We had something similar as recently as in 2005 in Poland. I don't know the specifics, because I got my first mobile phone in late 2007, but I think that either

We had something similar as recently as in 2005 in Poland. I don't know the specifics, because I got my first mobile phone in late 2007, but I think that either there was a flat fee incurred when someone picked up or the first minute was charged in advance - in any case the practice died off with the advent of cheap text messages in pre paid plans. Oh, and it served as an equivalent of Facebook's "poke" among teenagers.