Other services include directory enquiries, weather forecasts, competitions and ratings televoting (especially relating to television shows).
[citation needed] Premium calls are typically independent of the caller's area code.
In South Africa, premium rate SMS short codes are four or five digits long, starting with either '3' or '4'.
In Indonesia, premium numbers begin with 0809 and are marketed by Telkom as Japati, an acronym for Jaringan Pintar Nasional (National Smart Network).
[1] In Japan, premium rate telephone number service was currently known as "Navi-dial" and began with the prefix 0570 followed by six digits.
In South Korea, premium rate numbers start with the prefix 060 followed by 7 or 8 digits.
In Vietnam, premium rate numbers start with 1900; premium rate SMS have 4 digits starting with 4,5,6,7,8 and the 2nd digit decides the price (except 1400 - 1409 with variable prices from 3000-18000 VND per sms, reserved for charity and 156, 5656, 1414 which are free).
In many European countries, such as France, Germany and the United Kingdom, it was common for organisations to operate customer service lines on premium-rate numbers using prefixes that fall outside the scope of the country's premium-rate number regulations.
Therefore, in contrast to North America where customer service numbers are typically free of charge to the caller, consumers in Europe often used to pay a premium above the cost of a normal telephone call.
The 9013 is for helplines and chat services, the 9050 (paid per call) is for TV Call-in Shows and the 9055/9056 codes are for charitable organizations.
[4] The Finnish Consumers' Association has repeatedly denounced the use of premium rate numbers.
However, some premium services also use lines with the prefix 0137, which is supposedly reserved for planned simultaneous call-in events, such as televoting.
This is called offline billing and causes problems for coin telephones (where they are restricted entirely) or prepaid services.
In Greece, Premium numbers start with 901 (general purpose) and 909 (adult-only services), followed by seven digits.
These numbers provide a range of services from weather forecasting to adult dating.
All 15x numbers have officially quoted rates, set by the prefix, although telecom providers can charge an additional fee for carrying the call.
Comreg is a body which monitors the premium rate services industry in Ireland.
When one dials such a nulnegenhonderdnummer it is enforced by law that the caller gets informed about the per minute rate.
The Opta is the governing body that regulates premium rate services in the Netherlands.
[6] In Norway, any telephone number starting with 82 (mostly 820/829) is charged at premium rates (82x xx xxx).
Effective on December 1, 2008, 300 and 400 numbers are changed into 703 and 704 respectively, freeing up the whole 30x and 40x range for the future assignments (non-premium rate).
This change will allow to accumulate all the premium rate services in the 700-709 range of numbers.
Note that usually in Russia one needs to dial 8 before the area code, so premium numbers are usually written as 8-(803/809)-xxx-xxxx.
Previously all the numbers starting with 90x (except 900, 901 and 902) were charged at premium rates but the 906 had been moved to 803, 806 and 807 and the 908 and 909 prefixes were created for Internet dialup services.
Various services can also be accessed via five-, six-, or seven-digit mobile voice and text shortcodes beginning with a 6, 7, or 8.
Calls to these numbers may be free, or charged on either a per-call basis or at a per-minute rate.
They are mostly for competitions and winning prizes—adult entertainment ventures are considered immodest and thus illegal in Saudi Arabia.
Computer criminals have historically used premium-rate numbers to defraud unsuspecting Internet users.
One scheme involved inducing computer users who used now-uncommon dial-up Internet access to download a program known as a dialer that surreptitiously dialed a premium-rate number, accumulating charges on the user's phone bill without their knowledge.
Another now-uncommon premium-rate scam involved television programming that induced young children to dial the number, banking on the notion that they will be unaware of the charges that will be incurred.