[jsnell]

I don't get it. If the collect call from A to B is accepted, B pays the cost of the call. In your scenario B instead calls A directly... and B still pays the cost. Where's the savings here?

(And there's a pretty clear downside to this. What if it's an actual emergency from a different phone than the standard. E.g. the only time I can remember answering a collect call, it was my sister calling from a foreign hospital after a serious accident. Trying to call back at a different number wouldn't have been great. I guess you could have a protocol involving multiple collect calls, and hope that there's no record that the first one was rejected.)

[myself248]

The A-B collect rate might be $3/min because collect calls carry absurd, insane, incomprehensibly whackass surcharges.

The B-A call back rate might be $0.20/min because it's just a normal call, not subject to the above fees.

There's the savings.

[sokoloff]

"Collect call from Bob Weaddababyeetzaboy" : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JxhTnWrKYs

[failrate]

We had more subtle encoding, but important messages could be sent by collect calls that would definitely be refused.

[woleium]

Collect calls carry an additional operator fee, unless rejected.