A collect call in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

, known as a reverse charge call in other parts of the English-speaking world, is a

telephone call A telephone call is a connection over a telephone network between the called party and the calling party. First telephone call The first telephone call was made on March 10, 1876, by Alexander Graham Bell. Bell demonstrated his ability to " ...

in which the

calling party The calling party (in some contexts called the "A-Number") is a person who (or device that) initiates a telephone call. The person who, or device that, receives a telephone call is the called party (or callee or B-party). In some countries, it ...

wants to place a call at the

called party The called party (in some contexts called the "B-Number") is a person who (or device that) answers a telephone call. The person who (or device that) initiates a telephone call is the calling party. In some situations, the called party may number m ...

's expense. In the past, collect calls were only possible as an operator-assisted call, but with the introduction of computer-based

telephone A telephone is a telecommunications device that permits two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most efficiently the human voice, into el ...

dialing equipment, it is now possible to place a collect call without using an

operator Operator may refer to: Mathematics * A symbol indicating a mathematical operation * Logical operator or logical connective in mathematical logic * Operator (mathematics), mapping that acts on elements of a space to produce elements of another ...

, which is called automated operator services (AOS) as opposed to Home Country Direct (HCD). (Automated reverse charge dialing eliminates a service that could be provided, at a higher fee, only on operator-assisted connections: the person-to-person call, in which there is no charge unless a designated person is available.) While

Mother's Day Mother's Day is a celebration honoring the mother of the family or individual, as well as motherhood, maternal bonds, and the influence of mothers in society. It is celebrated on different days in many parts of the world, most commonly in the ...

has the highest number of phone calls, the most collect calls are made on

Father's Day Father's Day is a holiday of honoring fatherhood and paternal bonds, as well as the influence of fathers in society. In Catholic countries of Europe, it has been celebrated on 19 March as Saint Joseph's Day since the Middle Ages. In the United ...

Services

Australia

Several companies previously provided reverse call services in Australia, including 1800MUMDAD - 1800686323, 1800Reverse and 1800PhoneHome. In 2019, major telecommunication providers Optus and Telstra ceased billing services on behalf of third party content providers, causing these services to close. 12550 is an alternative Reverse charge call service available from Telstra Pay Telephones and Telstra Prepaid mobiles. However, in the case of prepaid phones, it is accessible only where there is sufficient credit to call 12550.

Telstra Telstra Group Limited is an Australian telecommunications company that builds and operates telecommunications networks and markets voice, mobile, internet access, pay television and other products and services. It is a member of the S&P/ASX ...

ran a reverse charge service called HomeLink during the 1990s and 2000s. Homelink consisted of a 1800 number and PIN that could only be linked to the user's home phone service. Calls were billed at a slightly higher cost than a standard local call. HomeLink grew out of popularity with the rise in mobile phones.

Brazil

In Brazil, reverse calls are available for every

land Land, also known as dry land, ground, or earth, is the solid terrestrial surface of the planet Earth that is not submerged by the ocean or other bodies of water. It makes up 29% of Earth's surface and includes the continents and various isl ...

or mobile line call. All local reverse calls must be started by dialing 9090 and the desired phone number. If the user is not in the same zone as the recipient the calls must be started by dialing 90 + carrier code + area code + the desired phone number.

India

There is not a simple way to make a reverse charge call for free in India. In early 2019 a private tech company launched services to enable a person to make an overseas reverse charge call. AT&T also provides a number to make collect calls from India to the United States. The number is 000-117.

Pakistan

A collect call can be made through any mobile in Pakistan by dialing a prefix of 11 before entering in the desired number.

Republic of Ireland

A collect call service operates under 800 Reverse (operated by Reverse Corp Ltd), in the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern ...

. It offers reverse charge calls from any fixed line phone, pay phone and most mobile phones (even if the prepaid credit has run out), to most fixed land line and mobile phones in the Republic of Ireland. The company charges €2.99 to connect the call, including the first 60 seconds of the call, and €0.593 for every subsequent minute.

Eircom Eircom Limited, trading as Eir ( ; stylised eir), is a large fixed, mobile and broadband telecommunications company in Ireland. The now privatised company, which is currently incorporated in Jersey, traces its origins to the Ireland's former ...

offered national and international reverse charge calling services until 24 February 2009. Prior to the cessation of services, national reverse charge service could be obtained by dialing the operator on 10 or, from payphones via 1 800 28 28 28 and international reverse charge services could be reached via the international operator on 114 or 1800 457 457 from payphones.

United Kingdom

In the UK, a number of services offer reverse charge calling. A caller can dial the international operator on 155 and ask for a reverse charge call, or alternatively dial an automated service such as 08000MUMDAD, 08000686323, or 0800REVERSE. Reverse charge calls can be made for free on some mobile networks, although the person being contacted via this service may be charged a considerable amount for accepting such a call.

United States and Canada

AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile tel ...

no longer operates a collect call service for the United States. Competitors include

1-800-COLLECT 1-800-COLLECT (1-800-265-5328) is a 1-800 number, owned and operated by Viiz Communications, which provides fixed rate collect calling in the United States. The service was launched by MCI in 1993. History Launch Prior to 1993, collect calling ...

, which does serve VoIP receivers. Verizon terminated the ability to receive collect calls on its landlines in 2016. Prior to the introduction of the toll-free 800 area code in 1967, Zenith numbers in the U.S. and Canada, and Enterprise numbers in the U.S. only, indicated to an

that the business agreed to automatically accept collect calls to that number. In the United Kingdom, Freefone numbers provided this service.

Kenya

The reverse call service has been available in

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

for a long time, and was issued by the landline operator telkom A customer who needed the service had to call customer care and then request for reverse call. If The other person accepted, the call would then be connected and charged on his or her bill. In June 2019, the largest mobile service provider

Safaricom Safaricom PLC is a listed Kenyan mobile network operator headquartered at Safaricom House in Nairobi, Kenya. It is the largest telecommunications provider in Kenya, and one of the most profitable companies in the East and Central Africa region. T ...

started rolling out reverse call services to all it's customers. To access the service, A Customer has to dial # before the number being called for example if you want to call 123456, a customer would dial #123456. The caller details would appear on the screen as usual but when the person being called receives the call, he or she gets a voice response informing him or her that the call is a reverse call, if the customer wants to pay for the call, he will then press 1 on the keypad and the call is then connected and charged on his bill. Safaricom said that the cost of reverse calls is the same as the cost of normal calls.

References

{{Telecommunications Calling features