Google Voice invites callers Google has started contacting punters who expressed interest in getting early access to the company's telephony service, starting to connect up the million numbers it reserved last week. The private beta of Google Voice was launched back in March, at which time the company said it would get back to anyone who registered an …
What a peculiar statement to make, "The European habit of forcing the calling party pay for the call...", far as it seems to me that is how it should be, if someone initiates a call then that person is the one that is using the infrastructure and therefore should pay. Surely in the US landline owners do not have to pay for miss-dials and spam or other unwanted calls?!
"The European habit of forcing the calling party pay for the call ......" What a cheek !! surely the only forcing is done in "the land of the free" where a caller DOES pay to connect to mobiles and landlines alike and where the mobile users pays an additional hike for the the privilege of receiving.
LET US REMIND OURSELVES that we are NOT America, we all recall when cellular took off in the UK with Vodafone using our current harging scheme and Cellnet using the US version.
VODAFONE rules the world as a result and BT even had to flog off Cellnet because copying the US is NOT always a good idea
I'm not anti yank, they develop great kit and systems - but but cellular shafting is not one of them, that is why Vodafone leads
Everyone knows that when you order a service - YOU pay for it because YOU ordered it ! This article just looks like a paid up media dig at Euro Joe to follow uncle Sam
You pay to call mobiles here in the US, just as the numbers are mixed in with the local area codes the caller only pays the local rate and the numbers are indistinguishable from other local numbers.
If you are on Pay as You Go or similar then you pay to receive mobile calls, but most US plans these days include free incoming calls.
Other than that the main difference is the expense/lack of good data services compared to Europe, although this can be partially excused by the country being ridiculously vast, so any infrastructure upgrade is considerably more of an undertaking than in small, densely populated European countries.
Apart from that everything's the same - overpriced calls, poor customer service, buggy handsets, etc...
Chris177 I don't know what carrier you are on but I'm on Verizon and not a pay as you go plan and don't have free incoming calls.
Yes if someone else on Verizon Wireless (A Vodaphone and Verizon partnership) calls me then the call is free for both of us but if anyone else calls me I have to use minutes (Unless it's after 9pm at night or a weekend)
Just to go contra to the Vonage flow -
I've been a Vonage customer since 2005 and use the following for about $30 per month -
- up to 6 number simu-ring including to international numbers (handy when I'm using a US or French SIM)
- normal forwarding allows international numbers too
- up to 500 minutes of calls to US numbers no matter where you and your adapter are (I'm in the UK a lot)
- a London number that rings the same Vonage line as the US number
- voice mail delivered via email
- decent rates for international calling (not the best and certainly, as you can guess from the above, not the reason I subscribe)
One problem in 2007 when I got deactivated due to a long period of disconnection, but a note was put on my records and it hasn't happen since.
Mind you I have never tried to cancel the service or spent much time talking to the CS.
When you compare that service to one that is not even offered outside the US I have difficulty understanding why there is such interest, except the brand of course.
The Register 
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2024
