«

> GSM coverage has improved a lot but isn't everywhere by a long chalk,
> so a review of maps is called for. Their are analogue and digital
> prepay options

See ?....the merrycans are not stupid.........they don't throw out the baby
with the bathwater.....our analogue TV is next...new technology squandering
the worlds resources.....

"Mark" <> wrote in message
news:Oeake.15118$...
> Thanks...
>
> Hmm, it looks like most of these charge around 0.10c a minute to receive
> calls, looks like it's pretty much standard across the board, apart from
> Cricket which doesn't cover Maryland...
>
> Beginning to think it might actually be a lot cheaper to swap the odd
> text and leave the onus on her to call me using a cheap calling card,
> since that'll be far cheaper than the 10c a minute to receive an
> incoming call, and then me do the same if she can get access to a landline..

If she calls you on your UK mobile it'll almost certainly cost a hell of a lot
more than 10c per minute. It costs over 21p per minute to call a "3" mobile from
a UK (BT) landine - calling it from the US is likely to be more.

That's the other side of the coin to the US system of mobile user paying for
incoming calls. It costs a lot to terminate calls on UK mobiles so the cost of
calling them is very high.

--
Andy

"Mark" <> wrote in message
news:a_8ke.14505$...

> Thanks for all your advice so far guys, everyone that replied to my
> questions.

My 2p worth

Orange PAYG works in usa - you could text her cheaply and she could receive
for nowt.
If she could get access to a land line, you could call her cheaply with 1899
from your landline, or quite cheaply from an Orange mobile with 18866.

Don't know about t'other mobile networks sorry!


--

J B

Andy Pandy wrote:

> If she calls you on your UK mobile it'll almost certainly cost a hell of a lot
> more than 10c per minute. It costs over 21p per minute to call a "3" mobile from
> a UK (BT) landine - calling it from the US is likely to be more.
>
> That's the other side of the coin to the US system of mobile user paying for
> incoming calls. It costs a lot to terminate calls on UK mobiles so the cost of
> calling them is very high.

Even if she used one of the calling card /pre-dial companies that claim
massively cheap rates to call the UK?

Mark.

J B wrote:
>
> Orange PAYG works in usa - you could text her cheaply and she could receive
> for nowt.
>
That's quite recent - I discovered it by accident. I had just installed my
Orange SIM, to check some phone numbers (I was in the US at the time) and
within seconds, a text message from a cousin in the UK arrived!

If I had to rely on the Orange website, though, I'd still think PAYG Orange
was unavailable in the US.

Yup, the cheapest rate I've got to a UK mobile is $0.15 a minute.

Stu

"Mark" <> wrote in message
news:axjke.1569$...
> Andy Pandy wrote:
>
>> If she calls you on your UK mobile it'll almost certainly cost a hell of
>> a lot
>> more than 10c per minute. It costs over 21p per minute to call a "3"
>> mobile from
>> a UK (BT) landine - calling it from the US is likely to be more.
>>
>> That's the other side of the coin to the US system of mobile user paying
>> for
>> incoming calls. It costs a lot to terminate calls on UK mobiles so the
>> cost of
>> calling them is very high.
>
> Even if she used one of the calling card /pre-dial companies that claim
> massively cheap rates to call the UK?
>
> Mark.

"Mark" <> wrote in message
news:axjke.1569$...
> > If she calls you on your UK mobile it'll almost certainly cost a hell of a
lot
> > more than 10c per minute. It costs over 21p per minute to call a "3" mobile
from
> > a UK (BT) landine - calling it from the US is likely to be more.
> >
> > That's the other side of the coin to the US system of mobile user paying for
> > incoming calls. It costs a lot to terminate calls on UK mobiles so the cost
of
> > calling them is very high.
>
> Even if she used one of the calling card /pre-dial companies that claim
> massively cheap rates to call the UK?

Yes. They will have much higher rates for calling UK mobiles than for calling UK
landlines. They would lose money on calls to mobiles otherwise, since your UK
mobile operator charges them high termination fees.

It's the same calling from the UK to countries where it is free to receive
mobile calls (eg France). The cost of calling French mobiles is a hell of a lot
more than the cost of calling French landlines (on 1899 it is 15 times the
cost!). Calling US mobiles is the same price as calling US landlines because of
the US system where mobile users pay to receive.

All mobile operators have high termination fees - the difference between the US
and UK system is who pays it. In the UK the caller always pays, in the US the
mobile user pays.

Forget mobiles - use landlines wherever possible and you and your girlfriend can
gas very cheaply, or even free.

0.5p per min on 1899: http://www.call1899.co.uk/index2.php

or free using a VOIP service like Skype, if you both have broadband access:
http://www.skype.com

--
Andy

Mark wrote:
> Stuart Friedman wrote:
>
>> Does your girl friend have a triband? One of the better prepaid
>> offerings comes from 711.com. Their speakout wireless phones are
>> effectively free and the per minute rate is $US0.20 a minute. It works
>> nationwide in the US, and has a one year expiry. Remember that in the
>> US incoming calls come out of your bucket of minutes.
>
>
> Sorry by this do you mean that if someone from abroad calls any native
> US mobile phone, even if that phone is in the US, they have to pay to
> /receive/ the call? Or does that go for all calls?

If someone anywhere (even in the USA standing right next to you using a
normal house phone in a US house) calls a US cellphone, then the
recipient pays for those minutes. US mobiles are on normal dialling
codes so cost no more to call than any other local number. The extra
cost is picked up by the recipient.

On Mon, 23 May 2005 01:09:56 -0500, (Miguel Cruz)
wrote:

>If you will be talking a fair bit, then she should get a post-paid plan that
>includes a fair-sized pail of minutes.

If she doesn't have US credit it's unlikely she can get a postpaid
monthly plan unless she ponies up several hundered dollars deposit (if
then even.)

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Thus spaketh Ivor Jones:
> Mark wrote:
>> That's mad. I can't find anything on the 7-Eleven Speak Out site
>> about having to pay for incoming calls, it says incoming texts but
>> doesn't say incoming calls, can you point me to where to find out
>> about this?
>
> Not mad at all. The US school of thought is simple - *you* choose to
> go mobile, therefore *you* pay for the privilege. Why should a
> *caller* have to pay extra because *you* want to go out..?
>
> It's not normally a problem as most US calling plans have more
> inclusive minutes than you know what to do with, but for PAYG you
> have to watch out. Also note that calls are usually billed by the
> minute not the second, so a 1 minute 5 second call costs you 2
> minutes.
> BTW please note that top posting is frowned upon in this group,
> thanks.
> Ivor

The caller has the choice whether to pay the cost of calling a mobile or not.

Thankfully we never went down the crazy route of paying for incoming calls.