March 2003 Archives

Since my latest residence move (3 in 5 months) I've gone cellphone-only. My two housemates are the same way. No more missed phone calls... overlooked post-its on the fridge... or arguments over who made that $94 call to a 1-900 number.

The only problem is long distance to other countries. Long distance within the US is included in plan... but for me to call Canada the cheapest Sprint offers is $0.12 / minute. Seems very strange that for me to call the east coast is 'free' while calling Victoria BC costs me some coinage. This wouldn't be an issue except I call my wife a lot.

I also call Dublin, Ireland.. and it is apparently so expensive that Sprint doesn't even trust me to call there. They refuse to complete my calls. What's up with that?

Enter AccuLinq.. my calling card saviour. You prepay.. have to dial a fair amount of numbers but in the end the line quality is good and the rates are cheap. Cool.

Rates to Canada are 8.9 cents/min and rates to Dublin Ireland are 8.4 cents/min. I personally think whoever decides these rates needs a geography lesson. For some bizarre reason it is cheaper for me to make a call clear across the entire US, across the Atlantic to Ireland than it is to call a few piddly hundred miles to Canada. Strange. Must be that wall of snow at the border... hard to lay down the copper to the igloos.

But get this though... if you live in certain areas then AccuLinq has local numbers that cut the rates substantially. Calling Canada drops to 4.9 cents / min and calling Dublin drops to 4.4 cents / min. Woo! The problem is I don't live in one of those areas... but since I get free US long distance on my cellphone, I just call the local access number in Texas and get the cheap rates.

Now, if someone could explain to me why calling Dublin is cheaper than calling Canada I would appreciate it.