TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Re: Start-Up Slashes Cost of International wireless

Re: Start-Up Slashes Cost of International wireless

John Levine (johnl@iecc.com)
15 Aug 2005 23:15:59 -0000

> Calls from wireless (USA) ... calls to wireless in most parts of the
> world attract a charge to the calling party ... substantial though
> nowhere near what the big USA telcos charge (from landline or
> wireless).

That's sort of a red herring, and it's definitely a topic that has
been argued to death between people in North America who think that
caller-pays mobile is a ripoff since the actual per-minute rates that
people pay are much higher than they are here, and people in other
countries who think that "free" inbound calls that overcharge their
friends are great. (You can probably tell which way I feel.)

It's true, US mobile carriers charge ridiculous prices for
international calls. Fortunately, calling cards with reasonable
international rates are widely available, and it is not hard at all to
program your phone's phone book to make international calls using a
calling card with a US 800 number. At this point, the mobile carriers
are clearly depending on the expense account crowd who don't care what
their calls cost, and probably making private reasonably priced deals
with their big customers, but sooner or later they'll figure out that
their overall revenue will be greater if they offer prices that will
encourage their users to make more calls.

R's,

John

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