Ofcom considers termination charges

It isn't hard to distribute costs

I worked for the international calls part of a big European telco some years ago. The charging is modelled on the way airline carriers work and is based on trust. In essence you say how many minutes you routed where, the other companies say the same, you reconcile the minutes and whoever is left in deficit pays the other.

But, of course, it's based on *trust*. You have to believe the other operators aren't pulling your chain and their accounting and call management aren't unreliable rubbish. Making me pay for calls because a bunch of very rich companies that have lots of very expensive exchange equipment that should be able to do this accounting actually can't is ever so slightly crap. I actually don't believe it, to be honest, the accounting mechanisms go back to the ark and have worked for ever. I wonder if we have a dishonest supplier somewhere who are making it different for everyone else and no-one is willing to spill the beans?

Hmmm...

re: Am I the only freak without a mobile phone?! Help!

"Anti-mobile friends, I know we are legion, we must join up...."

It always amuses me when I meet people who don't have a mobile and think it is a proud and noble thing. My reaction is usually frankly, who cares? Your choice etc but please drop the "look at me! I'm special!" stance

@Fred Goldstein

"I never come close enough"

"average per-minute cost is around six little US cents"

Contradicting yourself a little bit aren't you? If you don't use all or close to all of your minutes, your cost is not six cents per minute. Domestic roaming is a non-feature too, it's just a product of the initial fragmentation of the US mobile market, and you can't roam on Verizon network with an AT&T phone anyway. So $100 is pretty steep for what you really get. But then again, there are people who think that a $100+ cable TV subscription is worth it too and then complain about $4 gas. Yes, I don't have cable, yes, I'm on a prepaid phone at <$10/month, and yes, I drive a 15mpg minivan :-). Different priorities :)

OFCOM really do need to get a life.

"... all they have to do is make it illegal for business customers to withhold Caller ID (punishable with blanket ban from the operator, very hefty fines and preferably jail time), implement free unlimited call blocking by number at the network operator, and give free (i.e. 0800) unlimited voicemail to all contract subscribers, and it'd work."

And this would deter foreign call centres HOW? especially those that are now spoofing UK 01xxx/02xxx codes in caller ID... If OFCOM want something to occupy their obviously empty days.. this is one issue they should be looking at, rather than looking for a way to milk us out of more of our hard earned.

If someone wants to call me, that is THEIR choice... not mine, why should I pay for it? This is clearly another example of a body with too much time on its hands looking to "fix" things that are not broken. Business needs to realise markets are finite, they cannot grow perpetually. I thought OFCOM was supposed to improve telecoms not drag things back to the dark ages.

If this comes in I will no longer be using a mobile phone.

Comment where it counts.

Instead of commenting here, perhaps you should tell ofcom this is a bad idea using the links provided in the article. It really doesn't take much time at all. At least that way there is a chance of OFCOM hearing your objections.

"Adequate" for whom?

I love when some think tank decides what is the new standard for being a human. At least it's not the Vatican anymore.

Its gonna be a said day if this gets pushed thou :(

I receive far more calls then i make on my mobile, something in the region of 10 incoming to every outgoing. This is cause i'm the I.T. guy and quite often find that i'm on the phone for an hour trying to explain to someone that they need to plug in the small round purple back in.

Because these calls are paid for by the customer and that i can deal with peps on the phone while working on other system I've been providing this telephone support for free (Well the customer has to pay his phone bill) Looks like i'll have to change this.

I think the most annoying thing will be bloody stupit BT contrators.

I get atleast one call me a week - the call always starts off nice and i try to help by telling them whats wrong there wiring which i would of fixed on the spot if it would of been legal :p but always ends up with me saying "Hang on, your the one getting paid for this job. Pay me or figure it out yourself" and now i'm gonna have to pay to tell someone who is getting paid how to do there job. Screw it i'm getting a 09 number.

It is just a coincidence that...

the EU and Ofcom are looking at termination fees at the same time?

I think not!

One ring to rule them all, one ring to bind them...

On PAYG - and very happy

I dropped my £27pcm contract a year ago; I now spend £5-£10 per month on PAYG with the same use. Bargain!

If I had to pay to receive, I'd see what the benefits might be - maybe cheaper outgoing calls or free intra-network calls, who knows?

Termination Fee's

I'll tell you one thing that will happen if termination fee's come about in the UK or EU for that matter Bt phone boxes will suddenly start to be very busy once again also the sale of prepaid phone cards will once again be popular.still got one or two somewhere.

I stand corrected

It shouldn't be termination fee's but paying to recieve and make mobile calls.

If that comes about I think Damm I know that mine will deffinately be shown the big hammer.

Charge to receive calls would be better.

With a 'free code' you can give out to people you know.

A 10-minute long sales call to have some 'free' windows fitted would not be so bad knowing you would get a few quid from it.