Text 1053, 195 rader
Skriven 2006-05-10 01:31:42 av Philip Lozier (1:267/169)
Kommentar till text 1028 av Michiel van der Vlist (2:280/5555)
Ärende: none
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PL>> Considering I used to run up LD bills around a couple of hundred
PL>> dollars a month,
MvdV> A couple of hundreds? Djeez you must be a real chatterbug...
Hey... cna't you tell by the length of some of my damn messages sometimes ;>
Messaging aside... when I talk to my family members (ya know, when I'm making
my rounds), I really enjoy it. Talking with them it doesn;t have to be about
any specific point I called about. We all used to be "close by" and now what
life has brought many of us (especially the generation who was the first born
in this country [[me being the first one]] who all started out in NYC) in the
means of job relocation, base assignments, life choice relocation, or whatever,
there is often much to
talk about. We take each others smallest achievements as a great thing,
and even the smallest of problems are of concern, and we talk. REALLY
talking is something I see lost in a lot of peoples lives. Even though
seperated by geographical distance the closeness is still there. It's a
comforting feeling to be able to maintain that, even if it costs, however,
when a lower cost alternative is there to maintain it but pay less, that is
a big plus :)
PL>> it's close enough to free for me, being only a couple
PL>> of dollars more than I used to pay for just local service.
MvdV> Seems to me you pay quit a lot on phone service. My monthly bill
MvdV> for the fixed phone averages some EUR 15,-
I used to have 4 phones for business use, with telemarketers on them from 5pm
to 9pm, another for the BBS, and used any of the four other (the telemarketing
ones, not another additional 4) lines for my personal
voice call needs. You wouldn't have wanted to see the bills back then (1994 to
around late 1999 or early 2000). All located in my residence, with a part of
the home seperated as the office rooms. Then it seem justified and I "played
the system" and managed to have them all at "home" rates rather than the per
call business rates (at that time even incoming *biz* calls were metered).
Even at "home" rates it would make you gag. Makes *ME* gag now seeing that I
could do the same thing again at much cheaper rates if the telemarketing laws
didn't change. ( I didn't scam by telemarketing... I offered chimney cleaning
and repair services, and even had MANY people who said they "usually hang up on
telemarketers", buy the service by phone because they "needed" it, and hadn't
thought about it in a long time).
Now it would be illegal for me to have people blanket an area in that manner,
despite the fact they would buy the service, becasue too many jackasses scammed
and screwed it up for the legitimate people.
Anyway...
MvdV> Just as good or as bad as any other VOIP setup I gather from the
MvdV> people who tried it. As with any VOIP, your milage may vary.
PL>> wouldn;t inbound be a problem? Can't always be in a hotspot.
MvdV> Yes, that may be a problem when one is moving around.
That is why people won;t leave to laptops and hotspots for that particular
need.
MvdV> Funnu you
MvdV> know, it is less than ten years ago that only the happy few had
MvdV> cell phones and people like me had to rely on services like the
MvdV> World Service of the Dutch radio to be informed when something
MvdV> serious had happened in the family when they were on holiday. Every
MvdV> evening at six, they read the list of people requested for urgent
MvdV> contact. A mere ten years ago...
I don't know about "funny", but that is interesting. It brought something to
mind, but that would make this "chatty" novel far too long (as if it isn;t
already) ;>
PL>>>> Many of the providers have been offering free "walkie-talkie"
PL>>>> services for people on their network... free calls in essence
PL>>>> for whoever is on either end, no matter how far away they are.
MvdV>>> I bet these customers pay a monthly fee for that....
PL>> Only the normal cell phone monthly charge,
MvdV> And that "normal" charge would be how much?
As low as around 39 bux a month ... with low actual "phone time" minutes, but
still absolutely unlimited walkie-talkie usage. Higher money, more phone time
minutes but still absolutely unlimited walkie-talkie usage.
MvdV>>> Welcome to the 20th century. Better get used to it, like cars,
MvdV>>> it is not going away.
PL>> Thought we'd finished out the 20th century :)
MvdV> Ah, yes. I keep forgetting... ;-)
Hey... I'm not up there all that much yet... but at times I forget too :) My
comfort level seems to decrease when I -remember-.
MvdV> Over here it is different. Contracts are for those who make lots of
MvdV> calls and they spend more than the average prepay user.
Over here, contracts are for those who have the credit or the well established
level of "security" with a debit account they can directly draw on. Pre-pay is
for those who don't meet the qualifications. They charge more to the pre-pay
knowing the pre-pay customers will buy because they have no other way to have a
cell phone.
Gas pumps... credit card and debit checking people get charged slightly less at
the pump, at least in my area.
Many stores have "with your good credit" discounts.
Other "offers" include "extra items" with your purchase if you use a credit
card.
Other services flat out DENY you if you don't use a credit or debit account.
Funny... (as you put it on the other matter)... in a society that was based on
CASH, you are discriminated against for USING cash.
You already know the obvious reasons for this, even though most of the local
suckers here don't get it, so that is something else for another time too...
they don;t realize they're sucked into a multi billion dollar industry. Even
though I have my credit, it is only used for things I need that I can't just
pay with cash, or where otherwise cash would cause me a major ongoing
disadvantage (like my cell phone bill).
Anyway...
MvdV>>> Suppose you were to offer people to take down their trees for free.
MvdV>>> ToTally free, no charges whatsoever. Yes, you would get lots of
MvdV>>> customers....
PL>> Different nut. Can't charge a monthly fee to one time customers.
MvdV> Right.
And... related to the rant above. Check or credit card calls for a higher fee
from me as I have to await the actual payment from the credit company (who wil
deduct a fee) or the extra time involved in either personaly cashing the check,
waiting for the debit transaction, or whatever.
Cash gets a 20% discount on the quoted price, all billing done according to NYS
contract law so no cheating going on. Call me old fashioned, but people who
would normaly pay with a credit card will RUN to the bank and kiss your ass so
long as they have the proper contract and billing papers in hand.
MvdV> Yes, I know. It does not even work any more with landline ony
MvdV> services as it used to do with the old machanical echanges.
(accidently removed the -determining number of rings- thing related to above,
but yes... I understand. There's technology for you.
PL>> so it would be difficult to send a three ring signal and make sure it
PL>> really didn;t ring only two times, or 4 times.
MvdV> Doesn't matter. It rings two, three or four times you can see on
MvdV> the caller id
MvdV> it is me on the cell phone and so you know I want you to call me
MvdV> back.
As you said on something I said... good point.
PL>> In any event, both companies would be paid, as the cell is charging a
PL>> monthly fee, as is the landline.
MvdV> Over here the cell company would get nothing if it is a prepaid. My
MvdV> estimate is that 80% of all cell phones here are prepaid.
Things here are done differently with different providers as far as pre-paid
goes here. In your country, is it wide spread that on a pre-paid account your
bought minutes are only good for 30 days, or do they roll-over? A few
companies (here) have roll-over for pre-paid after you spend a certain ammount,
but until you spend that ammount you're only good for 30 days on any given
minute buy. Others stick by the 30 day only on pre-paid. In that scenario of
rewarding you with roll-over for an extended period of time after spending a
certain amount, the company
has already determined that you -will- use minutes up and they will make money
off of you. In the event that minutes are only good for 30 days from purchase,
well, then there's you're monthly fee on pre-paid.
Trust me... they have that business plan down here. They CAN'T *LOSE* money
here, no matter pre-paid or credit/debit with a contract, even if they offered
free inbound. The landline companies never did, and afterall it's the same
type of service but different transport method.
Much like FidoNet... (except fidobux don't get you into the rich house). ;>
Hope you enjoyed the novel as much as I did writing it. It's good conversing
with you when we aren't "at odds" about something or other.
Phil
--- FMail/Win32 1.60
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