8000
Bank Of Ireland Life
Thanks to the reader who sent in these details for Bank Of Ireland Life.
- Bank of Ireland Life 1850 309 309 - Call 01 7039537
Interesting observation on UK equivalent numbers - 0870
A couple of weeks ago on his blog, the MoneySavingExpert had an interesting observation on how call centre operators in the UK were quoting the 0870 number (0870 being the UK equivalent of 1850 and 1890). According to the blog, from here:
Twice in the last week I’ve been given 0870 numbers to dial, yet rather than being told the number is 0870-123-123, both times it’s been told to me as 087-012-3123. Thus the call operator is never actually saying the phrase 0870. Cunning devils…
I don’t think this will be as easy to do in Ireland here, what with all our numbers beginning with zero - it won’t be so easy to “hide” a number quotes as 189-0123-123 or 185-0123-123. It might be a little easier to get away with it for the 0818 number - 081-8123-123 at least fits into the Irish formatting.
Of course, in Ireland at the moment, apart from this website, there’s very little comment or complaint about companies only providing 1850, 1890 or 0818 numbers.
New Numbers Added, Some Changed
- Our Aer Lingus number apparently no longer works. Anyone have an alternative that will work for their 0818 numbers?
- We have been provided with an updated number for Ryanair.
- Updated numbers have also been provided for Chorus/NTL/UPC
- We have been provided an alternative for the Driver Testing Centre section of the RSA
- SellItYourSelf.ie have provided us with their geographical number also
