timed local phone calls

[miriam_e]

Telstra have been pushing for timed local phone calls for ages. Well they have snuck them in for public telephones. There is no notice on the booths of the change. There didn't seem to be any public announcement or control by coward's government. They simply snuck it in.

How long till we get the same for private phones? Bastards!

What pisses me off is the outrageous profits they already make. It actually costs the same to make a long distance call in Australia as it does to make a local one, in fact your calls are often routed the long way around to get where it is going without you knowing it. Long distance calls should really be flat rate. Even worse, it is cheaper to run a mobile service that a land line service, yet the charges for mobiles are obscene! Thieves and con artists!

Comments

[patchworkkid.livejournal.com]

I wonder if that also means that people with ADSL (which is supposed to be a permanent internet connection via phonelines) will be paying for their connection by the minute as well? If so, screw that.

[miriam-e.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I was wondering about that too. How to kill the internet in Australia in one easy step.

I guess that would be a huge shot in the arm for wireless access. Melbourne is already covered by free wireless connection http://melbourne.wireless.org that the traditional media never publicise (gee, I wonder why that is). I think if timed local calls ever got introduced for private phones people would dump their phones in large numbers and flock to the remaining free service. Could be a good thing in the long run.

It does bother me though, that a lot of companies seem to selling wireless access to people who don't know that it is available for free.

I wish I could get it out here, but you need fairly high concentrations of people for it to work.