Call China For Free
Ok, I finally have a chance to explain Monday’s Challenge. If you remember, I asked you to call a certain phone number then enter a code to receive a special message. Well, the message was actually live … those of you that got through were actually making a free call to my cell phone in China! I talked to a couple of people, but unfortunately it didn’t work that smoothly for most of you. Some of you couldn’t get through, some called at times when I couldn’t answer, and some could hear me but I couldn’t hear them (so I talked for a minute then hung up).
Here’s how it works. Call China For Free is a website that claims to let people make free calls to China by dialing one of three Iowa-based access numbers (641-297-8888, 712-429-8888, or 712-338-8288) then entering the Chinese phone number. I was a little skeptical at first, but I tested it out with a couple of people … and sure enough, it worked on both my home phone and my cell phone! Because most people have free nationwide calling on their cell phones, this was essentially free … and there didn’t appear to be any way that they could charge either me or the caller.
So how does it work? Well, after a little research, it seems that this service (and other similar websites, like Future Phone) is actually taking advantage of a loophole in U.S. telecommunications laws. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 includes a section that seeks to provide all citizens with equal access to quality phone services (a noble goal), so it requires phone companies in urban areas (like your city) to pay mandatory fees for calls made to rural areas (like Iowa).
So here’s the speculated explanation. Seizing the opportunity, small companies (like Superior Telephone Cooperative, which operates Future Phone) sprung up in Iowa and started charging the big urban telcos as much as $.08 per minute for calls to their company. After convincing people to call their number a lot (through amazing online offers like the ones mentioned above), they then turn around and pay a much smaller fee to connect people to overseas numbers (possibly through VOIP?), making a profit on every minute that someone uses their service.
Moreover, these companies also receive a subsidy from us! All U.S. wireless and wireline telephone subscribers, you see, pay up to a 10.5% surcharge on long distance and cellular bills. That money goes into the Universal Service Fund (which has set aside $85.6 million for Iowa alone) and is used to subsidize “rural” phone companies like Superior.
So essentially, your free call to China is paid for by a combination of some screwed up legislation (yippee for affirmative action!) and good old commercial ingenuity. Feel free to take advantage of this if you’d like … but I’m not sure if my home phone (011-86-738-868-0369) will work better than my cell (011-86-135-0738-0074). And remember … I’m 13 hours ahead of EST, so please only call between the hours of 10pm and 10am EST (11am and 11pm China time).
Talk to you later … hopefully!
December 2nd, 2006 at 12:56 am EST
So do we dial the china number right after we dial the Iowa number???
or do we wait to dial the china number???
December 2nd, 2006 at 3:07 am EST
I think you wait a little bit, until it asks you to enter it. But I’m not sure … I obviously can’t test it out because I’m in China.
If anyone figures it out and wants to post details, that’d be great!
December 2nd, 2006 at 4:42 am EST
You listen to the message. The message says to wait for the tone. As soon as you have heard the tone, dial the international number. It has worked for me calling Lance in China as well as my sister in Germany.
December 2nd, 2006 at 8:29 am EST
thanks
December 3rd, 2006 at 1:10 am EST
wait… IOWA?!?
o gosh…
December 4th, 2006 at 1:06 am EST
December 15th, 2006 at 12:24 pm EST
Thank you for the info
January 1st, 2007 at 8:47 pm EST
[…] ding emails) live. If you need to reach me, I’ll have my cell phone with me … call me! It should all work out well, though, because my Internet connection is terribly slow anyways from the ear […]
February 10th, 2007 at 11:30 am EST
Hey i tryed calling but it said i need to go online to www.freecallplanet.com and signup which means i needa pay! do you needa pay to call people for china?? i need a number poeple fast!!!
February 11th, 2007 at 7:46 am EST
i guess the gravy train had to end sometime…
February 24th, 2007 at 10:20 am EST
the free call to china WAS GREAT, i repeat WAS. For some reason all the numbers I have found on the internet for free calls to china NO LONGER WORK. I have tried many and for some reason unknown to me , they do not work any longer. If someone else knows another service that works , please contact me at sugaray389@hotmail.com
Thanks, Brad
April 1st, 2007 at 2:21 am EST
What’s the link between “screwed up legislation” [sic] and affirmative action? Are all legal loopholes due to affirmative action, or just this one? Can you provide confirmation that this particular law is in any way a result of affirmative action? I’d be curious to know.
June 5th, 2007 at 9:28 pm EST
August 24th, 2007 at 4:27 am EST
This has been your most popular post for awhile, so I thought I’d contribute…
你好!
August 24th, 2007 at 5:25 am EST
Yeah it’s crazy … about 1/4 to 1/3 of the search queries leading to this website are something like “Free Call to China”!
August 24th, 2007 at 10:03 am EST
Hmm, maybe I should put a “Free Call To China” post on my new SteveWebel.com blog to drum up some traffic!?
September 13th, 2007 at 4:11 pm EST
Lance and Steve,
Free calling is back, they just launch a site talkitup.50megs.com
Call a bunch of place for Free and China Mobile is on the list!
Enjoy
Bob
September 28th, 2007 at 5:00 pm EST
Bob,
Thank you for posting talkitup.50megs.com, I an now a big fan and my Family cannot believe it when I told them it is FREE
Thanks again for the post
Chen
October 16th, 2007 at 1:32 am EST
October 28th, 2007 at 4:41 am EST
IF I get free call to china that will make my life so esey
November 12th, 2007 at 10:19 am EST
oiuhoahnkojDN
February 26th, 2008 at 11:32 pm EST
thanks
May 19th, 2008 at 10:05 am EST