On Wed, 25 Sep 2019 at 14:30, Martin Koppenhoefer <[email protected]> wrote:
right, you might be charged differently according to your plan / the kind > of device you are calling from. There may be also more distinctions (e.g. > local numbers cheaper), > Yep. All those things and more. Scott Adams (the Dilbert cartoonist) jokingly (or perhaps he wasn't joking) described these things as constituting a "confusopoly." It's too difficult to figure out which provider is going to work out cheapest for your particular pattern of usage, so most people never switch providers. > so should we distinguish between the number and the area code? (somehow we > are doing it with spaces, but it is not applied consistently). > I suspect that in those countries where the area code makes a difference to the charges then most mappers will apply spaces consistently and where the area code makes no difference they may not bother. What about different numbers which could imply extra costs (or be free), > shall we use different keys for them? > In the UK, people can tell that from the area code. Except BT did a mini-confusopoly there and so we have 0800 and 0808 are freephone, 084 are special rate, 087 are expensive special rate, 0900 are arm-and-a-leg expensive special rate. All with (mainly grandfathered) exceptions and qualifiers. Oh, and 0800/0808 freephone applied only to calls from landlines until regulations forcing it upon mobile calls appeared in 2015. It's messy but (theoretically) can be determined solely from the area code. Except most people can't remember which 08xx are free and which 08xx are special rate. > There are no guarantees that this won't change in the future: Maybe for >> the better, maybe for the >> worse. >> > > I wouldn't be too afraid, IMHO it is likely that these 20th century > billing habits will vanish sooner or later in favor of an all in > subscription model. > Many decades ago, there was no call setup charge for calls from UK landlines. And, given the switch from clunky relays with a shorter life to purely electronic switching with a longer life I see no technical justification for one. It's all about the money. It's always about the money. Similarly, call boxes used to be "put in a certain amount of money to get a few minutes," now you have to put in enough money for an hour, even for a one-minute call. It's all about the money. It's always about the money. So there may be harmonization in some of the charges, but it will come at a cost and most likely with complexity elsewhere in a bewildering variety of packages available. If it suits them to make a distinction between landline and mobile, that's what they will do. It's a distinction that most people can understand and will accept, whereas having a higher rate to trombone around a wide estuary (which used to be the case in the UK decades ago) is not something that is easily understood (it was a regional call rather than a local call because they couldn't run the lines straight across the estuary, even if they actually could and did). > Around here you already get a flat rate towards all Italian and European > mobiles and landlines (incl. 50GB 4G Internet and SMS) for as low as 8 EUR > / month. It's more likely you won't bother in the future about the kind of > phone number you're calling, rather than it could be a costly surprise. > Technically, you're right, the actual costs to the operators will be very similar. In practice, people understand that landlines and mobiles are different things and are more accepting of price differentials. If harmonization comes it will be through legislation, not because the operators want to serve their customers' best interests. I think it more likely that things will get better rather than worse, but I can't guarantee it. And that's only the UK, the situation in other countries may be very different. -- Paul
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