[geeks] Vonage alternative?

[Geoffrey S. Mendelson]

On Tue, Apr 17, 2007 at 08:27:27AM -0500, Lionel Peterson wrote:

 
> I now have a $5/month international package on my phone, and calls to
> Germany are $.05/minute (becuase I pay the monthly fee)...

Before I moved here, around 1991, it was $3 a minute to call here from
Philly. It was even more to go the other way, close to $5 a minute.
Calling Tel Aviv from Jerusalem was about $.33 a minute and a cell
phone was about $1 a minute. 

A second cell phone company started in 1995 and calling from anywhere
in the country to another cell phone on the same company was about 3.5
cents. They had a phased pricing plan, so as time went on their rates
went up and the other company's rates went down. :-)

In the summer of 1997, the market opened up and calls from here to
the U.S. went down to about $0.27 a minute, and a year later (due
to a devaulation of the shequel) to about $.23. That's the default
call out rate, by using the competition, it goes down to $.04 a minute.

Around 2000 a friend of mine in California had a deal with AT&T where
he could call Israel for $.25 a minute. 

Geoff.
-- 
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel gsm at mendelson.com  N3OWJ/4X1GM
IL Voice: (07)-7424-1667  Fax ONLY: 972-2-648-1443 U.S. Voice: 1-215-821-1838 
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