I live in the United Kingdom. Most of the people I deal with are in the
United States. This means dialing into conference calling numbers is a way of
life. Sadly, these conference system still don’t keep the non-US person in mind.
In the past, you would get an 800 or 888 toll-free number to call. In my
first year or two in the UK back in 1997-98, these might not work. You’d try to
call them, and you’d get an error getting through.
Today, it’s common that any conference system will give you an alternative
number. You’ll get the 800 number, then some alternative non-toll free number in
the US with a note to use it "if calling from outside the United States."
That’s nice. The conference companies have understood the dialing problem.
It’s also pretty unnecessary, since I can’t remember the last time I couldn’t
call an 800 number.
The bigger problem is this. Those 800 numbers, not costing all the US
participants any money to call? They do cost for those calling from outside the
US. It doesn’t matter that the number is a toll free one. If you aren’t in the
US, you’re getting billed by the minute. The same is true for the non-toll free
number, of course.
Now, I assume the reason conference companies do 800 numbers is that they
think it’s a nice feature for individual participants not to be billed for
having a conversation. That’s great — but it’s something the non-US participant
would probably like, as well.
Cost-wise, it’s not a big deal for me to do these calls. My phone plan
through OneTel costs like $0.06 per minute to call the US. That the same cost to
call across the UK. I’m not counting the pennies on these calls. But still, it
would be nice if for once, I got a message that gave me a toll-free number in
the UK that I could call.
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I’ve actually noticed the same thing in reverse. Hardly any UK based bridge systems support toll free international dialing (Including a major Telco I speak with quite frequently).
Of course, unless you’re paying the bill most people don’t care. The other thing is that if you do want to set up toll free international dialing you usually have to set it up on a country by country basis. I guess if you primarily do business with just one country it wouldn’t be a big deal.
Unfortunately the standard right now is “toll free” for locals, everyone else is on their own.
-David