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The Hidden Costs of International Calls in 1985

By

thebestmoshe

10mo ago· 6 min readenInsight

Summary

The article discusses the high cost of international phone calls in 1985, highlighting that while the expense to consumers was significant (£2 per minute), the actual cost to telecom companies like Bell and British Telecom was negligible. The piece emphasizes that the infrastructure (transatlantic cables) was the primary expense, not the calls themselves.

Key quotes

· 3 pulled
In 1985 you could make a direct dial from England to the US but it was eye wateringly expensive. £2 per minute.
Their costs were not for the call, but for the infrastructure over which the call was delivered, a transatlantic cable.
If there was one call for ten minutes, once a week essentially at random, that cable must still exist.
Snippet from the RSS feed
Right, that's crucial to understand. In 1985 you could make a direct dial from England to the US but it was eye wateringly expensive. £2 per minute. An hour's call to your mum? That's over £100.

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