I was watching the Fox News report about that dude who thinks he invented the Wii remote, and at the very start there is an add saying 'If it rings it's free' and ad for a new Mobile phone deal stating that people can call you and you don't pay, as if to imply it's normal for incoming calls to cost the receiver money, this is really weird I think, you are charged even if someone calls you???

Over here in Australia every single carrier does not charge you if you receive a phone call, that' just plain stupid that it could cost you money if someone is ringing you, weird.

Over here we only pay for what we do, we only pay when we are the one dialling the call or sending the txt.

Apparently it's the same if someone ever txt's you in the US, it costs you money as well as them, talk about rip off!

yes they do... which sucks...

i can deal with the incoming call charges, but being charged for receiving a text message is ridiculous.

For a while I know sprint had an incoming plan they offered over here. It was horribly overpriced and no one bought it from the store I was at.

I sold phones at a multi carrier booth for probably a year and a half so thats where I'm getting that from.

Here most plans go by minutes, and most make no differentiation between incoming or outgoing.

That being said, if you get charged for going over your minutes more than once, you are an idiot and didn't correct your plan choice. They all allow you to upgraded plans. Hmmm? 300 minutes for $40 or 1800 minutes for $43? Why people are stupid enough to not know whether they are going to talk 300 or 1800 minutes don't ask me.

I have MetroPCS right now, unlimited minutes and texting for $56 (including taxes and all that). The only problem is they have a very limited service area, which doesn't bother me because I am not traveling much right now.

Well over here I pay $30 and I get $180 worth of SMS/Calls/Everything, and it costs no-one a cent if I SMS or call them, I have never heard of that it cost the receiver money until recently for the USA, that's really bad.

It should be "I can't afford to make a call"

Not "I can't afford to answer the incoming call"

It just sounds really weird and messed up, I feel for you guys.

thanks for the sympathy

i used to live in a country where you dont pay for incoming text and calls..
so using cellphones in the US feels like a big rippoff to me..

That is SO CRAP!!!! Here in Australia I pay $49 a month for $310 worth of sms/calls/everything each month and noone has to pay to answer my calls.

I'm on a Work phone so I get a shit load of calls for Free :P But my wife is on my old plan and has a $20 plan + free call to nominated phone and $100 worth of sms.

wow thats a pretty bad deal, here in the UK we get great phone deals if you know where to look.

Although I agree with you entirely. You always know who is calling because caller ID is free, so if you "choose" to answer the call then you are doing something and still using a service. Almost all of my calls incoming or outgoing are free so it wouldn't matter much to me either way.

Side note: Cell phones are nothing more than a luxury that I am ready to live without. They've become an excuse to be rude. A small example is when people go to a store or restaurant and use them. Sometimes I'll drop what I'm doing, walk up to the counter from the back of the store, and stand there until they decide to finish their call. Why even go to a place that you have to communicate with another human being and decide to do it while on the phone? Sometimes they don't finish their calls and expect you to read their minds. They don't offer the simple courtesy of communication while they're expecting you to perform for them. Generally when you can't/don't help them, (because they're too busy talking on the phone) they get upset with you. Blows my mind.

I think I'd enjoy the world just a little more if cell phones didn't exist.