High calling rates and “unlimited calls” are not applicable… Why “0570/Navi Dial” is increasingly being used for corporate and government information calls.
Calls to “0570” are relatively expensive Sometimes only “0570” is available… COVID-19 crisis causes social problems with vaccination appointments
Recently, companies, national and local governments, and other organizations have increasingly introduced Navidial telephone numbers starting with “0570” for inquiries and consultation services. When calling there, the call often starts with voice guidance at first, and call charges are added as time passes. It is also not covered by the “unlimited calling” flat-rate service offered by cell phone companies, causing some dissatisfaction among callers. What are the reasons behind the increasing use of Navidial?
Many people have posted complaints on the Internet about the high calling rates of Navidial. A man living in the Kansai region said this happened to him about three years ago. I started receiving advertisement pamphlets in the mail that I did not ask for. He called the designated contact person to have the mailings stopped. The number he called started with “0570,” and the following voice announcement was made.
You are being connected to Navidial. The charge will be approximately ** yen per ** second.
He was forced to call to stop the one-way mailing of pamphlets, which resulted in several hundred yen in calling charges. For this man, it turned out to be a disaster.
The exclusion from “unlimited calls” is at the discretion of each cell phone company.
For the vaccination against the COVID-19 crisis, some local governments accepted reservations by phone using the Navidial service. NTT DOCOMO reminded its customers as follows: “Some municipalities have decided not to allow unlimited phone calls for reservations.
Some local governments use Navidial as a telephone number for reservations. Customers who have subscribed to the “Unlimited Calling Option,” “Free 5-minute Calling Option,” or “Kakehodai Plan,” which offer flat-rate domestic calls, will be charged for calls to NAVI-DIAL.
Navidial’s previous rate structure was complicated. Until last year, calling charges varied depending on the time of day. For example, from 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. on weekdays, calls from cell phones cost ¥11 (including tax) for up to 20 seconds, or ¥33 for one minute.
In addition, there was a problem unique to Navidial. Callers did not know which area of a company or public institution they were calling from when they dialed 0570.
Until last year, calls to general land lines were more expensive as the distance increased, as well as the time of the call. In the same way, when a call is made to Navidial, charges are added based on the passage of time and distance, and many callers were dissatisfied with the higher calling charges.
In addition, cell phone companies have excluded Navidial from their “unlimited calling” plans.
An official with the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications’ Telecommunications Business Department’s Rate Service Division said, “It is up to each cell phone company to decide what calls are covered by the unlimited calling service, and it is up to the operators. It is natural that cell phone companies would not want to include Navidial, which is prone to high calling charges, in unlimited calling.
