Why wireless isn't wide open

"AT&T, Verizon Wireless, and other big cellular carriers are dragging
their feet on approving services that could compete with their own..."

Business Week article: http://xrl.us/bcprt

["Followup-To:" header set to alt.cellular.alltel.]
On 2007-12-11, Nomen Nescio <nobody@dizum.com> wrote:
> "AT&T, Verizon Wireless, and other big cellular carriers are dragging
> their feet on approving services that could compete with their own..."
>
> Business Week article: http://xrl.us/bcprt
>

Gee whiz.

Arn't they dumb.

Why would anyone resist competition?

CSSJR
--
If we do not wish to lose our freedom, we must learn to tolerate our
neighbor's right to freedom even though he might express that freedom
in a manner we consider to be eccentric.

Nomen Nescio <nobody@dizum.com> wrote in
news:5ef12e4849fafda4f0ae3abae661a3c6@dizum.com:

> http://xrl.us/bcprt

"Global Calls for Less

One company rebuffed by the carriers is Rebtel Networks, a
Swedish provider of cheap international calls over the Web.
Rebtel wants to use short codes to bring its service to mobile
phones. Users would send a text message containing the desired
global phone number to Rebtel's short code. They would then
receive a text message with a local phone number to dial, paying
pennies per minute for the call rather than the much higher sums
cellular carriers charge for overseas connections."

Now much of an issue, actually. That's why we have CONTACT LISTS
and VOICE DIALING.

I was an original beta tester for Mobivox:
http://www.mobivox.com/
You simply put your Mobivox server number in your contact list on
the phone. Tell the phone, "Call Cheap" (or whatever silly name
you want to put it under). The Mobivox server answers with a
really nice voice recognition system. Mobivox is also tied in
with Skype so when you call it already has your Skype contact
list loaded off the Skype server. You can call people on Skype
for FREE!....well, plus your mobile phone airtime if applicable.
If you call to a phone or mobilephone overseas, Mobivox works
just like Skype, deducting your call's charges from your
PRECHARGED Mobivox account. England, for instance, is 1.9c/min,
even cheaper than Skype Out charges from Skype phones. Mobivox
works from ANY phone, landline or mobile, because it has regular
access numbers across the planet. It doesn't depend on SELLphone
carriers to cooperate with it in any way. Their numbers are just
another phone number. Mobivox has matured nicely and works
great.

Oh, too, if you have a FREE incoming SELLphone, like Nextel, you
can talk on Mobivox FOR FREE! You send a text message to
Mobivox, even an email will work, telling Mobivox what number you
want to call. Mobivox recognizes your caller ID number and your
account balance so you need do nothing to get it to call you.
Very shortly after the message is sent, (a few days on Verizon
sometimes..(c, Mobivox makes the connection by calling you
BOTH, a free incoming Nextel (or whatever) call. Mobivox calls
the party, first, then plays them a message to please wait a few
seconds. If they answer, it calls your phone and connects. If
they don't, Mobivox still calls you to tell you the party doesn't
answer. If their answering machine answers, it interconnects you
with it, of course. That works great, too, and is especially
useful on landline ripoff long distance charges, stopping them.

Make a free trial call on the homepage to see how well Mobivox
works. Just put your number and someone else's number in the
boxes and let Mobivox call you both. Don't take my word for it.

Mobivox WILL eat your precharge if you don't use it in 6 months
or a year, I forget which. Precharge is only $10, the only money
you have to spend is when you USE it. There's no "monthly
charges" our wonderful SELLphone companies love so much...(c;


Larry
--
Merry Christmas!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Qi_NhFS4xEE

Larry <noone@home.com> wrote in
news:Xns9A03E9BDF7200noonehomecom@208.49.80.253:

> http://www.mobivox.com/
>

Oops, I forgot to add, if you get your overseas people to simply
open a Mobivox account, which they do NOT have to put money into,
there are many civilized places on the planet where MEMBERS can
call each other FOR FREE!...Member-to-Member. It's like Mobile-
to-Mobile on SELLphones. Click on "What's FREE" tab at the top
of the home page. Click the bars to light up the map. Notice
that the mobile-and-landlines doesn't cover near as much as
landlines alone because the CALLER pays for the mobile calls in
most places, which they charge to your Mobivox precharge, of
course.

Only the red zones have no mobile caller charges, notably China.

A tiny red dot in the Pacific is Guam. I have a friend in the
Navy in Guam. SELLphone carriers think Guam is on Uranus, not
part of the USA, and charge lots to talk to Uranus. I got my
friend and all his family to join Mobivox as members. They can
now call him, on his cell or home phone, in Guam, from SELLphones
and landlines in Indiana, back home, FOR FREE, just as if he were
in town. BOY was his WIFE happy when I told them about it!...(c;

Larry
--
There's ways around these ripoffs....(c;

On 2007-12-12, Larry <noone@home.com> wrote:
> Nomen Nescio <nobody@dizum.com> wrote in
> "Global Calls for Less
>
> One company rebuffed by the carriers is Rebtel Networks, a
> Swedish provider of cheap international calls over the Web.
> Rebtel wants to use short codes to bring its service to mobile
> phones. Users would send a text message containing the desired
> global phone number to Rebtel's short code. They would then
> receive a text message with a local phone number to dial, paying
> pennies per minute for the call rather than the much higher sums
> cellular carriers charge for overseas connections."
>
> Now much of an issue, actually. That's why we have CONTACT LISTS
> and VOICE DIALING.
[...]
> PRECHARGED Mobivox account. England, for instance, is 1.9c/min,
> even cheaper than Skype Out charges from Skype phones. Mobivox
> works from ANY phone, landline or mobile, because it has regular
> access numbers across the planet. It doesn't depend on SELLphone
> carriers to cooperate with it in any way. Their numbers are just
> another phone number. Mobivox has matured nicely and works
> great.

I think you misunderstand how Rebtel works. Instead of giving
you a dial-through number that you need to talk to to make a
call, it instead gives you a separate local number for each
overseas person you want to call. The first time you call
them it gives you the local number, you record the number in
your phone book, and then each subsequent time you call you
just dial that number. No need to talk to a dial-through every
time you call, each of your overseas contacts ends up with a
separate local number.

The issue is how you set up the first call. You can do this
over the Internet, or by using a local dial-through number, or
by sending them a text message from your cell phone. I guess
they wanted the short code to make it easier to send that
text message, but nothing relies on it.

Rebtel is also nice for travel in countries where they have
numbers, if you have a local phone. You register the phone's
number with them and they give you a set of local numbers for
that country for each of your contacts. And you can get free
calls to countries where they have numbers, even if the person
you are calling doesn't have an account with them; just get them
to call you back on the number that showed up in their caller
ID when you called. This is all pretty clever. Rebtel's rates
also seem to be cheaper than Mobivox.

It isn't surprising these services are cheaper than Skype, though,
since Skype is not that cheap. Skype's rates to mobile phones in
many countries kind of suck. My current favorite example
Skype ripoff is the cost to call a mobile phone in Trinidad;
it shouldn't be anywhere close to the premium over a landline,
the actual difference in cost is only a penny or two per minute.
I like Skype because it works fairly reliably over just about
any random Internet connection you can find, while SIP is
frequently blocked. I am aware, however, that some of Skype's
prices are not that attractive.

Dennis Ferguson

Larry wrote:
> Nomen Nescio <nobody@dizum.com> wrote in
> news:5ef12e4849fafda4f0ae3abae661a3c6@dizum.com:
>
>> http://xrl.us/bcprt
>
> "Global Calls for Less
>
> One company rebuffed by the carriers is Rebtel Networks, a
> Swedish provider of cheap international calls over the Web.
> Rebtel wants to use short codes to bring its service to mobile
> phones. Users would send a text message containing the desired
> global phone number to Rebtel's short code. They would then
> receive a text message with a local phone number to dial, paying
> pennies per minute for the call rather than the much higher sums
> cellular carriers charge for overseas connections."

It's already very easy to do this using something like OneSuite or
TalkLoop. Where it all falls apart is when calling a mobile phone in a
country with "Caller Pays" because the charge for calling the mobile
phone is so high.

On 2007-12-12, SMS ???? ? <scharf.steven@geemail.com> wrote:
> Larry wrote:
>> Nomen Nescio <nobody@dizum.com> wrote in
>> news:5ef12e4849fafda4f0ae3abae661a3c6@dizum.com:
>>
>>> http://xrl.us/bcprt
>>
>> "Global Calls for Less
>>
>> One company rebuffed by the carriers is Rebtel Networks, a
>> Swedish provider of cheap international calls over the Web.
>> Rebtel wants to use short codes to bring its service to mobile
>> phones. Users would send a text message containing the desired
>> global phone number to Rebtel's short code. They would then
>> receive a text message with a local phone number to dial, paying
>> pennies per minute for the call rather than the much higher sums
>> cellular carriers charge for overseas connections."
>
> It's already very easy to do this using something like OneSuite or
> TalkLoop. Where it all falls apart is when calling a mobile phone in a
> country with "Caller Pays" because the charge for calling the mobile
> phone is so high.

You can dial-through with their service too, just like OneSuite or
TalkLoop, but their main feature is that they'll give you individual
local numbers for each of the contacts you want one for which just
ring through to the overseas phone directly.

They also have a solution for calling overseas mobiles. If the person
you call hangs up and then calls back the CLID number that came with
the call (which will be a local-to-them landline number) the remainder
of the call will be free of charge from Rebtel.

Dennis Ferguson

Dennis Ferguson <dcferguson@pacbell.net> wrote in
news:slrnfm054q.4u.dcferguson@akit-ferguson.com:

> I am aware, however, that some of Skype's
> prices are not that attractive.
>

Some, but given that there are so many FREE services Skype
provides me I use all the time, surely makes up for paying more
for some services I hardly use at all. I still can't believe
they just give the software and Skype-to-Skype away for free.
Many of my friends have never given them a dime and use it
constantly at a loss to the company. Most of the charges for
foreign mobile phone minutes are the fact that the CALLER pays to
call the mobile phone as much as the phone's owner does to make
that call. Mobile phones in lots of countries are terribly
expensive to use. We Americans are all spoiled by the
competition.

Larry
--
Merry Christmas!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Qi_NhFS4xEE