So my sister and her boyfriend left on vacation early this morning. They arrived at their hotel about an hour ago so they just called home now.
After we said bye, it got me thinking; what are the technicalities behind long distance calling and why does committing to a long distance call entitle your service provider to charge you more? Or does it even? Do phone companies charge more for long distance calls because they can get away with it or is there a real, technical reason why they need to charge more? In other words, does it cost them extra to put through a long distance phone call?
If you're just as curious to know how it works, continue reading. If you already knew, well done. I realize it's not that much of a mystery but there are very apparent things and concepts in our society that people have yet to question. The sort of things you come across every day but never actually stop to ask yourself why or how it works the way it does but rather just go along with it.
Well, this is how it works.
Every carrier has their own network wich provides coverage over a specific region. However, if you are out of their region and therefore out of their coverage, another cell phone company that has coverage in the area for which you are in provides you the service to place your call. That provider gets the money for the calls you make from your cell phone provider since no one else is paying for it. After that, your provider charges you money for the service (your normal fees) plus the money they paid the other carrier so you were able to place you long-distance call. That's why you get charged in surplus when you make long-distance phone calls, be it on a cell phone or home phone.
After we said bye, it got me thinking; what are the technicalities behind long distance calling and why does committing to a long distance call entitle your service provider to charge you more? Or does it even? Do phone companies charge more for long distance calls because they can get away with it or is there a real, technical reason why they need to charge more? In other words, does it cost them extra to put through a long distance phone call?
If you're just as curious to know how it works, continue reading. If you already knew, well done. I realize it's not that much of a mystery but there are very apparent things and concepts in our society that people have yet to question. The sort of things you come across every day but never actually stop to ask yourself why or how it works the way it does but rather just go along with it.
Well, this is how it works.
Every carrier has their own network wich provides coverage over a specific region. However, if you are out of their region and therefore out of their coverage, another cell phone company that has coverage in the area for which you are in provides you the service to place your call. That provider gets the money for the calls you make from your cell phone provider since no one else is paying for it. After that, your provider charges you money for the service (your normal fees) plus the money they paid the other carrier so you were able to place you long-distance call. That's why you get charged in surplus when you make long-distance phone calls, be it on a cell phone or home phone.