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What secret do you Europeans have?
- Thread starter Michael CM1
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No - not crazy: makes perfect sense. The person who calls is responsible. For instance, an acquaintance of mine (who I don't particularly want to talk to) calls me and won't get off the phone for 20 minutes. She pays. Simple. If both people had to pay, I would hang up after about 10 seconds and my pretence of being a good friend would be exposed.
But don't you have friends sending you texts saying "call me" so they can avoid paying? Or, like, calling you for a second, saying "oops, someone's at my door...gotta go. Call me back in a second!"
Based on my experience with long distance calls (where it DOES matter who calls) I now know that I know people like that. They'd be hell to put up with if this was how cell phones worked.
Except I don't have to worry about it because it doesn't matter who calls who.
I have a feeling that, under your system, if I called someone, and they were talking slowly, I would get annoyed with them and tell them to talk faster! (Which is pretty rude, but I'd be tempted.) As it stands now, we both know that we're on the hook for minutes so no one is rude and drones on about nothing without good reason.
I don't know about there, but for some reason we've drawn the line at cell-phones when it comes to telemarketers. It's VERY rare to get one, and if a poor company ever does, they tend to get yelled at pretty badly. People don't like telemarketers at home, but they tolerate them. But if they get one on a cell phone they'll instantly demand a manager and complain.
So "junk calls" really aren't an issue.
That's why most people pay for some high number of texts. If you have 500 texts, it doesn't really matter if you use 200 or 400.
Actually, it's worth mentioning that I'm talking about that for voice, too. I'm not talking about paying MONEY for calls. But if my friend and I each have 700 minutes per month and we talk for 10 minutes now we each have 690 minutes. It's not more cash, it's just that I'm that much closer to my limit.
And THAT's why I wouldn't want to switch to a UK system. Why? Well you can bet ANYTHING that if they did that my 700 minute plan would turn to 350 minutes overnight. After all, if I'm paying for only half my calls, I should only need half the minutes! (Carrier logic, you see.)
So a UK system wouldn't save me ANY money since I'd be paying the same bill for half-the minutes. The ONLY thing that would change is that I'd get mad when I have to call someone instead of them calling me.
So, it would constantly annoy me and it would cost the same. No thanks!
No. I've had a mobile for over ten years and the caller paying has always been the way it's worked, and in all that time I've never once had a person pull a cheap trick like that.
It would be pointless anyway. If someone sent me a text saying "call me" I simply wouldn't bother to call them back. If they need to talk to me that much then they'll call eventually. If someone called me up and said "call me back" then I'd reply "no".
Anyway, as I said, nobody ever tries these silly tricks because they don't work and are ultimately pointless.
But considering we're much more skilled at wasting fuel, that whole thing is a wash.
$3/litre is about $5-6/gallon, right? If so, we're catching up. Just paid $3.95/gallon.
time for a maths (sorry, math) lesson!
1 UK litre is 3.79 US Gallons
£1.30 per litre is £4.93 per US Gallon (a UK/Imperial Gallon is different)
£4.93 x 1.9 = $9.36 per US Gallon..
so, you're $4 a gallon for gas is CHEAP...
This is a powerpoint presentation back in 2006 from the same consulting that gave Viviane Reding a 2008 consultation paper.
http://www.wik.org/content/bill_kee...2006/Session II/littlechild_bonn 4 apr 06.ppt
It compare T-Mobile US and T-Mobile UK prices --- 1/3 - 2/3 more expensive in the UK.
Local people can find special prices --- whether they are Europeans or Americans. Americans can point to prepaid cell phones with 7/11 --- that your money doesn't expire for 1 year. But compare regular priced grown up contract plans --- Europeans are much more expensive.
I compared my local contract plans and the US plans when I was there last year, and neither I nor the locals could find anything close to what I had here in Holland. And that's including prepaid GSM and Sprint SERO plans. I guess it had to do with most of the US carriers insisting that I take their "free" phones with their plans (which were invariably crappier than the phone I already have). Around here it's more common to give you steep discounts on the plans if you don't take the phone offers.
I think the point a few of us are making is it's not about saving money particularly, it's about having absolute control over your own phone bill. If at the moment I know I have an allowance of 500 texts a month, that means I can send 500 texts a month without being charged. Under your system you may have the equivalent of a 1000 text a month allowance, however I wouldn't be confident that I could send 500 texts a month and not get charged, as I could receive more than that. Personally I would hate that.
Also one other thing I like about our current system is the control it gives as to who pays. You argue that you'd feel it was unfair that one person always had to pay all charges for a conversation, which I can understand - though in practice not many people think about it. However it comes in very handy when I call one of my relatives who is in financial difficulty, as I know I can talk to her for hours without running up any kind of charges that she might not be able to deal with.
Well not really! But on the other hand, if someone on a PAYG phone has run out of credit, I can still phone them. Or on a contract, if you have used up your minutes you can still be called without paying extra.
Parents would be up in arms if they couldn't call their kids because the kids didn't have any "minutes" left to receive calls. That really is a crazy system, and I can see (admittedly sensationalist tabloid) newspapers arguing that it would be downright dangerous if you couldn't call your child because they were out of credit. There would be questions in parliament I tell you
Well have a look at the O2 UK tariffs. We do have the same high numbers of minutes and texts as your ATT American plans...but yours are worth half of ours!
We're obviously going to have to agree to disagree, but I really can't understand your system. Our system is even encoded in the actual language you use to describe telephony: "I call someone" means I dial the number (or click on a contact
) and that active process is what I am charged for. "I receive a call" when someone else rings me, and I don't pay for that passive process.We're obviously going to have to agree to disagree, but I really can't understand your system. Our system is even encoded in the actual language you use to describe telephony: "I call someone" means I dial the number (or click on a contact
Very nicely put
I would add to your excellent semantic analysis of the active/passive calling process, that EU mobile billing is based on how good old landline phones were.
If the system ain't broke, don't fix it
I tend to think despite EU allowing termination costs billing, no operator will dare to charge it.
This of course, is different from receiving calls in roaming countries. In this case, customers do already understand that the operator has to pay someone so you can receive your call, seems fair enough.
I would add, however, that very few people in large EU countries know exactly how it works. Many people actually are afraid to call someone temporarily abroad, thinking the caller will be charged the roaming fees.
Maby I've missed somthing here, but to my understanding, this has somthing to do with the current inflation in the country?
You talk about american plans that are cheaper, but in England they have a higher avrage salery then in the US.
I live in Norway, and most things are very expensive, like a beer on the town costs about 10 US dollars. But my point is, even though things are more expensive here then in the US, the avrage norwegian or british guy/girl has more money then the avrage american.
You talk about american plans that are cheaper, but in England they have a higher avrage salery then in the US.
I live in Norway, and most things are very expensive, like a beer on the town costs about 10 US dollars. But my point is, even though things are more expensive here then in the US, the avrage norwegian or british guy/girl has more money then the avrage american.