Down the line, it will all be forgotten

Aug 28 2003 By Peter Jackson, The Journal

Surely nobody can remain unaware that BT's 192 directory enquiries service is being replaced by a series of six-figure numbers beginning with 118.

There has been an extensive advertising campaign informing us of this, although I couldn't work out what the advertisements meant until they were accompanied by equally extensive Press coverage.

The general view seems to be that the change will complicate life. There are already 20 replacement services operating and, according to some reports, the regulator Oftel has allocated numbers to a further 60 companies.

Now one has to remember which number to call and work out which is the service which best answers one's needs.

The providers have different pricing structures, some with a fixed charge, others with a charge per minute while the call is connected and some a combination of the two.

The cost of the call may also be affected by whether you are calling from a BT line, a cable line or mobile.

Some companies will also offer services such as cinema listings and may charge a lower call rate to put you through to the number you asked for.

To me, all this seems like unnecessary hassle and, on balance, I wish they had left well alone.

But it's not something I can get terribly worked up about and I'm at a loss as to how others can.

From all the media interest one would think that a well-loved national institution had been abolished, that the very fabric of national life was being rent by unthinking philistines.

If we had been told that from midnight tonight the whole nation would go over to driving on the right I could understand it but we are, let's face it, only talking about telephone numbers.

I would have thought that a change in the numbers we must dial for a directory enquiries service might excite the slightly odd-ball, the anorak, the type who does not get out much - but nobody else.

Personally, I doubt whether I use Directory Enquiries above twice a year and so I don't care very much, as I observed to my wife, who does seem irritated by the new numbers.

"Precisely," she countered, "It's because you use it so rarely that you won't be able to remember the new number."

She may have a point but I'm not entirely convinced, I think the reason for all the national interest is subtler, more psychological than that.

I believe that telephones, in all their many shapes and sizes, have - as I have written before - become so central to our lives that any change in the way they operate or the services available through them excites tremendous interest.

In this case it has been overdone. I suspect such directory enquiry services will dwindle in importance and that in a few years the new companies will not be making anything like the £300m BT made from the service last year.

This is because people will find it easier and cheaper to find numbers on the internet.

And how will they access the worldwide web to do so? Through their mobile telephones, of course.