On Fri, 30 Mar 2012 16:25:48 +0000 (UTC), "Adam H. Kerman"
wrote:

Stephen Sprunk wrote:

(The FCC prohibits allocating separate area codes to mobile carriers,
claiming that would be "discriminatory", so their numbers come from the
same geographical area codes as land lines. This causes many problems
and, in the end, hurts consumers.)

Causes problems and hurts consumers? What the hell are you talking about here?

Because the original mobile carriers were all subsidiaries of the incumbent
land line telephone companies, they thought in land-line terms.

For billing purposes, traditionally, calls from land lines were rated on
time and distance. Initially, cell phone calls were rated on time, only,
within the home coverage area, and time and distance, if the call terminated
outside the home coverage area.

What is a cell phone? Used in prisons?

Guy Gorton