Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!netsys!vector!telecom-gateway From: john@zygot.ati.com (John Higdon) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Long Distance Indicator Message-ID: Date: 5 Oct 89 16:45:11 GMT Sender: news@vector.Dallas.TX.US Organization: Green Hills and Cows Lines: 19 Approved: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 431, message 6 of 9 In article , munnari!stcns3.stc.ozau! dave@uunet.uu.net (Dave Horsfall) writes: > What? You mean that you don't get a sort of blip-blip-blip on > long-distance calls in USA? I somehow assumed that was universal... I wonder how many of the readers out there are really aware of the fact that the itemized billing that we have in the US and Canada is somewhat unusual in the world telephonic community. The usual system of billing calls elsewhere is with "metering pulses". Each pulse is worth so much money. On a local call, the pulses go by very slowly and on an international call the pulses come rapid-fire. As my sister in Japan once told me, the phone company just takes their money out of your bank account every month. There is no call detail and hence no billing disputes! John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o !