Call easy!

It is not more than an year ago that I was new in Europe and had just relocated. My Employer was kind enough to grant the first 20 days of accommodation for free and I was taken to a guest house - which was well furnished and maintained too. It had a WLAN, parking garage, furished kitchen, free laundry service etc. not to forget the Television - a replica of CP/M professional system released at the beginning of the 80's, powered by an Intel 8085 processor, 80x24 text resolution on a 12" built-in green phosphor monitor. Nevertheless, it had a brand new rocket age remote control - which was more colorful than then TV itself! I bet, the landlord would have paid more for the remote than the value of the TV then:-) It was torturous to look at it for the first 30 secs after switchin it On when the fluorescent green display turned into multicolor display:-

The landlord also gracefully pulled a contract the moment I stepped into the house and had it signed by me. It had all the restrictions under the Sun:
1. No watching TV b/w 2200 - 0800 hrs
2. No smokin
3. No littering
4. Wipin the shower glass after every shower (there was a free demo too
5. Being ultra careful with the keys - losing which invited a fine
6..
7..

And so there was a small note saying "the telephone would be charged on usage basis and the guest is required to clear the dues on the day of vacating the house"

As I had arrived on sunday and the city was literally dead (Europeans go in for Nirvana on sundays), I grabbed the telephone to catch up with my buddies back home. Somehow, my risk appetite stopped me from talkin for long and I guess I was on the phone for about 70 mins. So, days and weeks passed and I couldn't get the mobile phone as my Passport was submitted to the registration office for visa stamping - - not surprisingly, I used the Home phone a few more times but now, not more than 5 min in total.

And finally the day came or rather the landlord came to me with the bill which had a whooping 408 Euros! Which is good enough to:
1. buy swimming passes in an indoor pool for 4 continuous years
2. fly from Berlin to Zurich and return - 4 times - in Lufthansa (all inclusive and miles too, this data is as on today from Lufthansa website)
3. pay your electricity bills in Europe for a lil more than an year (If you're single, you would have to pay about 30+ Euros/month)
4. and yes, speak to say US for 45000 mins (24/7 - for a month) to any landphone/handphone over internet!! (This rate is from Europe to US at the rate of 1 cent/min - which is prevailing at this time)

One of the above or a 70 min telephone call - - unfortunately, I had to choose the latter ('coz, I like small numbers you know)

This runs down as the the most stupid thing I have done in my life till date. On the other side, its really amazing to look at the way technology is changing and affecting our lives pretty much personally and directly.

Days are not far when these calls would just become free to and from all over the world (of course we have this already if 2 people wishing to talk are on the same domain, Gtalk and Skype are good examples).
Days are not far when the conventional telephone companies just run out of business if they don't change
Days are not far when there's seamless connectivity between people - world will not only be flat but nearer too

On the other hand, its vulnerable too - atleast as of now, there are still ways to hack into your conversation, so, if your wife's a computer savvy, make sure to speak to your girlfriend over physical phones


Gulmohar.