Collect call
A collect call is a telephone call in which the called party pays the costs of the call. The “R” in a collect call stands for reverse charge . The called party must agree to this assumption of costs before the connection is established. As a rule, the costs for such a phone call are higher than for a normal conversation. Collect calls are either placed manually (by human operators, the so-called operator ) or automatically.
Automatic collect call
Usual process
The caller calls a free number, gives his name and then dials the number of the connection to which he would like to be connected. When the called person picks up, he is informed - usually by automatic announcement - who would like to reach him via collect and he is asked whether he would like to accept this call. He will then be informed of the fees incurred. Finally, he must agree to this connection by pressing a button or by word confirmation. If he does not do this, there is no connection to the caller. In this case, neither the caller nor the person called incur costs.
Problem
The following problems can arise for the called party:
- A simple “yes” is enough to accept the call. Even an answering machine can accept a collect call if, for example, the following text is on the announcement tape: “I'm not there, but you can leave a message after the beep.” Therefore, the providers have switched to an entry via the Request telephone keypad , for example number one for approval and number two for rejection.
- If the called party has a telephone that works with pulse dialing , it is not possible for him to confirm the question with one and two.
- If the called party uses a fax switch that accepts a call to check whether there is a voice or fax call and only then forwards it to the telephone system, the announcement text disappears completely or partially into nothing, as it is already given by the system during the test time of the fax switch and the called party is not reached.
- Each provider may (in the opposite direction) bill a value-added service to the called party, even if his connection is blocked for value-added service numbers, such as 0900/0190.
- The Federal Network Agency (BNetzA) maintains a blacklist, which is binding for all providers of collect calls, with numbers that cannot be called using collect calls. Owners of numbers who do not want to receive collect calls, however, usually have to ensure that their number is kept there.
- Theoretically, all around 70 (as of January 1, 2008) network operators who offer telephone numbers are obliged to have their customers entered in this blacklist upon request. Other telecommunications service providers are also allowed to provide this blacklist entry service. Currently (January 1st, 2008) 35 companies are authorized to read and / or change the blacklist of the Federal Network Agency.
- The coin identification tone ("cuckoo tone"), which immediately informs the caller of the " coin-operated telephone " feature when the call is accepted , and is intended to avoid unwanted chargeable calls, is only reliably observed for hand-switched collect calls.
- The Federal Court , in its judgment of 16 March 2006 to protect consumers from unwanted collect calls emphasizes (Ref .: III ZR 152/05).
future
The German Telekom will set the collect call at home 31 December 2020, after collect calls were recruited from abroad as of December 31 of 2019. If you want to be available free of charge at your own expense, you can still do this, for example, using an 0800 number . However, this does not allow any participants to be reached spontaneously at their own expense.
Hand-switched collect call
The caller calls a free number and gives the operator the number of the connection to which he would like to be connected. The operator calls the desired subscriber and asks him whether he wants to accept the collect call and will pay the costs. If the desired participant does not agree, the call is ended. The operator's request does not yet cause any costs for the called party.
Situation in other countries
In Brazil , collect calls are possible both in the fixed network and to mobile subscribers. If the area code is the same, the number 9090 is dialed before the area code in order to start a collect call. If the subscriber is in a different area code, the number 90 plus a two-digit network operator code is dialed, via which the call is to be billed (similar to the call-by-call procedure in Germany). Subscribers can generally prevent the acceptance of collect calls with their telecommunications provider. A corresponding signal tone sounds when you accept a collect call. Using the Calling Line Identification ( CLIP ), however, it can be determined who wants to make the collect call, so that many Brazilians call the number back instead of accepting the collect call, which is also associated with higher costs.
literature
- Manual dictionary of electrical telecommunications , 2nd edition, 3rd volume Q-Z; Pp. 1397-1398
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ collect call | Telecom. Retrieved June 17, 2020 .