Do you pay for incoming calls on your cell phone?

[Ric_NYC]

In some countries the incoming calls are free of charge... GRATIS!!!


How does it work in your country or region?

[whiskeylover]

I live in the US where the telecoms own your first born. So yeah, its not free.

[RiceMonster]

Yes, you pay for incomming here. Some providers (though not most) charge for incomming text messages! Give me a break!

[kleskjr]

I don't know for a place in Europe where you have to pay for incoming calls! Just when you use a your sim-card in other country you have to pay roaming.
Just in Russia it was the case before (even not always), now I am not sure.

[lisati]

The only time the Lisati household ever had to pay for incoming calls (landline or cell) is a short period when we had a home version of an 800 number.

edit (correction): we had call diversion on our landline once, which we used to redirect incoming calls to our mobile. That attracted a charge on our landline account for calls that were redirected. Otherwise incoming calls are free.

edit #2: watch out for those online promotions which ask for your cell number. Some of them attract a charge for incoming texts and the warning is sometimes hidden away in the fine print.

[mali2297]

In Sweden, the caller pays. If I bring my phone abroad though, I have to pay for incoming calls as well.

[sydbat]

Depends on what package you have. Right now, I do not have to (technically) pay for incoming or text. That would change if I went with another plan.

[LowSky]

I live in the US where the telecoms own your first born. So yeah, its not free.

The USA has some weak laws for cell phones. Pay for incoming texts, incoming calls, and any time your on the phone including checking voicemail, and soon pay per KB internet use instead of $30 for unlimited.


Of course the cell companies like Verizon give you free calling/texts in network on certain priced plans.

[jpeddicord]

I'm on Verizon, where you pay for anything and everything. Incoming calls? A given, unless the caller is also on Verizon. $0.15/text, incoming or out, unless you pay a monthly fee. If you wanted to screw someone without a text plan over, just send them a bunch of text messages and rack up the charges. It's ridiculous.

And then there's the data charges. If you don't subscribe to a data plan, you're billed $2/MB, rounded up. Accidentally started the browser? You might as well get a megabyte out of it then, because it's going to show up on your bill. They've gotten a little better about this lately, but it's still stupid enough I wonder how they get away with it.

[Nick_Jinn]

Its criminal. How on earth do they get away with charging you $200 a mb when 5GB is normally only $30 for a data-plan addon, or $40 to $60 with a web stick? Its absolutely criminal.

They could charge you $1000 US for using the extent of a $30 plan worth of data. I would like to speak what was on my mind but I would probably get banned from the site.

Suffice to say, I dont have a high opinion of the cell phone companies.


I wonder how many families have been ruined financially by this scam. They dont care. I bet they would eat babies if it was profitable and they could get away with it.

[RiceMonster]

Its criminal. How on earth do they get away with charging you $200 a mb when 5GB is normally only $30 for a data-plan addon, or $40 to $60 with a web stick? Its absolutely criminal.

They could charge you $1000 US for using the extent of a $30 plan worth of data. I would like to speak what was on my mind but I would probably get banned from the site.

Suffice to say, I dont have a high opinion of the cell phone companies.


I wonder how many families have been ruined financially by this scam. They dont care. I bet they would eat babies if it was profitable and they could get away with it.

Who charges $200/mb? Just so you're aware, jpeddicord's post said $2/mb.

[forrestcupp]

Yes, you pay for incomming here. Some providers (though not most) charge for incomming text messages! Give me a break!

Until I paid for a text plan ($5/month for about 1000 texts) I had to pay for incoming text messages. Before that, I just didn't open texts. Even now, incoming texts count against the 1000 free ones I get.

[Nick_Jinn]

Who charges $200/mb? Just so you're aware, jpeddicord's post said $2/mb.


Sorry. GB.

But isnt that $2000 a gb?

[Bölvaður]

In my country the incoming calls are free of charge... GRATIS!!!

[jpeddicord]

Sorry. GB.

But isnt that $2000 a gb?

That's $2048/GB. But I'd be surprised if you could use even half that, even on EVDO/3G. Just opening the "My Account" page on my phone takes about 30 seconds.

Verizon does have somewhat decent customer service (sans some incidents they've had, like the $0.002 debacle) so if a case like that were to come up you could probably get them to apply a data plan for the month instead of an outrageous charge like that.

[ratcheer]

Yes, I pay for both incoming calls and texts.

Tim

[Lucretius]

incoming calls are free in the UK

[aysiu]

The USA has some weak laws for cell phones. Pay for incoming texts, incoming calls, and any time your on the phone including checking voicemail, and soon pay per KB internet use instead of $30 for unlimited.


Of course the cell companies like Verizon give you free calling/texts in network on certain priced plans.
That's why I just block incoming texts and use Google Voice to text. With GV, texting is free.

[Nick_Jinn]

That's $2048/GB. But I'd be surprised if you could use even half that, even on EVDO/3G. Just opening the "My Account" page on my phone takes about 30 seconds.

Verizon does have somewhat decent customer service (sans some incidents they've had, like the $0.002 debacle) so if a case like that were to come up you could probably get them to apply a data plan for the month instead of an outrageous charge like that.


I use many GB a month via tethering. I get decent 3g speeds with my web connect stick. I was able to watch youtube videos with my Sprint Mogul.

So yeah, if your kids download just 1 high def movie, you are financially bankrupt. Thats not right.

[KiwiNZ]

no charge for incoming calls text or mail in NZ

[forrestcupp]

That's $2048/GB.

Actually, isn't it $2000/GB and $2048/GiB? :)

[mendhak]

Isn't it just the US where you have to pay for incoming calls? I haven't seen this in any other countries I've been to.

What are your data plans like? I'm in the UK right now and I pay 10GBP/month for calls+texts, and 5GBP/month on top of that for unlimited data.

[aysiu]

Isn't it just the US where you have to pay for incoming calls? I haven't seen this in any other countries I've been to.

What are your data plans like? I'm in the UK right now and I pay 10GBP/month for calls+texts, and 5GBP/month on top of that for unlimited data.
I'm on T-Mobile, which is the cheapest out of the four major carriers. I have the cheapest voice plan (I think it's 250 anytime minutes and free weekends), no text messaging (because I do it all through Google Voice), and an unlimited data plan. The whole thing, including tax is US$54 a month (that's about £34 per month), so I'm paying more than twice what you are. And, again, that's on the cheapest carrier. If you get unlimited data plus voice on Verizon or AT&T, you'll be paying a lot more (I know--my wife is on AT&T, and my in-laws are on Verizon).

But, yes, incoming calls do use up my minutes. Fortunately, I don't talk on the phone all that much. I've never even come close to using up my allotted 250 minutes.

[nilarimogard]

In Romania, I'm on Vodafone and pay 4 euro for 500 minutes in the Vodafone network, 500 text messages and 50 minutes in any network including outside of Romania. That's for the calls I make. No carrier in Romania ever charged for incoming calls.

I'm don't know the price for data transfer since I only use my phone as... a phone.

[sydbat]

In Romania, I'm on Vodafone and pay 4 euro for 500 minutes in the Vodafone network, 500 text messages and 50 minutes in any network including outside of Romania. That's for the calls I make. No carrier in Romania ever charged for incoming calls.

I'm don't know the price for data transfer since I only use my phone as... a phone.Heathen. :p

[DougieFresh4U]

I pay a total $54 month and have unlimited incoming/outgoing calls. unlimited data,text & web. Any one I call on the Sprint network is not charged for incoming calls (I have BOOST).
Answer to your question, no I do not pay for incoming calls
I am happy with what I got. :D:D

[alexfish]

nought

don't care about the other nixy's

[witeshark17]

My plan us alright. Unused busy airtime is carried over to the next month.

[neoargon]

So you have to pay for incoming in USA ? How strange !!

[amitabhishek]

Here no one pays for incoming calls. Govt. doesn't allow them to. For outgoing too we pay a pittance (less than a cent/minute). Service providers are bleeding but they cant ignore this market.

[gnomeuser]

The caller always pays in Denmark, though I believe if you use the redirection service from your landline to your cellphone and leave the country, you are paying for the call since there is no way for the caller to know before hand that the call isn't the expected expense.

[mcduck]

I really doubt any operator would be able to pull of a contract were you'd have to pay for incoming calls.

Considering that all the operators have to use same network standards, and laws make sure that switching between operators is very easy and you can even keep the same number, any operator trying such thing would just loose all the customers in couple of days... :D

Anyway, I'm paying 0,67€/month for the contract itself, 9,88€/month for unlimited data and 0,066€/min for calls that I make. And same 0,066€ for text messages. If I remember right calls I make to people using the same operator are a bit cheaper, but I must admit I can't even remember the price for that. :D

[Nick_Jinn]

I really doubt any operator would be able to pull of a contract were you'd have to pay for incoming calls

Only in America. ](*,)

[Warpnow]

The idea of not paying for incoming calls is just weird to me.

[mcduck]

The idea of not paying for incoming calls is just weird to me.

Actually some years ago quite many operators around here were offering contracts where they payed you for incoming calls... :D

Well, not exactly money, but you got free calling time from all received calls.

[neoargon]

The idea of not paying for incoming calls is just weird to me.
The idea of paying for incoming calls is just weird to me.
It's because you are used to it .

[t0p]

In the UK, we don't have to pay for incoming calls or texts. We pay for communications that we instigate ourselves.

In the USA, if you don't like someone, can you prank-call or text them into bankruptcy? The American practice of charging you for receiving calls or texts seems ridiculous to me.

[ctrlmd]

nope the caller pay for it
if i want to call someone im the one who have to pay not the other end

[mick222]

just curious do you have to pay for calls from call centres etc . If i had to do this my phone bill would be horrendous .

[Nick_Jinn]

In the UK, we don't have to pay for incoming calls or texts. We pay for communications that we instigate ourselves.

In the USA, if you don't like someone, can you prank-call or text them into bankruptcy? The American practice of charging you for receiving calls or texts seems ridiculous to me.


It is.

We really need to break away from the US and form our own progressive nation of Cascadia....we will span from the Monterey bay up through the Silicon Valley, out to the Sierras, up through Oregon and Canada to the border of British Colombia. We will be a united federation of allied principalities, offer free wifi as a public utility, and we wont charge you for incoming phone calls.

[jpeddicord]

In the UK, we don't have to pay for incoming calls or texts. We pay for communications that we instigate ourselves.

In the USA, if you don't like someone, can you prank-call or text them into bankruptcy? The American practice of charging you for receiving calls or texts seems ridiculous to me.

On our landline, which is also operated by Verizon, we don't pay for incoming calls, at least. But I don't think I've actually used the home phone in years.

[aeiah]

what stops people phoning just to try and shaft you? paying for incoming calls is pretty weird. to be honest, id much rather the caller pay twice the amount than both the caller and receiver pay. i guess that's probably what happens here in the uk.

my work gave me a phone, so i don't pay anything. it hardly ever gets a signal though - thats how they can afford to give everyone cell phones.

[jpeddicord]

what stops people phoning just to try and shaft you? paying for incoming calls is pretty weird. to be honest, id much rather the caller pay twice the amount than both the caller and receiver pay. i guess that's probably what happens here in the uk.

my work gave me a phone, so i don't pay anything. it hardly ever gets a signal though - thats how they can afford to give everyone cell phones.

You don't pay anything if you don't answer the call.

[aysiu]

You don't pay anything if you don't answer the call.
What about text messages, though?

I block all text messaging (so I don't pay for it) on my phone, but then I use Google Voice for texts (which is free) instead.

What do non GV folks do when they get text spam? Is there such a thing as text spam?

[jpeddicord]

What about text messages, though?Most phones will auto-receive all text messaging, so yes, you will be charged, unless you choose to block all and manually receive.


I block all text messaging (so I don't pay for it) on my phone, but then I use Google Voice for texts (which is free) instead.I have a texting plan to this doesn't really apply to me; GV just forwards all texts from a GV number to mine. I'm assuming you have a data plan, however, unless you choose to read and send all texts at a computer.


What do non GV folks do when they get text spam? Is there such a thing as text spam?
Verizon at least does a pretty good job of spam-filtering texts, so largely this isn't an issue.

What does become a problem are "premium text messages" which can be sent over any carrier in the US (and maybe elsewhere, I don't know). They're those stupid things you see on TV for "joke of the day" and that garbage. What happens there is that they'll send you a text message worth $10, which you do get billed for, then the remaining are marked as non-premium (which are free). These come from 5-digit shortcode numbers, typically.

It is a legal requirement that "premium" texts are only sent once requested by phone, must be stopped after sent special keywords (ie, "STOP"), and may be blocked by the carrier or customer. However, some shady companies ignore these rules and will try to continue billing.

If you have a texting plan in the US, I highly recommend you contact your carrier to get these blocked before problems arise, whether you've had issues with them or not.

[faustonauta]

Hi from Spain. (Be prepared for read my poor English ;) )

In the EU for voice calls, NO Incoming National or International call is charged to the called subscriber, only Roaming In calls are charged but work this way:

Caller --> Home country of the Called --> Visited County where the Called is in.

The caller pays for the call to the Home Country of the called one, the called pays for the part of the call between its Home country and the Country is visiting. (is not the Caller fault that the Called is on vacation visiting L.A., right?)


SMS.

EU forbids to charge ANY Incoming SMS since you cannot prevent/avoid them to reach your number, so it's obvious that any given Company can ruin you through SMS Spam if you're travelling.

MMS

Since MMS are data connections, there are serveral ways to manage that, If a subscriber cannot prevent an Incoming MMS in Roaming, is screwed, so most people deactivate Data while roaming if they don't have a Plan/Bundle for Roaming Data.

National and International Incoming MMS are never charged to the called number if they don't exceed certain data volume, if so, use to be charged like an average Data Connection.

The Concept MOU (Minutes of usage) is compeltely different to US, only Outgoing calls are considered for this Usage, never Incoming.

DATA

Only Download stream is charged in Spain, some Carriers also rate Upload (Vodafone for Mobile Data Connections does) but is not the average way.

In Italy (wind Italy) and Poland (TPSA and PTC), I know that Upload is always rated.

Although that, Spain is one of the most expensive country for Data and Voice (I Think Italy is Hell since people have at least a couple of subscriptions with different Carriers in order to save money, looks like it really worth it to pay several BiMonthly Fees, Italy works with 2 Month Billing cycles).

Nice to meet you people.

[mips]

South Africa
Incoming calls, incoming SMS, voice mail retrieval & directory services are free.

[PatrickMoore]

I work for US Cellular and we don't charge for incoming calls, also we have a 5gb data plan as well as an overage cap on usage.

Needless to say it makes my job a little easier when I have someone upset about some issue

[handy]

If someone calls me/us & leaves a message on our land-line answering machine, & they leave a CEL phone number, we don't call back.

If they are serious about contacting us then they will.

If not & they leave a CEL number, then they can stay in the buggery that they live in.

[slackthumbz]

We don't get charged for incoming calls/texts in the UK.

[samalex]

We don't get charged for incoming calls/texts in the UK.

That'd be nice to have... I wrote a bum script that spam text messaged my phone last month and I had about $20 extra with text message charges since i went over my monthly limit. I wish incoming texts and calls were free in the US, but at least calls within network (same cell company) or calls on my Friends and Family list (12 numbers) are free which covers 95% of the calls I make or receive.

Sam

[sudoer541]

Here in Canada incoming calls + text messages are not free. Thanks to the new players, things are changing rapidly!
Let the competition begin!

$35 plan gets you:
province wide calling (incoming and outgoing)
Unlimited minutes
50 outgoing messages to Canada and the US
unlimited incoming text messages worldwide
all calling features free except voicemail.

[weasel fierce]

In Denmark, incoming calls are free. Im not sure if its the same for cell phones though. I never had one back there.

In the US, you pay for it all, though some wireless carriers had free incoming plans (nextel/sprint used to anyways)


What does become a problem are "premium text messages" which can be sent over any carrier in the US (and maybe elsewhere, I don't know). They're those stupid things you see on TV for "joke of the day" and that garbage. What happens there is that they'll send you a text message worth $10, which you do get billed for, then the remaining are marked as non-premium (which are free). These come from 5-digit shortcode numbers, typically.

It is a legal requirement that "premium" texts are only sent once requested by phone, must be stopped after sent special keywords (ie, "STOP"), and may be blocked by the carrier or customer. However, some shady companies ignore these rules and will try to continue billing.

If you have a texting plan in the US, I highly recommend you contact your carrier to get these blocked before problems arise, whether you've had issues with them or not.

I work for Sprint and yeah, those things are a bane to existence.

[jfreak_]

My country has the cheapest rates in the world(I think). Incoming is obviously free, and to spend 1$ on your bill you'll have to talk around 80 minutes. For my carrier, if I pay a dollar a month, I get unlimited texts. :D

[nana123]

My country has the cheapest rates in the world(I think). Incoming is obviously free, and to spend 1$ on your bill you'll have to talk around 80 minutes. For my carrier, if I pay a dollar a month, I get unlimited texts. :D

which county XD
and as far as I know most asian country no charge at all for incoming call, I was suprised that in Usa you need to pay lol, seem like communication will grown faster in asia you can see cellphones everywhere and sold like candy too :)

[jfreak_]

India. the basic prepaid plan usually is .60 Rs for 1 minute. 50 Rs=1$.

[HappinessNow]

I live in the USA and all my incoming and outgoing calls and text are free through Google Voice, and Google Talk, I also use NetTalk which lets me make free calls via wifi...in addition to this:

The carrier I use is Walmart Family Mobile (on Tmobile network) where I get unlimited voice (incoming and outgoing) and SMS for $45 first line and $25 second line,...the nice thing about this plan is that they don't force a data plan down your throat, I don't need a data plan I am on wifi 99% of the time. either with Comcast at home or open-access/secure wifi at the University.

Having two unlocked Nexus Ones, at anytime I may choose to cancel the Family Mobile plan and simply pull the SIM card and use wifi only, for all calls and messages

that said I am open to other options where I can take my unlocked Nexus Ones; I used to be on ATT and while their connections were stellar, they were way too expensive, about $130 with only one Nexus One and a dumbphone. Tmobile is the only other option that I know of without getting new phones.

If I wasn't tied to my phones I would probably go with Virgin (owned and on the Sprint network) and very inexpensive overall