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MATHA531 · 05-02-2009, 16:14

Everything changes over time...many years ago somebody showed me a computer system they were buying and if they were getting a good deal. I told them yes and they bought the system. Well of course you know what happened, six months later the system was almost junk and my friend almost never talked to me again. Trust me at the time it was a good buy but time and technology and whatever march on.

The US cell system developed in a sort of erratic manner. I remember my first cell phone...it was large and bulky and analogue (sp.)...I had a very local calling area in the New York City area (it included metropolitan NJ and Long Island larger than NY Telephone was providing) but I had something like 30 minutes a month, was charged very high rates for any calls outside my local calling area and when I roamed outside my home area, forget it...

Then Sprint began advertising national long distance at no extra charge and no roaming fees wherever they operated. In other words I was ecstatic, I could receive calls in Los Angeles at the same rate as receiving calls at home. Within six months, every carrier had to have those features to remain competitive. Today, it is almost taken for granted on US cell plans there are no local calling areas, all calls within the USA cost the same and come out of minutes and you can roam almost at will throughout the USA.

In similar manners, European mobile service developed with some slightly different concepts. As I understand it, one of the first decisions was to go with GSM as people were constantly going from one country to another and roaming rates were frightfully high so the ability to simply change sim cards was almost a necessity in Europe given the size of most of the countries. We also had the idea prevelent with European mobile companies that caller pays so receiving calls while not roaming again became almost a given and the idea of paying a termination fee to call a mobile phone well that was the accepted way it was just like in the USA it is accepted that you pay to receive calls out of your minutes, as large as they may be, and therefore nobody is charged a surcharge to call a mobile phone....it also meant that mobile numbers remained indistinguishable from landline numbers...area code+xxx xxxx so that today if you are in Europe and call the number +1212 555 1212, you have no idea of just whether or not it's to a mobile, pager, or land line. So therefore even though it's possible, calls to USA numbers for the most part cost the same whether it is to a landline or a cell phone or a pager....(just mention my only complaint with the North American telcom system is there is no way unless you have memorized all the area code to tell whether you are calling a USA number or a Canadian number and of course unless you pay extra up front, calls from USA mobiles to Canadian numbers do not come out of inclusive minutes and long distance charges apply but I stray off topic).

Now, as I've read it, one of Ms. Redding's point about this whole eu tariff bit is that it should be the same throughout the eu as it is in the United States at least as far as roaming is concered. In her world of the future, receiving calls will be free on eu mobile throughuot the eu. She's gotten it down to what, 0,24€ per minute and I think it is scheduled to drop further. This has come despite the resitance of the European telcoms who knew a cash cow when they saw it. It has also helped lead to some of the reduced tariffs some comapnies such as O2 UK have introduced to avoid further reductions in rates imposed by the eu.

This has no doubt cut down on the viability of some of the international sim cards. O9 has apparently already gone under. They were great for me last summer as their inbound rate with my call through ld carrier (enlinea) was something like 16¢ US from most anywhere in Europe to the USA. I used them constantly, every so often made a call through their naitive service just to make sure I kept the account active. Was I cheating them? Did I help cause their demise? (Enlinea was great on this one...they gave me a US toll free number to give my friends which went to the sim at the above noted 16¢/minute rate) I never gave it a second thought that I was "cheating".

The point is nobody knows what's coming next. Obvious 3g and 4g will change things although, at least for pure voice communications, I do think 2g GSM will be around for a while. But obviously the era of real cheap calls via the international sim are fast coming to an end.

It's too bad...it was great while it lasted.

	(#25)
MATHA531 (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Specialist Posts: 869 Join Date: 15 Oct 2004 Country:	05-02-2009, 16:14 Everything changes over time...many years ago somebody showed me a computer system they were buying and if they were getting a good deal. I told them yes and they bought the system. Well of course you know what happened, six months later the system was almost junk and my friend almost never talked to me again. Trust me at the time it was a good buy but time and technology and whatever march on. The US cell system developed in a sort of erratic manner. I remember my first cell phone...it was large and bulky and analogue (sp.)...I had a very local calling area in the New York City area (it included metropolitan NJ and Long Island larger than NY Telephone was providing) but I had something like 30 minutes a month, was charged very high rates for any calls outside my local calling area and when I roamed outside my home area, forget it... Then Sprint began advertising national long distance at no extra charge and no roaming fees wherever they operated. In other words I was ecstatic, I could receive calls in Los Angeles at the same rate as receiving calls at home. Within six months, every carrier had to have those features to remain competitive. Today, it is almost taken for granted on US cell plans there are no local calling areas, all calls within the USA cost the same and come out of minutes and you can roam almost at will throughout the USA. In similar manners, European mobile service developed with some slightly different concepts. As I understand it, one of the first decisions was to go with GSM as people were constantly going from one country to another and roaming rates were frightfully high so the ability to simply change sim cards was almost a necessity in Europe given the size of most of the countries. We also had the idea prevelent with European mobile companies that caller pays so receiving calls while not roaming again became almost a given and the idea of paying a termination fee to call a mobile phone well that was the accepted way it was just like in the USA it is accepted that you pay to receive calls out of your minutes, as large as they may be, and therefore nobody is charged a surcharge to call a mobile phone....it also meant that mobile numbers remained indistinguishable from landline numbers...area code+xxx xxxx so that today if you are in Europe and call the number +1212 555 1212, you have no idea of just whether or not it's to a mobile, pager, or land line. So therefore even though it's possible, calls to USA numbers for the most part cost the same whether it is to a landline or a cell phone or a pager....(just mention my only complaint with the North American telcom system is there is no way unless you have memorized all the area code to tell whether you are calling a USA number or a Canadian number and of course unless you pay extra up front, calls from USA mobiles to Canadian numbers do not come out of inclusive minutes and long distance charges apply but I stray off topic). Now, as I've read it, one of Ms. Redding's point about this whole eu tariff bit is that it should be the same throughout the eu as it is in the United States at least as far as roaming is concered. In her world of the future, receiving calls will be free on eu mobile throughuot the eu. She's gotten it down to what, 0,24€ per minute and I think it is scheduled to drop further. This has come despite the resitance of the European telcoms who knew a cash cow when they saw it. It has also helped lead to some of the reduced tariffs some comapnies such as O2 UK have introduced to avoid further reductions in rates imposed by the eu. This has no doubt cut down on the viability of some of the international sim cards. O9 has apparently already gone under. They were great for me last summer as their inbound rate with my call through ld carrier (enlinea) was something like 16¢ US from most anywhere in Europe to the USA. I used them constantly, every so often made a call through their naitive service just to make sure I kept the account active. Was I cheating them? Did I help cause their demise? (Enlinea was great on this one...they gave me a US toll free number to give my friends which went to the sim at the above noted 16¢/minute rate) I never gave it a second thought that I was "cheating". The point is nobody knows what's coming next. Obvious 3g and 4g will change things although, at least for pure voice communications, I do think 2g GSM will be around for a while. But obviously the era of real cheap calls via the international sim are fast coming to an end. It's too bad...it was great while it lasted.