Text 989, 91 rader
Skriven 2006-05-08 07:08:26 av Philip Lozier (1:267/169)
    Kommentar till text 984 av Michiel van der Vlist (2:280/5555)
Ärende: none
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 PL>> Here, the person with the landline phone pays for absolutely nothing
 PL>> by those who have unlimited service on their phones, and rightfuly so.

 MvdV> Of course. But is that "unlimited service" really unlimited? Do
 MvdV> they get free international calls? Didn't think they would. Her we
 MvdV> too have these "unlimited" deals too. I canb get one from my
 MvdV> provider for EUR 10 a month. The catch is that it this "unlimited"
 MvdV> deal is limited to calls between 19:00 and 07:00 to fixed numbers
 MvdV> in The Netherlands....

It is unlimited local, regional, and long distance... not international... so
24/7 I can call anybody in the lower 48, Alaska, and Hawaii at the fixed rate
(39.99 plus taxes and surcharges bringing it to like 43 or 44 bux a month). 
Standard telco service not VOIP or anything like that.

Considering I have family in NYC, Maine, Virginia, Florida, Illinois, Indiana,
and Wisconsin, it's a lovely thing.  I used to run some HIGH long distance
bills up... not anymore.

The VOIP providers are to thank for this... I had VOIP service for awhile
myself but was very unsatisfied with it.  As soon as I found out Verizon was
offering the same price as the VOIP service I immediately switched back.

 PL>> On the other hand, free inbound to mobile phones would be a good thing
 PL>> on the part of the mobile owner IMO...

 MvdV> But you realize I hope that you can not have it *both*. Calls to a
 MvdV> cell phone cost more than calls to a fixed line - and *someone* has
 MvdV> to pay for it. If calls to a cell phone would be free for both the
 MvdV> caller and the callee, the Cell phone companies could not make any
 MvdV> money.

Many of the providers have been offering free "walkie-talkie" services for
people on their network... free calls in essence for whoever is on either end,
no matter how far away they are.  I hate it.  Nothing is more annoying when
being in crowded events and having people talking away, and hearing the
screaching of the person they're talking to blaring out of their cell phone,
and the non stop BEEP_BEEP! BEEP-BEEP!

I would say -this- cuts into profits though as now you have BOTH sides talking
free.


 PL>> more people would get them, and in the long run the cell providers
 PL>> would make more money while easing costs on the individual phone
 PL>> owners.

 MvdV> To make more money the cell phone compaNies need more people that
 MvdV> *pay* for the calls. Making incoming calls free without charging
 MvdV> the caller would on;y get them more freeloaders. One can not make
 MvdV> money on freeloaders.

If inbounds were free though, than many, many more people would get them.  What
they would lose on a per person basis would more than be made up for by volume
use.  It's a simple concept that has been applied to many things in the past at
great success.

 PL>> Some peope would try to say "everybody" here has a cell phone, but
 PL>> that is far from realistic. Not even half of the population actually
 PL>> has one.

 MvdV> Over here everybody *has* a cell phone. Even my 86 year old mother
 MvdV> has one. Penetration is over 100%. That means that some people have
 MvdV> more than one and a few, very few do not have one. Mainly the very
 MvdV> young and the very old. And most people leave their cell phones on
 MvdV> all the time.

Some people would like to -claim- that neraly everybody here has a cell phone,
but that is -not- the case anymore than is it the case that everybody has an
internet connection and 99% of those are broadband... it's just hype.

As to on all the time... everybody I know with a cell phone has it on all the
time... you don't get charged for anybody dialing your cell number, only if you
answer it, so turning it off to save money doesn't make sense to me.

Phil






 MvdV> The strategy of charging the caller seems to work...

 MvdV> Michiel

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