Sorry, but that explanation doesn't hold up. Long distance calls in bulk are so cheap that the phone companies might be making a fraction of one cent for each

Sorry, but that explanation doesn't hold up. Long distance calls in bulk are so cheap that the phone companies might be making a fraction of one cent for each call. On the other hand, this creates so tremendous ill will against the phone companies that it's hardly worth it. The other day I spent 10 minutes complaining to my local phone company about scam calls. Even at minimum wage for the customer support person, dealing with my single complaint probably cost them more money than they made carrying many hundreds of scam calls. Some Caribbean phone companies have been known to profit handsomely from operators of 900 and 976 pay-per-call scams in which the customers are billed hundreds of dollars directly by the phone company. Maybe you're thinking of those. But that's a different matter.