Yes you are correct, the whole thing is a ridiculous sham. Basically Manx Telecom is based in the Isle of Man and like many Manx Businesses benefits from a government backed monopoly with its Telecommunications facilities. The legal loop hole or 'excuse' is that the Isle of Man is used as a testing ground for G3, G4 and up until a few years ago, no mobile network could even be accessed on the island other than Manx Telecom. However rules have been relaxed in the Isle of Man, but unfortunately UK phone companies such as O2, T-Mobile, 3, Orange and Vodaphone etc. still treat the Isle of Man - Part of the British Isles and just 80 miles from Liverpool, as an 'International Jurisdiction'.

They claim that all call made to and particularly from the Isle of Man (Which also links to Guernsey's phone Network which is not international) is classed as an international call and charged at international rate. Further, they refuse to recognize the significance of the UK connection that the Isle of Man has and will not allow calls made from there to be included in peoples free minutes. Basically if you have a contract with the above companies your free minutes are pointless.

The mobile phone companies blame the Isle of Man and the Isle of Man say that its up to the phone networks how they operate thier tariffs. Either way many companies such as chat lines etc. have recognized the benefits of deceiving customers with the 07624 code so that calls can be charged at international rate. Further, an agreement with the Isle of Man government has been arranged with these companies to ensure that they receive the full cost of the call, less Manx Telecoms local rate Hence the reason why companies use the facility. Clearly showing that Manx Telecom and the Isle of Man government do have sway over the pricing structure of calls.

As the Isle of Man is outside UK control, the policy is left to the the MHK's (Manx MP's) to police and investigate. Unfortunately and we go back to the start of this piece. Manx Telecom is government regulated. That is to say that its government has its finger in the pie of the profits from the Tax that the company makes. Coupled with the lure of a unique pricing policy for unscupulous businesses to exploit, it offers and attractive money making scheme at the expense of both the UK and its own Islands population.

"The 07624 UK number range is operated by Manx Telecom — the Isle of Man telecoms company"

Firstly, 07624 is an Isle of Man number, not a UK number.

"For some reason, T-Mobile customers and Three customers are being charged international rates to send text messages to that block of numbers"

Because it's an international number, not a UK number.

"Surely it’s a bit naughty for these operators to classify a number range that you, I and anyone else would recognise as thoroughly ‘British’ as an international rate text?"

The Isle of Man may be "British" (a crown dependency, I think) but it's not part of the UK.

07624 is not even in the ranges used by any other mobile providers (which start 075, 077, 078, 079), in fact 076 is otherwise allocated to UK pagers, some of them charge more than 07624!

Maybe you should do some research on telephone numbering before dialling numbers unaware of the potential charges. If you don't like the otherwise free Twitter service, then you don't have to use it. Use another site instead.

As for "the point is international calls should have a different country code otherwise consumers don't know they're making an international call" - then you should bring this up with Oftel and the ITU. It's nothing to do with Twitter.

It's not just +44 numbers that are affected. In North America, the country code 1 is shared by Canada, the USA and many Caribbean nations.

The 07624 range is the range for manx mobiles (isle of man) it is classified as international as the isle of man has its own government, currency and laws. Although it is part of the UK due to the fact that most of its laws were british, it is still an international country. It has its own parliament, Tynwald, the oldest in the world. Sorry but it is not necessarily the companies taking advantage, rather a harsh reality. Its the same for us who live here, we get charged international rates to ring the UK, so it works both ways, and believe me, its more expensive!!!

Dave - the point is international calls should have a different country code otherwise consumers don't know they're making an international call.

the twitter number is 07624 and charges me on t mobile internationally. :(

Yes it's TRUE I investigated using a service by cardboardfish (NextGen Mobile LTD) BUT it would appear that because it relies on using an 07624 that some operators charge any text as if it was being sent "internationally" at 20-25p - my operator "3" charged me more than expected. This might be OK if it was made clear somewhere BUT it isn't!!

It would like like a real grey area that some companies may be making the most of??