[geeks] International calling question

[Mike Meredith]

On Wed, 1 Oct 2008 20:46:13 +0300, Geoffrey S. Mendelson wrote:
> What about Europe?
>
> Most plans that have European service cover all of the EU, some of
> Asia, etc. Do people who live in Europe have such things, or is it
> still considered expensive to call a number in France for example,
> from the UK or vice versa?

I can only answer for the UK (and only to a limited extent). But
mobiles or landlines ?

In general call costs are time-based rather than location based _within
the country_ (the BT call charges PDF makes no mention of the old
"Local" charges except for the Channel Islands). For BT per minute
costs are :-

	day	evening		weekend
	4p	1.5p		0 (up to an hour, 4p thereafter)

Calls to anywhere in Europe are international calls, but generally a
good deal cheaper than more distant places :-

Israel	59.5p	53.5p		53.5p
Spain	25p	11.5p		11.5p

Of course this is subject to special tariffs if you opt in to something
like "International Saver" (B#1 a month) :-

Israel	3p
Spain	3p

So international calls are hideously expensive if you don't make them
very often, and pretty reasonable if you do it regularly!

Calls to mobiles is a whole different ball game ... and more expensive.

Mobile call charges look pretty hideous ... I think I'm paying 12p per
minute to UK landlines (or Orange mobiles), but I never pay that ...
inclusive minutes mean that I don't actually pay for calls at all.
Calls to Europe ... I can't (in a quick look) find that information, so
I suspect it's more than 12p per minute. Using my mobile in Europe
would cost 38p per minute to make calls, and 19p per minute to receive
them (these reduced rates thanks to the Eurocrats ... who says they
don't do anything useful?).

> Is it still expensive to call with countries, for example, London
> from Wales, or Berlin from Frankfurt?
>
> Do people think it is, even if it is not?

No, or rather not usually.

International calls on the other hand (even to Europe) are thought of
as only something to do in a real emergency, unless of course you do it
regularly when you find a cheaper way of doing it.

I get the feeling that young people (no longer me!) text more than they
phone.


--
Mike Meredith (http://zonky.org/)
 A petty thief is put in jail. A great brigand becomes a telco
 -- Zhuangzi (changed by me)