martin@cod.nosc.mil (Douglas W. Martin) (05/10/91)
1. How are international long-distance rates calculated? Are
there some one-minute calls that would be extremely expensive? For
example, does it cost a lot more to call some small town in Vanuatu or
Zambia than to call London or Paris? I would be interested in some
comparative figures.
2. There has been talk in this Digest about area codes like 820 to
cover parts of the NANP which are not presently accessable. What
parts are these? I would guess parts of the Yukon or the Northwest
Territories, but I thought most of these were accessable via 403-Alberta.
Could someone please explain.
Doug Martin martin@nosc.miljohnl@iecc.cambridge.ma.us (John R. Levine) (05/14/91)
In article <telecom11.353.4@eecs.nwu.edu> you write: > 1. How are international long-distance rates calculated? Are > there some one-minute calls that would be extremely expensive? For > example, does it cost a lot more to call some small town in Vanuatu or > Zambia than to call London or Paris? ... Glad you asked. The rate to any particular place depends on the coutry you're calling, the type of call, and the time of day. For calls to Canada, Mexico, and Cuba, the rate also depends where in the US you're calling from. The cost is roughly proportional to the distance with some notable exceptions -- one of the most expensive places in the world to call from the US is Mexico City, at nearly $2/minute. There are also special deals, e.g. I have Sprint World which for $3/month gives me a discounted off-peak rate to Canada, Mexico, most of Europe, any many Pacific rim countries. The rate periods can be exceedingly strange. For example, the most expensive time to call Guatemala and Belize, which are in the same time zone as Chicago, is 5PM - 11PM. The expensive time to Martinique is 8AM-5PM, but to adjacent St. Lucia is 4PM-7PM. The most expensive time to call Bulgaria is 1PM - 2AM which is 8PM - 9AM their time. For western Europe the times are sensible, 7AM - 1PM which is 1PM - 7PM their time if you're calling from the east coast. Here are some particular rates from AT&T's May 1990 International Telecommunications Guide, available free from 1-800-874-4000. London: $0.98-1.44 first minute, 60-94 cents/minute thereafter. $9.48 for the first three minutes person-to-person, any time. Paris: $1.15-$1.71 first minute, 65-106 cents/minute thereafter. $11.83 for the first three minutes person-to-person, any time. (The Sprint World rate to either is 58 cents/minute outside of the 7AM - 1PM peak time. I expect MCI and AT&T have similar discount rates.) Vanuatu: $11.83 for the first three minutes person-to-person, any time, $2.72 - $3.30 / minute thereafter. Not dialable, all calls go through the operator, all calls billed as person-to-person. Zambia: $1.55-2.59 first minute, 80-133 cents/minute thereafter. $11.83 for the first three minutes person-to-person, any time The most expensive places to call, via AT&T anyway, are Afghanistan and Bhutan which cost $13.33 for the first three minutes, person-to-person only, and $3.30-$3.92 per minute thereafter. Regards, John Levine, johnl@iecc.cambridge.ma.us, {spdcc|ima|world}!iecc!johnl