We've seen the opposite lately- some toll free numbers would not answer the call, and instead play their IVR and let the user navigate the IVR for a few minutes without actually answering the call, so in essence they do not get billed for that time. Not sure if this is illegal/against regulations but it definitely should be above a certain limit. i.e. playing a "the number is unreachable, press X to page this person" in early media is FINE - but letting the user go through several minutes of IVR options in early media seems like abuse to me.
As far as arbitrage goes - there's plenty of examples to go around: 1. There used to be a service that would let you call places like Europe (land lines) "for free" after you called their US number. The US number was located in a rural area so their reciprocal compensation was FAR more than the cost of the calls to Europe. In most cases it's the caller's carrier that had to pay the bill because the caller was on a calling plan. Thing about calling plans is though- if enough users artificially call higher cost numbers, the whole plan will end up having to go up in price. 2. Another example is "free" party lines, "free" conference rooms, and other such services locating themselves virtually in a rural area. While the user thinks it's free - their carrier has to pay higher termination costs to those areas. #1 got shut down at some point in time I think due to a lawsuit. #2 is still going on. -- Nitzan http://www.future-nine.com http://www.comparevoipproviderrates.com --- On Sat, 8/15/09, Ken Rice <[email protected]> wrote: > Here's a good example... A couple of > small LECs have gone to answering all > calls into their DIDs to play back messages that would > normally be in band > "this number is disconnected" or "this number has been > changed" type things > in early media... What does this mean to you? Well as the > consumer calling > these numbers long distance you just paid for a call, as > your originating > LEC they get stuck paying the recip-comp for a call that > should never have > been answered in the first place and in most cases signaled > as a dead number > before the circuit was even set up > > > > From: <[email protected]> > > Reply-To: <[email protected]>, > Commercial and Business-Oriented Asterisk > > Discussion <[email protected]> > > Date: Sun, 16 Aug 2009 02:58:33 +0000 > > To: Commercial and Business-Oriented Asterisk > Discussion > > <[email protected]> > > Subject: Re: [asterisk-biz] Free DIDs > > > > Some examples of ridiculous, frivolous and destructive > arbitrage > > opportunities? > > > > > > Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Alex Balashov <[email protected]> > > > > Date: Sat, 15 Aug 2009 13:07:48 > > To: Commercial and Business-Oriented Asterisk > > Discussion<[email protected]> > > Subject: Re: [asterisk-biz] Free DIDs > > > > > > David Knell wrote: > >> On Thu, 2009-08-13 at 05:42 -0400, Alex Balashov > wrote: > >>> Don't know about the UK, but any area in the > US with deregulated local > >>> loop and higher than average access charges is > generally happy to take > >>> inbound. > >> > >> (Un)fortunately, things work a little bit > differently in the UK - the > >> access charges are the same no matter who and/or > where you are.. > > > > Fortunately. > > > > Intercarrier compensation in the US is so, so broken, > and the FCC is so > > afraid to fix it. It opens up a wealth of > ridiculous, frivolous and > > destructive arbitrage opportunities and ways to game > the system. > > > > -- > > Alex Balashov > > Evariste Systems > > Web : http://www.evaristesys.com/ > > Tel : (+1) (678) 954-0670 > > Direct : (+1) (678) 954-0671 > > Mobile : (+1) (678) 237-1775 > > > > _______________________________________________ > > --Bandwidth and Colocation Provided by http://www.api-digital.com-- > > > > AstriCon 2009 - October 13 - 15 Phoenix, Arizona > > Register Now: http://www.astricon.net > > > > asterisk-biz mailing list > > To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: > > http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-biz > > _______________________________________________ > > --Bandwidth and Colocation Provided by http://www.api-digital.com-- > > > > AstriCon 2009 - October 13 - 15 Phoenix, Arizona > > Register Now: http://www.astricon.net > > > > asterisk-biz mailing list > > To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: > > http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-biz > > > > _______________________________________________ > --Bandwidth and Colocation Provided by http://www.api-digital.com-- > > AstriCon 2009 - October 13 - 15 Phoenix, Arizona > Register Now: http://www.astricon.net > > asterisk-biz mailing list > To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: > http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-biz > _______________________________________________ --Bandwidth and Colocation Provided by http://www.api-digital.com-- AstriCon 2009 - October 13 - 15 Phoenix, Arizona Register Now: http://www.astricon.net asterisk-biz mailing list To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-biz
