[LINK] RFI: Change in Telstra Timed-Call Charges

[David Lochrin]

On Friday 18 February 2011 03:41, Scott Howard wrote:
> It's been a very long time since I've paid Telstra for an STD call, but 
> based on their website it looks like the standard rates are 20-25 
> cents/minutes, with a 0.45 cent flag fall.
> 
> Thus the just-over-4-minute call would have previously been 
> (4.5*0.25+0.45=)  $1.58, where it will now be (5*0.25+0.45=) $1.70.  
> That's an 8% increase, not 11%
> 
> For the sub-30-second it's previously (0.5*0.25+0.45=) 58 cents, where 
> now it's (1*0.25+0.45=) 70 cents.  That's an increase of 21%, not 100%.
> 
> Am I missing something?

If calls take random times and are timed in periods of 't' seconds or part thereof,  then the average call will leave (t/2) seconds unused.  So if the charging period is doubled while the rate remains unchanged, then surely Telstra will double their earnings from unused time?

It's only a small amount per call, but it adds up.  Does anyone remember the old story about the programmer who modified the routine which calculated sales commissions so that all the truncated amounts went to his own account instead of being discarded?  The beauty of the scheme was that the books continued to balance!

David