GSM WORLD

Just called Orange to ask how much it costs to call a Spanish Mobile
(Vodafone Espana) from the UK. Tubby said 20p, same as landline in
Spain.

Surely not - this seems fairly good value as even the calling-card
companies cant seem to get the Spanish mobile cost below about
15-17ppm.

Have Orange made a mistake or am I to believe the tubby?

Jules

On Sun, 30 May 2004 19:38:56 +0100, Jules wrote:


Calls from Orange to Spanish landlines and mobiles are charged at the
same rate. In general I find it cheaper to use my Orange phone to
call an EU mobile number than say BT.


Orange are correct, see:-
http://www.orange.co.uk/international/calling.html

--
Hiram Hackenbacker

Jules wrote:


If its the same as O2, the price for calling foreign mobiles is the
same as calling foreign landlines in the same country. At times it does
work out very nicely, as its really not all that much more expensive
than calling from your landline - or possibly even cheaper.

Joe OHara wrote in message
news:fYquc.118$sy4.30@newsfe2-gui.server.ntli.net...

[snip]


So why isnt it the same price to call a mobile as for a landline in
*this* country..?!

Ivor

Ivor Jones wrote in message
news:c9db2a$7l2$1@newsg1.svr.pol.co.uk...


It is *from* a mobile, isnt it?


--

J B

J B wrote in message
news:2huvhsFh4kqqU1@uni-berlin.de...

It can be, but it depends on what network/tariff youre on..! If you have
an any network anytime tariff then yes, but if not the cost can vary
considerably. Unlike the USA for example where a mobile number is
indistinguishable from a landline number and costs are identical.

Ivor

Ivor Jones wrote:


Well, costs to the caller are identical. However, you do pay (or have
your minutes deducted) when someone phones you, so it is slightly more
balanced than the way in which you have presented it.

In America, you do get a lot more minutes for your money, but in general
the handset subsidies are significantly less. Admittedly though, I would
prefer to get say 1000 anytime minutes, with unlimited nights & weekends
for my Ł30 and pay an extra Ł100 for my handset, rather than get like
200 minutes and get the handset for free, however I know that this
wouldnt be to everyones taste. Seems to me like in this country people
just want something for free (even though you really pay for it in other
ways) - though Im sure this doesnt apply to a lot of people here who
know how these things work.

I frequent both sides of the pond. For heavy user, I think the US plans
come out cheaper, but for low volume users, the UKs plans seem more
aggressive. Where the mobile companies in the UK seem to make out like fat
rats is on the cost of incoming calls. If I were in US and I know that Im
going to make a number of calls, I can buy a huge bucket of minutes and will
receive a very good deal for it. In the UK, while this philosophy would
hold true for outgoing calls, I cannot call any provider and saying: I
plan to call Orange for a 2,000 minutes a month, can I get a plan which
permits me to call them for 5p a minute.
The caller has no bargaining power in the caller pays model and the only
thing that the mobile user can do is offer to return every call or to buy
one of those rare plans where the mobile provider gives you a geographic
number.

There is something a little odd that it is cheaper for most Brits to call my
US mobile than to call my UK mobile. Even when you factor in what Im
paying to my US provider, it is still cheaper. The average person pays
about 5p a minute to call the US from a landline. The average call to a
mobile is somewhere between 20p and 25p.

Very few people select the mobile plan that they are using based on what it
will cost their callers. In my opinion, incoming minutes are where the
companies clean up.

Incidentally, it is usually cheaper to call a UK mobile with a good US
calling plan than with a good UK one. Go figure. I can call UK mobiles for
US$0.10 (home) and US$0.12 (work).

Stu

Joe OHara wrote in message
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