Telephone call charging
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I can't find any information on this: If I make a call to a non-freephone number when do I start getting charged? Is it the moment the call connects and the ringing starts or is it the moment the ringing cuts out and the conversation starts? I've been sitting here listening to the ringing tone for just over thirty minutes now but my call hasn't been answered and I haven't been connected through and put on hold. I'm curious as to whether I am being charged for this.
Ðavid Wulff The Royal Woofle Museum
Audioscrobbler :: flikrDie Freiheit spielt auf allen Geigen
I heard somewhere that after 5 rings, the counter starts for the charges. the idea is that otherwise, you could devise a morse code like converation. 1 ring then hang-up = dot 2 ring then hang-up = slash Oops! the morse code itself would work and remain free from my own reasoning. Consider another alternative. Lets say a cheap father wants to pick up his daughter at the airport, the daughter and father could devise a complicated scheme indicating at what time to pick her up, based on free phone calls. number of rings = day of week to pick up. (1st call) number of rings = hour of day to pick up. (2nd call) number of rings = minute of hour to pick up. (3rd call) then a call back with 3 rings means "acknowledged" 6 rings means "what ? repeat conversation please" 9 rings means "I lost the code list, call me! 12 rings or more means "pick up the &^%$%$^ phone" Of course, I made up whatever comes avter the "I heard somewhere that we are charged after 5 rings", but considering the audiance here is made of programmers, I tought this silly explaination could make one smile! :)
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I heard somewhere that after 5 rings, the counter starts for the charges. the idea is that otherwise, you could devise a morse code like converation. 1 ring then hang-up = dot 2 ring then hang-up = slash Oops! the morse code itself would work and remain free from my own reasoning. Consider another alternative. Lets say a cheap father wants to pick up his daughter at the airport, the daughter and father could devise a complicated scheme indicating at what time to pick her up, based on free phone calls. number of rings = day of week to pick up. (1st call) number of rings = hour of day to pick up. (2nd call) number of rings = minute of hour to pick up. (3rd call) then a call back with 3 rings means "acknowledged" 6 rings means "what ? repeat conversation please" 9 rings means "I lost the code list, call me! 12 rings or more means "pick up the &^%$%$^ phone" Of course, I made up whatever comes avter the "I heard somewhere that we are charged after 5 rings", but considering the audiance here is made of programmers, I tought this silly explaination could make one smile! :)
Your idea is not as far fetched as you might think! I do something similar when I phone my dad during the day: 2 rings, hangup, 1 rings, hangup, then he answers on the next call. It came about because his number got on a phone-spam list so he would let everything go to the answer phone. Everyone in my family does it when they phone him... but I guess it doesn't matter because we still end up paying for the final call anyway. For xmas I'm going to buy him a phone with caller id. :rolleyes:
Ðavid Wulff The Royal Woofle Museum
Audioscrobbler :: flikrDie Freiheit spielt auf allen Geigen
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I can't find any information on this: If I make a call to a non-freephone number when do I start getting charged? Is it the moment the call connects and the ringing starts or is it the moment the ringing cuts out and the conversation starts? I've been sitting here listening to the ringing tone for just over thirty minutes now but my call hasn't been answered and I haven't been connected through and put on hold. I'm curious as to whether I am being charged for this.
Ðavid Wulff The Royal Woofle Museum
Audioscrobbler :: flikrDie Freiheit spielt auf allen Geigen
Here, you're charged once the ringing stops and the receiver is picked up. Of course, like somebody mentioned, if you're put on hold by a receptionist, you're charged for the waiting time as well. Ahem, so why don't you make a post about this once you get your next bill? :-D Vikram.
http://www.geocities.com/vpunathambekar "It's like hitting water with your fist. There's all sorts of motion and noise at impact, and no impression left whatsoever shortly thereafter." — gantww.
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well here you only get charged when somebody picks up, be carefull though when you phone to a company the receptionist can put you on hold, giving you a nice tune to listen to. This tune will cost you a lot of money, especially when it takes a while. No hurries, no worries.
My favourite on-hold music is when it consists of silence, followed by a short "you are still on hold, please wait" message every minute. When on hold for more than a minute or so I tend to switch over to the speakerphone so I can carry on working. With that sort of on-hold sequence though it is very distracting because as soon as the messages comes on I grab for the phone, hit the pick-up button, and by then the message has stopped playing and it is silence again so I'm left there going "hello? hello?" down the phone. :mad:
Ðavid Wulff The Royal Woofle Museum
Audioscrobbler :: flikrDie Freiheit spielt auf allen Geigen
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I heard somewhere that after 5 rings, the counter starts for the charges. the idea is that otherwise, you could devise a morse code like converation. 1 ring then hang-up = dot 2 ring then hang-up = slash Oops! the morse code itself would work and remain free from my own reasoning. Consider another alternative. Lets say a cheap father wants to pick up his daughter at the airport, the daughter and father could devise a complicated scheme indicating at what time to pick her up, based on free phone calls. number of rings = day of week to pick up. (1st call) number of rings = hour of day to pick up. (2nd call) number of rings = minute of hour to pick up. (3rd call) then a call back with 3 rings means "acknowledged" 6 rings means "what ? repeat conversation please" 9 rings means "I lost the code list, call me! 12 rings or more means "pick up the &^%$%$^ phone" Of course, I made up whatever comes avter the "I heard somewhere that we are charged after 5 rings", but considering the audiance here is made of programmers, I tought this silly explaination could make one smile! :)
Heh heh, I use your method fairly often, but not for communicating messages as complex as the code you mentioned. I tell my folks I'll give them a missed call when the train is 10 minutes from pulling into my station, and my brother comes over to the station to pick me up. But we're not charged after 5 rings here. :) Vikram.
http://www.geocities.com/vpunathambekar "It's like hitting water with your fist. There's all sorts of motion and noise at impact, and no impression left whatsoever shortly thereafter." — gantww.
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I heard somewhere that after 5 rings, the counter starts for the charges. the idea is that otherwise, you could devise a morse code like converation. 1 ring then hang-up = dot 2 ring then hang-up = slash Oops! the morse code itself would work and remain free from my own reasoning. Consider another alternative. Lets say a cheap father wants to pick up his daughter at the airport, the daughter and father could devise a complicated scheme indicating at what time to pick her up, based on free phone calls. number of rings = day of week to pick up. (1st call) number of rings = hour of day to pick up. (2nd call) number of rings = minute of hour to pick up. (3rd call) then a call back with 3 rings means "acknowledged" 6 rings means "what ? repeat conversation please" 9 rings means "I lost the code list, call me! 12 rings or more means "pick up the &^%$%$^ phone" Of course, I made up whatever comes avter the "I heard somewhere that we are charged after 5 rings", but considering the audiance here is made of programmers, I tought this silly explaination could make one smile! :)
Here in Canada on collect calls, you are given about 10 seconds of recording to give your name to an automated recording system. Before the system will connect you to the other party, they have to accept the call, but after listening to the 10 seconds of you announcing your name. Quite often I will miss my normal train and want to phone home and let family know that I'll be late. So very quickly I give my name as 'Missed train. Home at 7'. At which point I'll hear one of my daughters decline accepting the call and say 'See ya later, Dad'. Done this hundreds of times. :) Chris Meech I am Canadian. [heard in a local bar] Gently arching his fishing rod back he moves the tip forward in a gentle arch releasing the line.... kersplunk [Doug Goulden] Nice sig! [Tim Deveaux on Matt Newman's sig with a quote from me]
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Here in Canada on collect calls, you are given about 10 seconds of recording to give your name to an automated recording system. Before the system will connect you to the other party, they have to accept the call, but after listening to the 10 seconds of you announcing your name. Quite often I will miss my normal train and want to phone home and let family know that I'll be late. So very quickly I give my name as 'Missed train. Home at 7'. At which point I'll hear one of my daughters decline accepting the call and say 'See ya later, Dad'. Done this hundreds of times. :) Chris Meech I am Canadian. [heard in a local bar] Gently arching his fishing rod back he moves the tip forward in a gentle arch releasing the line.... kersplunk [Doug Goulden] Nice sig! [Tim Deveaux on Matt Newman's sig with a quote from me]
:cool: Vikram.
http://www.geocities.com/vpunathambekar "It's like hitting water with your fist. There's all sorts of motion and noise at impact, and no impression left whatsoever shortly thereafter." — gantww.
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I can't find any information on this: If I make a call to a non-freephone number when do I start getting charged? Is it the moment the call connects and the ringing starts or is it the moment the ringing cuts out and the conversation starts? I've been sitting here listening to the ringing tone for just over thirty minutes now but my call hasn't been answered and I haven't been connected through and put on hold. I'm curious as to whether I am being charged for this.
Ðavid Wulff The Royal Woofle Museum
Audioscrobbler :: flikrDie Freiheit spielt auf allen Geigen
i've worked on billing systems for cellular and airplane phones. you aren't billed unless the call is picked up. but the duration you're billed for CAN include the ring time. for the airplane phones, you were billed for ring time! but for the vast majority of phone/company/billingsystem types, you're billed from pickup to 1st hangup (on either side).
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i've worked on billing systems for cellular and airplane phones. you aren't billed unless the call is picked up. but the duration you're billed for CAN include the ring time. for the airplane phones, you were billed for ring time! but for the vast majority of phone/company/billingsystem types, you're billed from pickup to 1st hangup (on either side).
Ok, thanks. I've noted down in Outlook to check for this item on my next bill. My talk time was about five minutes after fifty minutes ringing, so I'll look to see how long the billed duration is on my bill.
Ðavid Wulff The Royal Woofle Museum
Audioscrobbler :: flikrDie Freiheit spielt auf allen Geigen
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Here in Canada on collect calls, you are given about 10 seconds of recording to give your name to an automated recording system. Before the system will connect you to the other party, they have to accept the call, but after listening to the 10 seconds of you announcing your name. Quite often I will miss my normal train and want to phone home and let family know that I'll be late. So very quickly I give my name as 'Missed train. Home at 7'. At which point I'll hear one of my daughters decline accepting the call and say 'See ya later, Dad'. Done this hundreds of times. :) Chris Meech I am Canadian. [heard in a local bar] Gently arching his fishing rod back he moves the tip forward in a gentle arch releasing the line.... kersplunk [Doug Goulden] Nice sig! [Tim Deveaux on Matt Newman's sig with a quote from me]
Chris Meech wrote: Before the system will connect you to the other party, they have to accept the call, but after listening to the 10 seconds of you announcing your name. I did that too. During my initial days in US, I used to call my friends and ask them to call me back.
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I can't find any information on this: If I make a call to a non-freephone number when do I start getting charged? Is it the moment the call connects and the ringing starts or is it the moment the ringing cuts out and the conversation starts? I've been sitting here listening to the ringing tone for just over thirty minutes now but my call hasn't been answered and I haven't been connected through and put on hold. I'm curious as to whether I am being charged for this.
Ðavid Wulff The Royal Woofle Museum
Audioscrobbler :: flikrDie Freiheit spielt auf allen Geigen
The charge starts when the call connection is open (i.e. someone or something answers the call). However, be aware that some companies, instead of playing "nice soothing" music while you are on hold will play a ringing tone so you might not know that you are now being billed. Which magazine ran a thing on that a few months ago and were trying to outlaw the practice.
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