Reuters On Telephone Cultures

mamladm writes "Reuters has an interesting article about the Differences in Telephone Cultures between the US and Europe. It describes how the different regulatory frameworks have created distinct cultures on how telephones are being used in the US versus Europe. The article mainly discusses mobile phone usage, though."

Comments

Of course! Different costs

[redelm]

There are big differences in Euro & US phone usages, mostly driven by costs. US has had flat rate (fixed monthly pricing) in most areas. Euros have almost always paid by the minute (IIRC except *.fi). This slowed the adoption of dial-up internet, sped up cellphones & broadband.

Old habits will die hard. I think Europeans will continue to use the phone for messages rather than as a surrogate for being there.

Useless Features

[ari_j]

I know this much - I once saw a cell phone ad where the guys are at a restaurant and the one uses the pepper grinder built into his phone. Then the ad cuts in, with the narrator asking, "Want a phone with the features you need?" before breaking into a list of just utterly useless garbage. Games, ringtones, a shitty camera, etc. My only thought was that the pepper mill would have been far more useful.

Re:Revenue

[Eminence]

• Perhaps the U.S. should look at how the Europeon Union did it. All the same standard = more money.

More money where? In corporate accounts or in people's wallets? Because the fact is that we all here envy American's cheap calls. I would love to call more, but I always feel the counter ticking in the background. And telco is a de-facto oligopoly all over Europe, with state owned companies in almost all countries and heavily regulated GSM operators who hardly compete since they know no new players would be allowed on the market.

My view...

[kunwon1]

I'm a born and bred American, lived there until I was 20. I've lived in Germany for the last three and a half years. I've made some trips back to the states, a few months here and there.

In the US, for us common rabble, it's "Do you have a cellphone?" Whereas, in Europe, it's "What's your number?" Most people assume that if you're giving them a telephone number, it's your cell phone number. And they will not ask you if you are capable of receiving SMS, they will assume that you are. It is more common in Europe for someone to have a cell and no landline than it is for someone to have a landline and no cell.

Re:Enough Cell Phones!!!!

[Benm78]

Actually, I wonder which technology uses more energy if you account for the infrastructure too.

Digging and closing holes to fit many many miles of telephone wire will lead to a fair amount of fuel being used. Also, the copper wires have to be produced which is quite energy intensive too.

I have no idea on the total energy and monetery requirement to operate a mobile vs a land-based service, but I do have a gut feeling that the mobile service will be cheaper to construct in both aspects.

Of course, there is quite a lot of pre-existing landline infrastructure, but that will have to be replaced some day, and new infrastructure is also required when new areas are built up. If you'd have to start from scratch, the mobile solution seems cheaper and faster to construct... many emerging nations even skip most of the landline phase.

Differences in phone culture

[Underholdning]

Here's a list of the biggest differences (I've learnt how Americans use the phone by watching hollywood movies):

• Never say goodbye. Just hang up - the person at the other end obviously knows the conversation is over.
• Always repeat what the other person is saying out loud.
• Repeatedly taps the hook if the phone dies. "Hello!?" *tap* *tap* *tap* as if that will magically restore the line.

Re:Differences in phone culture

[The Angry Mick]

You forgot:

Dude!!! Guess where I'm callin' you from!!!

Suprised Me....

[Chi Hsuan Men]

When I studied aboard in Ireland (Spring, 02') I was absolutely amazed at how mobile phones kept people connected and governed most young peoples' social lives.

Personally, I was very anti-mobile phone when I arrived there, but I was told that you really needed to have one if you wanted to be at all socially active. My first weekend there was a home stay with a family in rural Limerick (rural meaning they lived on a farm, had cattle, but no shower). The entire family had mobile phones, even their 10 year-old daughter.

The flat I stayed in (with 6 other Irish students) didn't even have a land line, (ironically enough, it was wired for LAN; however, I was the only person with a laptop) everyone used mobile phones. The crazy thing was, they rarely actually TALKED to each other, they simply sent text messages back and forth. Most of their plans were pre-paid, so, to get the most use out of their Euros, they would simply text each other.

The funny thing is, now that I'm back home and with a phone, despite my x amount of minutes a month for free and free "in calling", I still text message all of my friends.

I guess I'm just proud of my l337 phone typing skillz I accrued while abroad.