Hello Dale.

09 May 06 23:27, you wrote to me:

 MVDV>> with you: I call you, let it ring three times and hang up. You
 MVDV>> see the caller id and call me back. No charge for you, no
 MVDV>> charge for me. How is the cell phone company going to make
 MVDV>> money?

 DS>  That is a common trick I have heard of in other contexts.   Every
 DS>  landline phone has a "calling area" where local calls do not cost
 DS>  money (other than the monthly fee).

The closest we ever came to free local calls is before the mid eaighties
when a local call cost 15 cents (guikder) independent of duration. The
changes with the advent of modems when many users actually started making
hour long calls....

 DS>    It is possible that phone A can call phone B for free but not the
 DS> other way around.

Odd, I would think the phone companies would avoid such a situation. I have
never seen such an asymetric situation here. Local is one's own area code
and the adjacent ones.

 DS>    The two phone customers can conspire to do exactly what you
 DS> describe.

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

 MVDV>> Hmmm... good point. However... Dale switches it off...

 DS>   Actually, Dale switches it on only when he wants to make an outgoing
 DS>   call, and then switches it off.    I use the phone for perhaps 100
 DS>   minutes per year or less.

I see. And you have no problem keeping the batteries charged? I always have
problems with gadgets I do not use very often.


Michiel

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