-=> On 05-07-06  12:23,  Michiel Van Der Vlist <=-
 -=> spoke to Dale Shipp about none <=-

 DS> The person making the call does not even have any way of knowing that
 DS> the number is a cell phone.   What happens over there?

 MVDV> The long standing principle has always been that as it is 
 MVDV> the caller who is in control, it is the caller who should 
 MVDV> pay all cost.

  I've heard that -- but the thing that wondered me is how I would know
  that a number I am calling is a cell phone.   It seems fair to charge
  caller -- but only if it was an informed choice.

 MVDV> I understand that in the US people often switch off their 
 MVDV> cell phones so that they are not charged for incoming 
 MVDV> calls. Over here people normally leave their cell phones on 
 MVDV> all the time.

  Practice over here varies.  I know people who don't even have a land
  line phone and use their cell phone for all calls.  Others I know
  leave their phone on most of the time. Others are like me who have a
  cell phone they leave off and use only for very limited outgoing
  calls.

 MVDV> Cell phones have distinctive numbers, so they are easily 
 MVDV> recognised. here (netherlands) they all start with 06. 

  I saw David Drummond say the same thing.   Does the rest of the number
  look like a land line number?

 MVDV> Contrary to geographical fixed numbers where the area code
 MVDV> may be omitted when calling from within the same area, the 
 MVDV> cell phone numbers always have to be dialled as the full 
 MVDV> ten digit number. A call to a cell phone number costs five 
 MVDV> to ten times as much as calling a fixed number within the 
 MVDV> country.

   Are both land line phone numbers (including area code) and cell phone
   numbers both 10 digits long?   BTW, over here there are places where
   the entire 10 digit number must be dialed and others where you do not
   need to dial the area code.   It is also true that I cannot tell
   ahead of time whether or a unknown phone number is long distance
   for me or not.  However, I do have to make an overt act to dial a
   long distance number by adding a 1 before the area code.  If I
   attempt to dial a number which is long distance to me in my area code
   I get a message telling me to dial the 1 first.  Hence I cannot get
   charged long distance without being aware of it.

   It sounds as if the "06" is equivalent to the "1-"
in that you know
   that a phone number requiring 06 is a cell phone and will cost you
   money.

   IMO, neither system is right or wrong -- just different, and folks
   need to be aware of the differences.

                               Dale Shipp
                  fido_261_1466 (at) comcast (dot) net
                              (1:261/1466)


... Shipwrecked on Hesperus in Columbia, Maryland. 22:53:50, 07 May 2006
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