> I have often called people who I thought were in Maryland only to
> find out that they were in some other state 1000 miles away.
...
> I don't look at it from a "one country" point of view.
 
You should nevertheless consider the fact that 1,000 miles away gets me a
lot of water, Russia and North Africa ... all these are
"international" calls which are ultra expensive at moments.
 
The position consumers, consumer-organisations, governments, regulators,
the EU have taken is that in an "international" environment the
caller should not be burdened by excessive costs caused by the callee
roaming abroad.
 
If the callee wants to roam abroad and if/when he/she has his/her
cell-phone switched-on, then they know it will cost them and not the
caller.
 
That's the system, it works.
 
> In fact, I
> rarely consider it since my cell phone sits in my car turned off at
> all times --- waiting for emergency use.
 
My cell-phone is switched-on day and night. All my kids have their
cell-phones with them as well and when one needs to get in touch with me
they have the opportunity.
 
> BTW, I wonder why it is when my BlueWave OLR quotes your messages it
> puts a WD> on blank lines.   It does not do that for others.   Do
> your lines have something different about them which causes BW not
> to recogize them as blank?
 
No idea, probably the editor puts something there ... a "space" maybe?
 
> So for you, cell phones have distinctive numbers.  However, it seems
> that the Dutch and OZ have a different distinctive number.   Are you
> expected to learn all of them?   What happens when you call a cell
> phone in Holland?
 
Please be specific ... am I calling from my own country to the Netherlands,
or am I calling a number in the Netherlands while residing in the
Netherlands?
 
In the former case it is a plain international call, I must pay.
 
In the latter, it is a local Dutch call and I will be invoiced a local
Dutch call with a modest roaming surcharge.
 
Now the fun thing is when I call a Dutch cell-phone from Belgium whose
owner is in Belgium. I need to dial the number internationally in the
Netherlands, that's an international call for which I pay. The Dutch
cell-phone contact is roaming internationally, so a call will be generated
from the Netherlands to Belgium causing an international charge to this
Dutch friend, even though perhaps he is half a mile away.
 
However, what I do is dial 070-777.777 which locks me in a private
telecom-network, I get a second dial-tone in the Netherlands where I will
dial the number as if I were calling local ... and I will be charged only
for a local call.
 
I can do this as well with the US, China, Australia ... any ITU-country.
 
 \%/{at}rd

--- D'Bridge 2.41