TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Re: Access of Calling Card Dial in Number From Prepaid Cellular

Re: Access of Calling Card Dial in Number From Prepaid Cellular

Joseph (JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com)
Mon, 15 Nov 2004 22:00:27 -0800

On Fri, 12 Nov 2004 23:43:32 +0100, Marek Tomczyk
<Marek.Tomczyk@stud.uni-karlsruhe.de> wrote:

> So I have decided now to get an American mobile phone on my next
> trip to the USA.

Since you have a phone that's capable of GSM 1900 why not pick up a
T-Mobile USA "T-Mobile To Go" SIM card. Full retail price is $50
which includes $30 of calling time, but these cards are often on sale
on eBay for much less. Some of them even have extended expiry times
of one year's time.

> I like the offer of AT&T Wireless very much as it provides a long
> validity of one year for balances starting at $100. Domestic calling
> with the Free2Go service is very reasonable priced, but calling
> foreign countries is still expensive.

Unfortunately with the Free2Go service it will be necessary for you to
buy a telephone instrument as the Free2Go service is not GSM but is
TDMA and requires a TDMA technology handset.

> So the idea is to use a calling card service for this matter. The AT&T
> documents say that prepaid calling card service is not possible with
> Free2Go. Besides this AT&T says in its terms that certain numbers can
> be blocked if "abuse" to the network happens.

For making international calls from your mobile phone I recommend a
service called Gorilla Mobile < http://gorillamobile.com > which
provides very reasonable rates for international calls. Calls to
foreign mobiles such as in Europe are a good deal more expensive, but
that's usually the case with all long distance providers or many of
them at least. You must have a major credit card to charge your calls
or have a US bank account to debit the charges.

> Is calling a local dial in number from a mobile phone in America, in
> particular from a free2Go phone, abusive usage of the network?

If you mean is there a larger charge to call a US mobile as there is
in Europe? The answer is no. Calls made from the mobile phone are
the same whether calling regular land line numbers or other mobile
phone numbers. However, you should know that in North America you are
charged both for incoming calls as well as outgoing calls. Normally
you are also charged for calling "free phone" numbers (800/888/877/866
numbers.)

> Do you know if calling of local (regular) dial in number from American,
> in particular prepaid aka "pay as you go" services is possible?

I'm not sure if I understand your question but you can pretty much
dial any number either domestically or internationally from your
mobile phone whether it's monthly or "pay as you go" or as they call
it in North America "prepaid."

> Can such providers block access to those numbers?

I'm sure it's possible that a provider could block certain numbers if
they wished to, but as far as I know no providers do or at least don't
intentionally.

Post Followup Article Use your browser's quoting feature to quote article into reply
Go to Next message: Henry: "Re: Chechen Rebel Web Site Reopened"
Go to Previous message: Hemant Shah: "Satellite Receiver Calling Out Over VOIP?"
May be in reply to: Marek Tomczyk: "Access of Calling Card Dial in Number From Prepaid Cellular"
Next in thread: Earl F. Parrish: "Re: Access of Calling Card Dial in Number From Prepaid Cellular"
TELECOM Digest: Home Page