As a member of the Bakelite Dial-phone, with brown braided cord, generation ... I find UK phone systems frankly quite terrifying! Mercifully I'm not a 'mobile' user, but even so I find the battery of 08, 03 etc utterly confusing. Nowadays, before even daring to dial out from home, I go to the www to find out what that's likely to cost.
I don't know who to blame, frankly. BT, Ofcom? Or all the other companies that have jumped on the comms bandwagon, making it even more complicated? And why/how does the USA seem to manage with a simple Freecall system?