Collect call

Last updated

A collect call in Canada and the United States, known as a reverse charge call in other parts 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.

Contents

Collect calls were originally only possible as an operator-assisted call, but with the introduction of computer-based telephone dialing equipment, it became possible to place a collect call without using an operator. Automated reverse charge dialing eliminated a service that could be provided, at a higher fee, only on operator-assisted connections: the person-to-person call, in which there is no charge unless a designated person is available.

In the US, while Mother's Day is the holiday with the highest number of phone calls, the day with the most collect calls is Father's Day. [1] [2]

Services

Australia

Australian telecom companies provide reverse charge services with the number 12550. [3] [4] However, in the case of prepaid phones, this service is accessible only when a caller has sufficient credit to call 12550.

Several companies previously provided reverse call services in Australia, including 1800MUMDAD, 1800Reverse and 1800PhoneHome. In 2019, major telecommunication providers Optus and Telstra ceased billing services on behalf of third party content providers, causing these services to close. [5]

Telstra ran a reverse charge service called HomeLink during the 1990s and 2000s. Homelink consisted of an 1800 number and PIN that could only be linked to the user's 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 local reverse calls must be started by dialing 9090 and the desired phone number. If the user is not in the same zone as the recipient the calls must be started by dialing 90 + carrier code + area code + the desired phone number. [6]

France

In France, the service was called PCV (per ce voir). France Telecom discontinued the collect call on 1. August 2014. [7]

Germany

On 31. December 2020, Deutsche Telekom discontinued the option to make collect calls. [8]

India

There is not a simple way to make a reverse charge call for free in India. In early 2019 a private tech company launched services to enable a person to make an overseas reverse charge call. [9] AT&T also provides a number to make collect calls from India to the United States. The number is 000–117. [10]

Kenya

Landline operator Telkom provides reverse charge services. A customer who needed the service had to call customer care and then request for reverse call. If the other person accepted, the call would then be connected and charged on his or her bill. In June 2019, the largest mobile service provider Safaricom started rolling out reverse call services to all its customers. To access the service, a customer has to dial # before dialing the desired number. The caller's details would appear on the recipient's screen as usual, but when the recipient answers the phone, a voice notice would informed them that the call is a reverse call. The recipient could then choose to accept the charges for the call by pressing 1 on the dial pad. Safaricom said that the cost of reverse calls is the same as the cost of normal calls. [11]

Republic of Ireland

A collect call service operates under 800 Reverse (operated by Reverse Corp Ltd), [12] 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. [13] The company charges €2.99 to connect the call, including the first 60 seconds of the call, and €0.593 for every subsequent minute.

Eircom offered national and international reverse charge calling services until 24 February 2009. [14] Prior to the cessation of services, national reverse charge service could be obtained by dialing 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

In the UK, a number of services offer reverse charge calling. A caller can dial the operator on 155 and request a reverse charge call. [15] Before these services were discontinued, 08000MUMDAD, 08000686323, 0800 Reverse also provided reverse charge calls. Reverse charge calls can be made 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.

Freefone numbers indicated that a business agreed to automatically accept reverse charge calls to that number.

United States and Canada

Verizon discontinued collect calls on its landlines in 2016. [16] AT&T similarly discontinued its collect call services for the United States. [17] 1-800-COLLECT remains operational.

Prior to the introduction of the toll-free 800 area code in 1967, a Zenith number (in the U.S. and Canada) or an enterprise number (in the U.S. only) would indicate to an operator that the business agreed to automatically accept collect calls to that number.

The movie Dr. Strangelove contains a scene in which a character attempts to place a collect call to the President of the United States after finding he does not have enough change on hand for the payphone.

In season 6, episode 16 of The Simpsons , Bart Simpson damages Australia–United States relations in a series of escalating events beginning with an $900 international collect call.

The Fluffy Movie features material about collect calls, their antiquity, and the familial politics of placing a collect call.

In the video game Darkest Dungeon , the Collector's ability to summon his minions, "Collect Call," is a pun-based reference to collect calling.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Telephone card</span> Card used to pay for telephone services

A telephone card, calling card or phone card for short, is a credit card-size plastic or paper card used to pay for telephone services. It is not necessary to have the physical card except with a stored-value system; knowledge of the access telephone number to dial and the PIN is sufficient. Standard cards which can be purchased and used without any sort of account facility give a fixed amount of credit and are discarded when used up; rechargeable cards can be topped up, or collect payment in arrears. The system for payment and the way in which the card is used to place a telephone call vary from card to card.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Telephone switchboard</span> Device used to connect telephone circuits to establish calls between users

A telephone switchboard is a device used to connect circuits of telephones to establish telephone calls between users or other switchboards. The switchboard is an essential component of a manual telephone exchange, and is operated by switchboard operators who use electrical cords or switches to establish the connections.

Caller identification is a telephone service, available in analog and digital telephone systems, including voice over IP (VoIP), that transmits a caller's telephone number to the called party's telephone equipment when the call is being set up. The caller ID service may include the transmission of a name associated with the calling telephone number, in a service called Calling Name Presentation (CNAM). The service was first defined in 1993 in International Telecommunication Union – Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) Recommendation Q.731.3.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Payphone</span> Coin or card-operated public telephone

A payphone is typically a coin-operated public telephone, often located in a telephone booth or in high-traffic public areas. Prepayment is required by inserting coins or telephone tokens, swiping a credit or debit card, or using a telephone card.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">999 (emergency telephone number)</span> Emergency number in several countries

999 is an official emergency telephone number in a number of countries which allows the caller to contact emergency services for emergency assistance. Countries and territories using the number include Bahrain, Bangladesh, Botswana, Cook Island, Eswatini, Ghana, Guernsey, Hong Kong, the Republic of Ireland, the Isle of Man, Jersey, Kenya, Macau, Malaysia, Mauritius, Niue, Poland, Qatar, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Trinidad and Tobago, Seychelles, Uganda, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and Zimbabwe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Telephone call</span> Connection between two or more people over a telephone network

A telephone call or telephone conversation, also known as a phone call or voice call, is a connection over a telephone network between the called party and the calling party. Telephone calls started in the late 19th century. As technology has improved, a majority of telephone calls are made over a cellular network through mobile phones or over the internet with Voice over IP. Telephone calls are typically used for real-time conversation between two or more parties, especially when the parties cannot meet in person.

A toll-free telephone number or freephone number is a telephone number that is billed for all arriving calls. For the calling party, a call to a toll-free number from a landline is free of charge. A toll-free number is identified by a dialing prefix similar to an area code. The specific service access varies by country.

In telecommunications, directory assistance or directory inquiries is a phone service used to find out a specific telephone number and/or address of a residence, business, or government entity.

Phone fraud, or more generally communications fraud, is the use of telecommunications products or services with the intention of illegally acquiring money from, or failing to pay, a telecommunication company or its customers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Telephone numbers in Australia</span>

The Australian telephone numbering plan governs the allocation of telephone numbers in Australia. It has changed many times, the most recent major reorganisation by the Australian Communications and Media Authority taking place between 1994 and 1998.

In telecommunications, a long-distance call (U.S.) or trunk call is a telephone call made to a location outside a defined local calling area. Long-distance calls are typically charged a higher billing rate than local calls. The term is not necessarily synonymous with placing calls to another telephone area code.

A telecommunications tariff is an open contract between a telecommunications service provider and the public, filed with a regulating body such as state and municipal Public Utilities Commissions and federal entities such as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Such tariffs outline the terms and conditions of providing telecommunications service to the public including rates, fees, and charges.

In Argentina, area codes are two, three, or four digits long. Local customer numbers are six to eight digits long. The total number of digits is ten, for example, phone number (11) 1234-5678 for Buenos Aires is made up of a 2-digit area code number and an 8-digit subscriber's number, while (383) 123-4567 would be an example of a Catamarca number.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Telephone numbers in the Republic of Ireland</span>

Numbers on the Irish telephone numbering plan are regulated and assigned to operators by ComReg.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Telephone numbers in Romania</span>

936 140-35-67 dialling plan for mobile networks and new landline operators is closed; all subscriber numbers must be dialled in full. For landline numbers starting with 02, the dialling plan used to be open; the trunk digit and area code could be omitted if the caller was in the same area code as the callee. However, starting May 3, 2008, all landline numbers must be dialled in full.

The Brazilian telephone numbering plan uses a two-digit area code plus eight-digit local phone numbers for landlines and nine digits for mobile lines. Public utility services use short phone numbers, always starting with 1.

Safaricom PLC is a listed Kenyan mobile network operator headquartered at Safaricom House in Nairobi, Kenya. It is the largest telecommunications provider in Kenya, and one of the most profitable companies in the East and Central Africa region. The company offers mobile telephony, mobile money transfer, consumer electronics, ecommerce, cloud computing, data, music streaming, and fibre optic services. It is most renowned as the home of M-PESA, a mobile banking SMS-based service.

1-800-COLLECT (1-800-265-5328) is a 1-800 number, owned and operated by WiMacTel, which provides fixed rate collect calling in the United States. The service was launched by MCI in 1993.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Telephone numbers in New Zealand</span> New Zealand numbering plan

The New Zealand telephone numbering plan describes the allocation of telephone numbers in New Zealand and the Pitcairn Islands.

Home Country Direct is a telecommunications service to facilitate calling one's home country while traveling abroad. It made it possible to speak with an operator familiar with the language of the traveler. The Home Country Direct number is usually a domestic toll-free number, and is specific to the pairing of originating and receiving countries.

References

  1. ↑ "We Love You: Call Collect". Snopes.com. 4 May 2006. Retrieved 2010-06-03.
  2. ↑ Gogoi, Pallavi (14 June 2005). "Father's Unspectacular Day" . Bloomberg.
  3. ↑ "Special Calls: Reverse Charge Calls".
  4. ↑ "C Blue Plan rates" (PDF).
  5. ↑ "1800 Reverse finally hangs up on collect calls business". iTnews. Retrieved 2022-09-10.
  6. ↑ "Como realizar chamadas a partir do celular" (in Portuguese). Anatel . Retrieved 6 November 2012.
  7. ↑ Présentation de PCV France
  8. ↑ Kostenlos telefonieren per R-Gespräch
  9. ↑ "You can make collect calls to US now - Times of India". The Times of India. 31 August 2002. Retrieved 2019-01-28.
  10. ↑ "How To Make Free Collect Calls from India to USA" . Retrieved 2019-01-28.
  11. ↑ "Safaricom rolls out reverse call feature to all customers". Safaricom. Retrieved 2022-12-18.
  12. ↑ - Reverse Corp Ltd Website
  13. ↑ "No Credit? No Loose Change? It's Time to Call 1800 Reverse". Archived from the original on 2012-02-19. Retrieved 2012-06-01. - 1800 Reverse (Ireland) Website: About Us
  14. ↑ eircom Alarm Clock Call and Reverse Charge Call charging information [ permanent dead link ]
  15. ↑ "Safaricom rolls out reverse call feature to all customers". BT. Retrieved 2023-10-13.
  16. ↑ "Verizon seeks clearance to discontinue collect calling, other legacy voice services | FierceTelecom". www.fiercetelecom.com. 10 June 2016. Retrieved 2017-12-11.
  17. ↑ "AT&T wants to discontinue collect calling, international directory assistance services | FierceTelecom". www.fiercetelecom.com. 14 June 2016. Retrieved 2023-09-20.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.