TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Re: Young Cell Users Rack Up Debt, One Dime Message at a Time

Re: Young Cell Users Rack Up Debt, One Dime Message at a Time

Tony P. (kd1s@nospamplease.cox.reallynospam.net)
Mon, 17 Jan 2005 09:34:37 -0500

In article <telecom24.21.6@telecom-digest.org>,
paulcoxwell@tiscali.co.uk says:

> Rob <rob51166@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:telecom24.18.10@telecom-digest.org:

>> I'm still amazed that, in the US, the person being called on a mobile
>> phone has to pay for the call if someone calls or texts them. I'm on
>> Virgin Mobile here in the UK and, thankfully, we only pay for outgoing
>> calls and texts, as is the case on all of our other mobile phone
>> networks, such as 3, Vodafone, Orange etc ...

> A while ago I read some comments from ex-pat Brits in the U.S. who
> were complaining bitterly about being charged for incoming cellphone
> calls, and saying that America should change to the "proper" charging
> method.

> Well, I seem to have the minority view here that America already does
> this the correct way. In my opinion, it is Europe which has the
> charging back-to-front. If you want to be able to have somebody reach
> you on your cellphone while walking around in the street, why should
> you not pay for that convenience? Or to put it another way, why
> should you expect somebody else to pay extra for your benefit?

The issue is that for wire line service the U.S. has always been
caller pays except for WATS 800 services in which the called party
pays.

That a cell user pays for incoming calls is ridiculous and flies in
the face of nearly a century of telecom practice in the United States.

> And pay extra they do: On most regular BT plans the cost for calling a
> cellphone is *much* greater than for a regular long-distance call.
> I'm sure that everybody in the U.K. will know of people who when given
> an 07xx niumber will retort with something like "I'm not paying to
> call that! Give me a real number!"

In the case of the U.S. the cellular carriers went to the FCC and
congress and cried that caller pays on cellular would kill the
service. The cellular LOBBYI$T$ can be very effective. Are British
politician as big a whore as U.S. politicians?

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