3/ These automated dialers place a *lot* of calls. So many calls, in fact, that they can get very good wholesale pricing. It's a little tough for them to find phone companies who are willing to work with them, though, because their average call duration (ACD) is low.
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4/ Still, if you dig around in the Internet sewers of phone companies shadier than
@shadytel, you can find SIP providers who list "call center" or "dialer" rates. And then you can begin get a sense of the economics of this.1 reply 5 retweets 50 likesShow this thread -
5/ Here's an example. Starcom Partners, a phone company you have probably never heard of, can happily carry up to 5,000 simultaneous robocalls per second if you'd like. And they're just *one* of the dozens of companies out there doing it. Check it out: https://starcompartners.com/termination
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6/ How much does it cost, you might ask? Suppose you want to robocall Microsoft and sell SMB 1.0 timeshares to
@NerdPyle. My phone number there used to be (425) 705-7xxx so we can look up the rate: 0.002353 cents per minute.3 replies 6 retweets 52 likesShow this thread -
7/ "OK, TProphet" you might say, "but that's pretty expensive! 4 of those calls adds up to about a penny. That means 400 are a dollar. And pretty soon that adds up to real money." And you'd be right, except that the calls are billed in... 6 SECOND increments. Let that sink in.
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Replying to @TProphet
Seems like it should be fixable with taxation that makes per-second billing (or just billing without a hefty minimum billed duration) completely impractical.
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Replying to @RichFelker
That will massively increase legitimate business phone costs.
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Replying to @TProphet
I'm really okay with that, but I think it's false anyway for *legitimate* businesses. The relative cost to any business whose main activity is not calling people who did not consent to be called is irrelevant.
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Replying to @RichFelker @TProphet
VoIP rates below something like 1-2¢/min with a minimum of 5¢ or so per call do not benefit anyone except abusers. It's the same issue as USPS bulk mail discount rates. They benefit abusers not normal people & legit businesses.
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Replying to @RichFelker @TProphet
You realize that's the exact argument people have regularly made on charging all internet traffic per megabyte, right?
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Not really. There is no legitimate way you can run up any significant cost with low per-min voice rate. Data has no inherent limit, minutes of voice do.
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