Quote:
Originally Posted by Eilasor
Has anyone used the new UM card to call a US cell phone? The quoted rates on the UM page for calling the US do not distinguish between fixed and mobile phones, and I wanted to make sure that they meant that there is one rate for both, not that it only works to landlines.
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As in so many things, the US operates differently than most of the rest of the world....in most gsm countries, caller pays a termination fee to call a mobile number while the recipient pays nothing.....in the USA mobile numbers are fully integrated into the numbering system and because of number porting and things like that you cannot differentiate between a mobile phone and a landline....the recipient pays air time (although in most contract situations you have so manhy minutes it is rare you go through them but you do pay to make and receive calls); hence calls to the USA are the same whether it is a landline or a mobile...some gsm operators do distinguish between calling US regular numbers and US "toll free" numbers and charge premium rates to US 800, 866, 877 numbers....also often there are additional charges to Alaska and Hawaii!
This also must have something to due with the fact that using making and receiving calls in the USA are asininely expensive on most any non North American carrier although I don't really understand why...if Australia rates to and from are in line with what other gsm carriers charge, why not the USA?