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In Europe, you pay to call a cell phone, but receiving a call is free (for pre-paid voice anyway). Problem solved - except that in the US we like to charge both

In Europe, you pay to call a cell phone, but receiving a call is free (for pre-paid voice anyway). Problem solved - except that in the US we like to charge both sides for having a phone call, so we end up here. On the other hand, legit companies often call as a private/unknown number, and I never pick up. Don't Apple, insurance companies, etc., realize that no one's picking up their phones anymore? Forget land lines, I'm considering just not having a POTS phone number at all anymore. Just sell me data and I'll take it from there, thanks.

neom 8y ago
Spam callers spoof residential numbers so they're not blocked by rules and filters at the telcos. Apple has called me twice once it popped up Apple Williamsburg because I had their number in my phone, and the other time was a 800 number based on a scheduled call. What legitimate companies call from private/unknown numbers? Even HSBC my bank calls me for fraud from the exact same 800 number that I call them for fraud.
- apexalpha 8y ago
  >What legitimate companies call from private/unknown numbers? All of the European ones. The number they call out from isn't their helpdesk so they block it to stop people calling back.
noncoml 8y ago
I Europe you can tell if a number is a mobile phone or not just by the prefix, hence you can decide if you want to call this number and be charged extra. In US that is not the case, landlines and mobile phone share the same number pool, so it would be much more difficult to implement the European call charging system.
TeMPOraL 8y ago
Wow, I didn't realize receiving a call isn't free anywhere on the planet (assuming local, not roaming)! > On the other hand, legit companies... I suppose they're technically legit, but I refuse to recognize as legit the third-party call centres subcontracted by service providers I use. A legit company itself almost never calls. Which makes not picking up a phone a correct strategy. > Don't Apple, insurance companies, etc., realize that no one's picking up their phones anymore? People might be picking up simply because any given day you may be expecting some call from an unknown number. I often end up picking up in the days I expect a package, because delivery drivers here get confused by the layout of the neighbourhood I live in.
- tialaramex 8y ago
  So, AIUI the US got this crazy situation through the following chain of circumstances: 1. The US has long had very geographic numbering. Most cities have a single area code for everything in that city, in bigger metropolitan areas it may be a few codes instead. 2. Americans took longer than almost everybody else to get used to giving their "full" number, after all everybody you know in Springfield is in the same area code so why not skip that part when reading numbers? 3. But most of the code space is sparsely consumed this way. Most area codes have free space, but there are few whole area codes, let alone groups of codes, free. 4. So, in most countries cellular telephones were assigned separate area codes, but in the US they'd just be assigned numbers in a local area code where they were purchased. 5. But, in other countries the different area code provided a clear signal to consumers when cellular calls were expensive. This is the same pattern as knowing the 1-800 prefix is free to call. Re-using geographic area codes meant Americans didn't have this signal... 6. It wouldn't be right to charge extra with no way to know in advance, and cellular phones were for rich folk anyway, so why not charge the phone's user for the extra cost?

neom 8y ago

Spam callers spoof residential numbers so they're not blocked by rules and filters at the telcos. Apple has called me twice once it popped up Apple Williamsburg because I had their number in my phone, and the other time was a 800 number based on a scheduled call. What legitimate companies call from private/unknown numbers? Even HSBC my bank calls me for fraud from the exact same 800 number that I call them for fraud.

apexalpha 8y ago
>What legitimate companies call from private/unknown numbers? All of the European ones. The number they call out from isn't their helpdesk so they block it to stop people calling back.

noncoml 8y ago

I Europe you can tell if a number is a mobile phone or not just by the prefix, hence you can decide if you want to call this number and be charged extra. In US that is not the case, landlines and mobile phone share the same number pool, so it would be much more difficult to implement the European call charging system.

TeMPOraL 8y ago

Wow, I didn't realize receiving a call isn't free anywhere on the planet (assuming local, not roaming)! > On the other hand, legit companies... I suppose they're technically legit, but I refuse to recognize as legit the third-party call centres subcontracted by service providers I use. A legit company itself almost never calls. Which makes not picking up a phone a correct strategy. > Don't Apple, insurance companies, etc., realize that no one's picking up their phones anymore? People might be picking up simply because any given day you may be expecting some call from an unknown number. I often end up picking up in the days I expect a package, because delivery drivers here get confused by the layout of the neighbourhood I live in.

tialaramex 8y ago
So, AIUI the US got this crazy situation through the following chain of circumstances: 1. The US has long had very geographic numbering. Most cities have a single area code for everything in that city, in bigger metropolitan areas it may be a few codes instead. 2. Americans took longer than almost everybody else to get used to giving their "full" number, after all everybody you know in Springfield is in the same area code so why not skip that part when reading numbers? 3. But most of the code space is sparsely consumed this way. Most area codes have free space, but there are few whole area codes, let alone groups of codes, free. 4. So, in most countries cellular telephones were assigned separate area codes, but in the US they'd just be assigned numbers in a local area code where they were purchased. 5. But, in other countries the different area code provided a clear signal to consumers when cellular calls were expensive. This is the same pattern as knowing the 1-800 prefix is free to call. Re-using geographic area codes meant Americans didn't have this signal... 6. It wouldn't be right to charge extra with no way to know in advance, and cellular phones were for rich folk anyway, so why not charge the phone's user for the extra cost?