...when calling someone, does the minutes start as soon as you complete the dail? Or when the person answers? ....so suppose you call someone, like a land line phone... and it rings and rings and rings... and no machine or anything...no one picks up (...say for 2 minutes), are you charged for the time waiting? I've always wondered about that... does anyone know?

 

I think it counts as soon as it begins to show the minutes on the screen. I remember asking a nextel rep about that and he said that it starts as soon as you make the call. I don't know for sure though, just always assumed it was that way.

 

hmmm, i thought its when the other party picks up. I think the time on the screen begins when there is a connection.

 

Connection begins when you hit "dial", but most carriers also don't charge for a call if it doesn't exceed 30 seconds.

 

REALLY??!!! Wow!!! That's good to know!

 

Yeah, apparently since it takes around 30 seconds to ring and enter a voicemail, they don't charge for those calls where you call, get a voicemail, and then hang up. At least that's what I've been told by an AT&T rep before...

 

The technical connection begins when you hit dial...but usually the carriers round up to the minute on calls. I've never heard of any carrier that doesn't charge for a call within 30 seconds.

... I dare anyone to make 10x - 30 second calls and see if they get charged or not. The majority of the members on this board use a GSM carrier: T-Mobile or AT&T/Cinguler. To make it even more juicy, I would put money down. I've studied enough GSM & 3G networks to know how towers/base stations act...

 

neither have i. if you make a call for 1 sec you are getting charged a min for it. you are on the clock from the sec you hit dial till you hang up if not a sec or two afterwards.

 

Whether your call is one second or 59 seconds, you will get charged one minute, another thing most people dont know, if you start a call at 8:59 PM and talk say for 2 hours, those 120 Minutes will get deducted from your Daytime Pool of minutes, even though your call was during the Off Peak period and you happen to have free nights, you made the initiation of the call at a Peak time, Go figure

 

Oh Sh!t!!! No wonder... a couple of months ago.... I got nailed for over the limit minutes.... cause I kept calling poeple like at 8:55pm.... thinking I'd just be using 5 minutes of my day time minutes... That sucks!!!