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1 Hour Call to Friend 3 Miles Away $150

clifffaith

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I will throw myself on the mercy of AT&T with no real hope of an adjustment, but thought I'd pick brains here first to see if anyone has an inkling why this would happen. Two weeks ago on Saturday afternoon, I placed a call from my AT&T business landline to my friend's cell phone 3 miles away on his boat in the marina in Los Angeles harbor. My business line has no long distance plan -- long distance was on my second/fax line and it runs $6/month because we rarely make an out of area call. My area code is 310, as is my friend's.

We both have back issues and I was calling to check on him because he'd had surgery six weeks prior. He can be a gas bag under normal circumstances, and with ailments to discuss the conversation lasted just over an hour. That day all he could do was putter on his docked boat because he is not physically fit enough yet to put it out on the water. I about died when I looked at the phone bill that arrived yesterday -- $148, and there are likely taxes on top of that. How is it possible that call cost so much? The man was literally a fifteen minute drive from me.
 

presley

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Could it be that he was considered to be in international waters at the time? I know he was in the harbor, but cell phones will sometimes pick up on a nearby signal that may not be what you are expecting. For example, a group of 4 of us went to the tidepools in Point Loma once (San Diego), as I was driving to the parking lot, 2 of the people in our group got text messages saying, "Welcome to Mexico" explaining what their cell service was going to be while they were in "mexico." One of them was on my plan. I didn't get the message. Why this happens, I don't know, but I do know that we were not in Mexico and we were still on a paved road in the United states not even very close to Mexico.
 

gmarine

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Have you called AT&T to ask why the call is so much ?
 

vacationhopeful

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If the phone was receiving its signal from a satellite above or an offshore buoy for boats/ships arriving into the harbor ... the 'provided' link would NOT be of the same 'plan' ... be a private service ... just like calling if you & your cell where in a foreign country.

Be interesting how your friend got charged and how much.
 

Passepartout

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^^^^I think this is accurate. It's just unfortunate that the call was routed this way. Otoh, the call would probably have cost the same if it had been 13,000 miles away.

Jim
 

clifffaith

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If the phone was receiving its signal from a satellite above or an offshore buoy for boats/ships arriving into the harbor ... the 'provided' link would NOT be of the same 'plan' ... be a private service ... just like calling if you & your cell where in a foreign country.

.

The satellite/buoy thought makes sense. It is impossible to have a short conversation with this man and he is a realtor receiving calls on his cell phone all the time. I can't believe no one else has had this problem, since in good SoCal weather he is always on his boat somewhere between here and Catalina Island. But maybe if most people are calling his cell with theirs, their plan covers it. I will do what I can tomorrow to see if I can get some sort of credit. Of course unexpected expenses like this always come at the worst possible time!
 

VegasBella

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I have to imagine it has to do with the kind of plan you have. If I were you I would raise hell with AT&T to get them to drop that charge.


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rapmarks

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I remember in the earlier cell phone days when you incurred roaming charges, my daughter drove 150 miles and must have talked the entire time. We got a bill for $1500' and the next bill was over a thousand. She had the cell phone taken away.


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Passepartout

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Whereas he says his incoming calls are not charged, it might be that his plan is a European one as the call is charged to the originating party, not the party receiving the call.

No reason to wait until Monday for the answer. AT&T works 24/7.

Jim
 

pedro47

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Sound liked you telephone call was roaming in an international zone area. I would explain your problem to a customer service supervisor ASAP.

Good luck.
 

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Not sure if anyone read the OP. S/he was calling from a landline to a cell phone with the same area code. Not an international call, not a cell phone call, not through a marine operator. In any event, how the friend connects does not affect how the caller is charged.

Its likely that although they shared the same area code, the "home" address for the friend's cell phone prefix was far enough to be considered "long distance" (310 covers a large area.) Not having a LD plan, they were charged default no plan rates, which are very high.
 

clifffaith

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Not sure if anyone read the OP. S/he was calling from a landline to a cell phone with the same area code. Not an international call, not a cell phone call, not through a marine operator. In any event, how the friend connects does not affect how the caller is charged.

Its likely that although they shared the same area code, the "home" address for the friend's cell phone prefix was far enough to be considered "long distance" (310 covers a large area.) Not having a LD plan, they were charged default no plan rates, which are very high.

I'd drive 15 minutes south and east to get to his boat, 10 minutes south and west to get to his house, so he is very local to me, but it is entirely possible that his next three digits after the area code put him into "close long distance". I remember being surprised with a $40/40 minute call to an acquaintance last year to commiserate with her when I heard through the grapevine she'd had a freak accident. She is apparently "close long distance" at about a 45 minute drive from us, with our same area code. So I knew to be cognizant of which line I was using if calling too far north of our coastal area. Our business phone does not let me call "real long distance" -- I get that annoying tone telling me I can't make a call and then remember I have to switch lines.
 

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davidvel

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I'd drive 15 minutes south and east to get to his boat, 10 minutes south and west to get to his house, so he is very local to me, but it is entirely possible that his next three digits after the area code put him into "close long distance". I remember being surprised with a $40/40 minute call to an acquaintance last year to commiserate with her when I heard through the grapevine she'd had a freak accident. She is apparently "close long distance" at about a 45 minute drive from us, with our same area code. So I knew to be cognizant of which line I was using if calling too far north of our coastal area. Our business phone does not let me call "real long distance" -- I get that annoying tone telling me I can't make a call and then remember I have to switch lines.
Doesn't your bill state what type of rate you were charged?
 

Luanne

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clifffaith

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When I tell the robo-center that I have a question about my bill, I get told to call tomorrow. I also posted on my local Nextdoor.com (really a great community resource for everything from lost pets, to items for sale, to coyote sightings to "were those gun shots I heard?") to see if anyone else had had issues with the Marina. General consensus is that the issue is "local long distance". My charge shows up in an area of my bill called Local Toll. Did the math and that was $2.19/min for 68 minutes at the night/weekend rate. Unbelievable! Two said they were shown no mercy when caught like I was, several railed against AT&T in general. One said she was able to call and retroactively get an International Day Pass (her mom had called Canada thinking plan covered North America when it was for Mexico only). Another suggested asking for the "retention department" if I got no satisfaction, but don't know where I'm supposed to threaten to take my business to because it is AT&T around here.

If I get no satisfaction just asking for the bill to be explained and reduced, think I'll ask to see if I can get retroactive long distance on the line (then I'll turn around and make a separate call to the residential folks and have long distance removed from that line).
 

dioxide45

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When I tell the robo-center that I have a question about my bill, I get told to call tomorrow. I also posted on my local Nextdoor.com (really a great community resource for everything from lost pets, to items for sale, to coyote sightings to "were those gun shots I heard?") to see if anyone else had had issues with the Marina. General consensus is that the issue is "local long distance". My charge shows up in an area of my bill called Local Toll. Did the math and that was $2.19/min for 68 minutes at the night/weekend rate. Unbelievable! Two said they were shown no mercy when caught like I was, several railed against AT&T in general. One said she was able to call and retroactively get an International Day Pass (her mom had called Canada thinking plan covered North America when it was for Mexico only). Another suggested asking for the "retention department" if I got no satisfaction, but don't know where I'm supposed to threaten to take my business to because it is AT&T around here.

If I get no satisfaction just asking for the bill to be explained and reduced, think I'll ask to see if I can get retroactive long distance on the line (then I'll turn around and make a separate call to the residential folks and have long distance removed from that line).
You could switch to a VIOP service like Ooma Office.
 

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Could it be that he was considered to be in international waters at the time? I know he was in the harbor, but cell phones will sometimes pick up on a nearby signal that may not be what you are expecting. For example, a group of 4 of us went to the tidepools in Point Loma once (San Diego), as I was driving to the parking lot, 2 of the people in our group got text messages saying, "Welcome to Mexico" explaining what their cell service was going to be while they were in "mexico." One of them was on my plan. I didn't get the message. Why this happens, I don't know, but I do know that we were not in Mexico and we were still on a paved road in the United states not even very close to Mexico.
Interesting...something similar happened to me in St John, USVI. My ATT phone picked up the BVI signal and I got the welcome text. We were driving in the island and my Wife got the text also but the kids did not. No international waters issue here.

I called ATT before leaving St John and they credited my account for the data that was pulled from BVI.
 

clifffaith

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You could switch to a VIOP service like Ooma Office.

My friend is actually in the process of switching to VOIP (whatever the heck that is) and told me he'd let me know what he's doing after he's done his research. Thing is I am not inclined to change anything right now. This was supposed to be our last real year in business, with next year just hanging around to catch old customers coming back before we hand our numbers over to friends in the same business across the bridge from us in Long Beach. However, when I decided to give up the $3000 of forced sampling (most of which I show only if asked for the product) from one of my major suppliers, along with the website that went with it, the phone calls have all but dried up except for telemarketers. I would have told you that 75% of the folks that ever contacted me through the website were actually my own customers looking for me, 10% were people that wanted to design a website for me, 10% of what sounded like legit customers never responded back to my phone calls and/or emails, and only 5% of the new contacts ever made an appointment, but apparently the presence of the website made me come up in other searches that are apparently no longer "seeing" me now that the website is shut down. So we are "retired" whether we want to be or not and SS doesn't kick in for me until December.
 

vacationhopeful

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VOIP ...voice over internet prodacol. (I can't spell).

I have had Ooma ... the major VOIP service for over 3 years. I used to have 3 landlines ... and ported 2 of those numbers over to Ooma (2 lines is normal or whatever for between $3-5 monthly). I kept those 2 numbers (porting the number) and get my voice messages to my email address ... whether it is via my cell phone or my laptop.... where ever I am. I think Ooma is current charging the credit card $5.50 a month (total for BOTH lines) ... the last 3 months on my CC ... was under $4 per month all prior months. My sister set this all up when she stayed for several weeks after I had major surgery (and why I am NOT sure what she did ... lives 1500+ miles from me).

Best thing over the $100+ dollars in monthly phone bills ... plus trying to get VM off an answer machines 1200+ miles. Now, if I am reading email ... I just re-play the voice message via the laptop.
 

Talent312

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Our office switched to a VOIP phone system a couple of years ago.
One issue: Whenever the internet connection went down, no phones.
Also, strangely, it would not connect to my VOIP home phone.

.
 

Helios

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+1 :crash:
 

T_R_Oglodyte

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I've had my business phone on Vonage (VOIP) ever since I started the business in 2002. Monthly rates can't be beat. No long distance plan needed (US and Canada). If I travel out-of-country and can get good internet service, I take my adapter along with me and I can use my phone the same as if I'm sitting in my office in the US. If internet is down, calls are automatically routed to my cell phone. Whenever anyone leaves a voice mail message, I get an email message with an audio file of the voice message. If the message is important I can either save the email message (with the audio file) in my email, or save the audio fine on my computer. No need to waste time transcribing messages, and if there's ever an issue the audio file is better than the transcription anyway.

I can't imagine using a land line for a small business.
 
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