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Collect call

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A collect call in the United States and Canada, known as a reverse charge call in the majority of the English-speaking world, is a telephone call in which the calling party wants to place a call at the called party's expense. In the past, collect calls were only possible as an operator-assisted call, but with the introduction of computer-based telephone dialing equipment, it is now possible to place a collect call without using an operator, which is called automated operator services (AOS) as opposed to Home Country Direct (HCD). Several companies offer services to place collect calls that compete with local service providers. Collect calls can be made from almost any public pay telephone in the world by following directions posted on or near the phone. Collect calling has been in constant decline since the advent of cellular phones and VOIP products such as Skype.

While Mother's Day has the highest number of phone calls, the most collect calls are made on Father's Day.[1][2][3][4]

Other forms of paid communication, such as telegrams and mail, could also be sent as "collect".

Mobile Collect Call

Mobile Collect Call solutions allow prepaid and postpaid end-users to easily make mobile collect calls on their home network or while roaming, even when they have run out of credit. The caller can request either complete or partial reversed charging. Preset white lists can automatically accept regular requests, such as a son or a daughter phoning home when studying abroad, or toll-free calls to companies who want to offer their customers quality service. The person called can actively encourage or discourage reverse charged calls based on the caller’s identity. Operator groups such as MTN[5] deploy the solution to foster brand loyalty and to encourage ARPU among their pre-paid subscribers.

Key Players

  • Statewide Indirect Cost Allocation Plan (SICAP)

Collect Call Services

Australia

The services of 1800 Reverse are also available in Australia. Another phone service, 1800MumDad also allows reverse charge calls to mobile phones and landlines from any phone . Other services are 1800 PHONEHOME and 1800 NOCREDIT.

12550 is an alternative Reverse charge call service available from Telstra Pay Telephones and Telstra Prepaid mobiles (in the latter case, it is accessible only where there is sufficient credit to call 12550).

Telstra ran a service called HomeLink, a reverse charge service, during the 90's and 00's. Homelink consisted of a 1800 number and pin that could only be linked to your home phone service. Calls were billed at a slightly higher cost than a standard local call. HomeLink grew out of popularity with the rise in mobile phones.

Brazil

In Brazil, reverse calls are available for every land or mobile line call. All reverse calls must be started by dialing 9090, followed by the zone code (in case the user is in the same zone) and the desired phone number. If the user is not in the same zone as the recipient the calls must be dialed dialing 90 + carrier code + area code + the disered phone number. [6]

France and Spain

Similar services in Spain (900-REVERTIDO) and France (0800-APPELPCV) are also planned[7]

Republic of Ireland

A collect call service operates under name 1800 Reverse (operated by Reverse Corp Ltd),[8] in the Republic of Ireland. It offers reverse charge calls from any fixed line phone, pay phone and most mobile phones (even if the prepaid credit has run out), to most fixed land line and mobile phones in the Republic of Ireland.[9] The company charges 2.99 euros to connect the call, including the first 60 seconds of the call and 0.593 euros for every subsequent minute.

The telephone company, eircom have announced their intention to withdraw their own national and international reverse charge services with effect from 24 February 2009.[10] Until 24 February 2009, national reverse charge service could be obtained by dialling the operator on 10 or, from payphones via 1 800 28 28 28 and international reverse charge services could be reached via the international operator on 114 or 1800 457 457 from payphones.

United Kingdom

A related service also operates in the United Kingdom, using the number 0800 Reverse. In the United Kingdom, the number can be called for free on some mobile networks, although the person being contacted via this service may be charged a considerable amount for accepting such a call.

United States

AT&T operates a collect call service for the United States. The number for collect calls is 1-800-225-5288 (1-800-CALL-ATT). This number can be called and used from mobile phones as well as land-line phones. The service, however, cannot make calls to VoIP numbers like Vonage or T-Mobile's @Home service.

International

8000 Reverse[11] is an international reverse charge service. It allows international reverse charge calls to be made back to fixed land lines in Australia or the United Kingdom. It is accessed by dialing the relevant international call prefix, followed by the number 8000 REVERSE (i.e. 8000 7383773).[12]

References

  1. ^ "We Love You: Call Collect". Snopes.com. Retrieved 2010-06-03.
  2. ^ Gogoi, Pallavi. "Father's Unspectacular Day." BusinessWeek. 14 June 2005.
  3. ^ The Book of Useless Information, Noel Botham, 2002, Perigee, ISBN 0-399-53269-2, ISBN 978-0-399-53269-6
  4. ^ 500 Mostly Useless Facts djtech.net
  5. ^ http://www.sicap.com/en/News_Single.107.0.html?&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=28&cHash=906abbbca1
  6. ^ "Como realizar chamadas a partir do celular" (in Portuguese). Anatel. Retrieved 6 November 2012.
  7. ^ [1] Reverse Corp Ltd Full Year Results Presentation, June 2008
  8. ^ [2] - Reverse Corp Ltd Website
  9. ^ [3] - 1800 Reverse (Ireland) Website: About Us
  10. ^ eircom Alarm Clock Call and Reverse Charge Call charging information
  11. ^ [4] - 8000 Reverse Website
  12. ^ [5] 8000 Reverse Access Codes
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