Advice for calling US Mobile Phone?

??? I do have ADSL but no land line phone. Are they somehow connected where yo live? (With land line I mean the phone connection, not the physical wire)

The rest of here does not apply here or at least I have no need for it. Neither does many other people.

Osmo

There is no need to convince that incoming calls are free. That is assumed here. People have never paid for incoming calls. In fact people complain when they have to pay for incoming calls when they roam. Please do not project your views to us. Nobody would want to pay for receiving calls here.

Here some operators actually compensate the user for incoming calls with free airtime.

Osmo

In the U.S., so-called "naked DSL" is just beginning to be offered, and only a couple of phone companies are offering it. Similarly, the largest cable television operator will not sell you just cable modem service, you must take at least basic analog cable TV service. They do this to try to force you to take more services than you want.

We're just beginning to see cities allowing naked, whole-city, WiFi service. The cable TV and telephone companies are fighting this like crazy by trying to pass laws against any government funded wireless service. The workaround is to use a company such as MetroFi to supply the service; not free, but cheaper than the alternatives.

Some phone companies are now allowing you to have DSL without landline phone service. The motivation is that people that don't want a landline will find another source for high-speed internet if forced to have a landline to get DSL.

Speak for yourself. I know which system I prefer.

Ivor

Osmo, if you don't have an answer it's really better to not say anything rather than appear foolish. You're grasping for straws and they ain't there.

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Yes you do, you have the physical wires, that is a landline. You may not have a phone connected to it, but you have the wiring. Here in the UK you cannot have the wiring without a phone account and the accompanying monthly rental. BT (the major provider) just don't allow it. Cable TV companies do, but the areas covered by them are a lot less. Many people have no choice but to use BT, so they *have* to pay for a phone line.

Ivor

The problem here is that the only source of broadband other than a BT phone line is cable TV. You can have the cable with just broadband on it, no phone or TV, but there are large areas of the country that are not covered by cable, only BT. The users there have no choice - if you want broadband, you *have* to have a phone line, there is *no* "other source" to get broadband from. They have a captive market.

Ivor

Sure the connection goes throuhg the physical wire but that's not same as having a land line. I have ADSL for which I pay its fee. I do not pay anything for any land line as I do no have one.

I do not get your point?

Osmo

I know what you mean. I still do not consider it free, especially if the monthly fee is significant. After all someone paying per minute could well pay less than someone who gets the calls "free" is the base fee is lower.

If there were such deals here I bet many would keep the lines open just because they could. There are people who let the water run for no reason but because they do not have a water meter. We used to have a system where one was charged per call. Some companies abused it by keeping a modem line constantly open so they switched to per minute billing first on day time and then on evenings and weekends also.

When you call to a mobile do you understand that the receiver pays and do not speak for too long? Or do you not care at all what your calls cost to others. I personally think the caller pays is fair as the caller then knows to speak briefly enough. Of course there are rude people who start babbling their own when someone calls them so that the person does not even get to say what he intended.

Osmo

So far, the riiing SIM has worked fine for me. Especially, as a lot of my trips involve a short time in different countries, it's ideal for me- and frankly, it isn't going to cost much more (if at all) for most people to call me on a Lichtenstein mobile number than a UK one! :)

the US does not have special numbers for mobiles, so any service that can call US numbers should do. I am not sure whether the callee still has to pay per minute for incoming calls to a US mobile. Probably depends on the particular plan.

I think it is the case as well with some mobile operators in India.

and they do not accept any non-US credit cards, do they?

He smells.

-- Andy

Providing they use a call-through, eg telediscount or telestunt. Otherwise it'll likely cost them a fortune (IIRC BT charge about 50ppm and TalkTalk about

1899 don't have rates for Lichenstein on their web site.

-- Andy

They both go down the same wire. You get one with other, here in the UK.

My point is that you wonder why people have landlines when you can make calls for 6.9c per minute on your mobile.

I make the vast majority of my phone calls for much cheaper rates than 6.9c per minute (even when you factor in the monthly line rental), by virtue of having a landline and my contacts having landlines.

-- Andy

Here the phone connection is separate from the line. I used to have a phone connection in it but I dropped it years ago. I then got ADSL on it. There is no need to have phone connection to have it. In fact any such requirement would be illegal as abuse of predominant market position. (couping ASDL or mobile connections with landline ones is a no no because of the local monopolies phone companies had for over a hundred years).

If I hooked a phone in the socket, I'd get nothing. Not even a dial tone. Therefore I do not have landline in any meaningful sense related to phones. If I wanted it to work it would cost me 99 euros to open it and then at least 6 euros a month as fees.

Does the BT actually rip the cables out if you close the connection?

Here cable is also an option. I first tried it then took ASDL from Elisa and got modem as bonus. I then closed it and got a cheaper connection. That is here known as milking.

Osmo

BT's website says 18ppm during the week, 16ppm weekend to _landlines_. I can't find what the mobile surcharge would be, but oddly, the only call I made from the landline was charged 16ppm last weekend. I'll try a weekday call and see what the per minute charge is. I'd read elsewhere that 18ppm was the BT charge, so maybe it's the same, at the moment.

Yes- they don't actually place calls there- nor do 18866 yet.