Ofcom today published A User’s Guide To Telephone Numbering.

We here at OfcomWatch applaud Ofcom’s effort to create, albeit somewhat belatedly, a telephone numbering guide.  Luke and I were actually going to create one soon, but someone at Ofcom beat us to it.  But this guide is much better than we could have done.  For example, Ofcom state:

‘Dialling a telephone number is straightforward: you dial all the digits in sequence.’

[Russ raises his hand].  ‘Excuse me, sir, I have a question.  When you say “in sequence”, do you mean from left-to-right or from right-to-left?  I realise this would be a non-issue if the number is a palindrome.’

Apparently that’s a big problem out there:  people dialling numbers out of sequence.

But seriously, this is an important step.  Ofcom are statutorily charged with fostering media literacy, but telephone literacy — and numbering in particular — is much more important because it often has a direct financial impact on consumers.  I don’t really have too many comments on the guide — it’s generally well organised.  One thing caught my eye, however:

‘If you don’t wish to receive these [unwanted sales and marketing] calls you should register with the Telephone Preference Service (”TPS”) at www.tpsonline.org.uk via the Internet or by telephone on 0845 070 0707. Once your number is registered you should stop receiving such calls (mobile numbers can also be registered with TPS). It will take 28 days for your number to be added to the TPS’ list of registered numbers. If you do receive any calls after this period you can ask the TPS to take further action.’

That portion of the guide should be displayed somewhere prominently on the home page of Ofcom’s website.  We’ve said it before:  Ofcom simply do not do enough to publicise the TPS.

Overall:  The numbering guide — a good step.  Ofcom should take other steps in this direction.