Fred Atk>> True, but you have to understand the culture of the area I'm in to
>> fully get the picture. ...
>> It is a problem when you have folks who are constantly watching the
>> amount of long distance calls being made. Unfortunately, we *are* in >> that position.
> I'm glad it worked out for you.
> But I thought _I_ was old fashioned about modern technology.
> My mother was extremely frugal. When she wanted to talk to her sister
> (a long distance call), she would use the drugstore phone and bring
> only enough change for a 3 minute call. That forced her to limit the
> call to 3 minutes. Normally she and her sister sent postcards back
> and forth. But about ten years ago they got 5c/min Sundays. They
> stopped using postcards and used the phone instead, talking for an
> hour or more. My mother also regularly called relatives across the
> country. BTW, even in the nursing home they'd let my mother make
> occassional free toll calls from the nurse's desk.
> Anyway, the point is that a once-frugal elderly person who once
> thought of long distance telephone as very serious business changed
> and used the phone freely. Certainly you don't want toll calls all
> over the place all day long, but I would think today a business would
> be looking at a bigger picture.
I still have relatives that limit themselves to 3 minute long distance calls, even though they have unlimited evening and weekend calling plans, it's just habit and one that seems to be unbreakable in some people.