Paul,

I'm in New York. I don't know how other cities' phone companies bill. Here goes:

A "local" call to domestic city codes 212, 646 and 718 are billed at a flat rate of 10 cents a call -- no matter how long you gab. Calls to surrounding city or "area" codes such as 201 (New Jersey), 516 (Long Island) and 914 (Westchester) are billed per minute -- almost like long-distance charges. I personally consider a call to Long Island long distance.

917 is the area code used for cell phones and pagers "connected" in New York City. If you're calling from a 212, 718 or 646 phone number to a 917 cellphone number, it is billed as a local call. It doesn't matter what the physical location of the mobile is.

If you have a "New York cell phone" and you're in California or New Jersey and I call you on my regular phone from New York City, I will only pay the local rate.

I don't own a working cell phone. I have a pager for work -- but only one person (my boss's assistant) knows that number and she only uses it when she REALLY REALLY needs to get a hold of me. And that only happens maybe three or four times a YEAR.

If it were up to me, I wouldn't even have a telephone at home!!! [Linked Image]

The two non-working phones I have are part of my radio collection: An old early Motorla Flip Fone I've wanted for years and a Qualcomm phone (this company doesn't manufacture them anymore). I'm actually looking for one of those old "bricks"

It's surprising how comfortable it felt to hold one of those earlyphones. It feels like a phone. The earpiece and the microphone are positioned where you think they should be.

Nowadays, trying to talk into one of these iddy-biddy things that almost every has now feels like holding a TV zapper up to your face....they're so cheesy.

[This message has been edited by SvenNYC (edited 10-11-2003).]