Beep me when you get there

27 Sep, 2007
You've ran out of credit? Then go "beeping" as the Africans do. Reuters UK reports that a research carried in Africa shows that the so-called "beeping" is increasingly popular in developing...

Sort by:

  • t
  • tom
  • Sbx
  • 28 Sep 2007

You can make whole sistem for beeping, as 1 beep can mean something, two somethin else etc., as teenagers usualy do. it's normal for youngs.

    • F
    • Freek
    • RbH
    • 28 Sep 2007

    Beeping is nothing new... and all sms-text messages used to be for free. It was a optoin for network operators (year 1990) untill the companies noticed it was very popular. Now they charge you for it.

      • ?
      • Anonymous
      • Fv4
      • 28 Sep 2007

      i think its great in south africa we get 15 free please call me ......basically u sebnd your frends a please call me and if they are able to they will call youi

        • a
        • adolfo
        • 4@W
        • 28 Sep 2007

        no no its called beeping...thats what we do in domiican republic....remember pagers?? your pager would beep you could see who paged you then u call back....thats exactley what you do with the phone u let it ring once and hang up...thats a beep and thats very old...i thought only dominicans did it(i thought we invented it) but i dont think it works in the U.S being that incoming calls are charged the same way outgoing calls are....

          • S
          • Sean
          • Nxs
          • 28 Sep 2007

          Here in South Africa we have a "please call me" service.Limited to 5 a day. It is free because the message will contain an advertisement as well.

            • f
            • frappo
            • PSw
            • 28 Sep 2007

            we call it "MISS CALL" in the Philippines.. You are actually giving the receipient a missed call because he/she wasn't able to answer it.. That's why the name "MISS CALL" was used on this type of call.. You just give the receipient a few rings and then you drop the call.. Before, Philippine mobile carriers gave the callers 5 seconds before their calls were charged! However, the 5-second grace period was removed since people would just drop the call before hitting the 5-second mark!! So most calls weren't charged!!! Hehe.. 5 seconds is already long enough to say "where are you? i've been waiting for you!" :)

              • C
              • Cymbalrocks
              • 2Ad
              • 28 Sep 2007

              Sometimes people will fire a "missed call" your way just because they're miserly and want you to call them instead. With me, I just hit the receive button as fast as I can lol, pisses people off sometimes.

                • c
                • coffeegirl
                • 4Z2
                • 28 Sep 2007

                in vietnam, they have it too
                ppl usually txt each other as a cheaper mean of comm., one other way is to call the person, if that person reject the call, that mean they know who's calling and they got the message
                Even so my cuz still manage to spend half of his pay check on his phone bill

                  • c
                  • coffeegirl
                  • 4Z2
                  • 28 Sep 2007

                  in vietnam, they have it too
                  ppl usually txt each other as a cheaper mean of comm., one other way is to call the person, if that person reject the call, that mean they know who's calling and they got the message
                  Even so my cuz still manage to spend half of his pay check on his phone bill

                    • U
                    • Unknown
                    • jIu
                    • 28 Sep 2007

                    I live in Iran and making call is cheap. We pay $0.05 cents per Minute and $0.01 cent per SMS! Recieving calls and SMS is free! Instead we "BUY" sim cart (line) for $700 to $800 dollars and you
                    Own the line forever. If you make call you'll pay for it and if
                    You don't your bill will be $0.00 at the end of the month. It's
                    Good to mention thqt there's only one company that provides
                    Simcard (phone line) which is govermental.

                      • K
                      • Korbindallis
                      • NRi
                      • 28 Sep 2007

                      :) It goes by many names "Miss Call" "Miss Bell"
                      my girlfriend always does that it means shes out of credit and i need to sms her some credit form my cell ;)

                      or if i am at work and freinds miss call me it means i gotta call them form my work number lol

                        • P
                        • Portugal
                        • M3W
                        • 28 Sep 2007

                        I've got 1500 free sms each week. It's part of my pre-paid plan and I don't pay more for that. That's why I don't use beeps. With my provider we've also got "Kolmi" (call me:) messages if we don't have any money left in our card - it is mostly used by kids to call their parents.

                          • ?
                          • Anonymous
                          • PEi
                          • 28 Sep 2007

                          Well , it's a typical way of communication in poor countries were most of mobile subscribers hasn't got postpaid number.

                            • ?
                            • Anonymous
                            • kC5
                            • 28 Sep 2007

                            I almost forgot about that activity as I changed a residence place from Poland to Canada. Here, I don't care about bills, I couldn't care less even for sending messages, calls are cheap, therefore...I call whenever the need presents itself. However, back home, i.e. in Poland I remember abusing the beeping procedure notoriously for the simple fact of the GSM provider's service fees do not synchronizing with an income average going rate.

                            kind regards,

                              • ?
                              • Anonymous
                              • w98
                              • 28 Sep 2007

                              In Sri Lanka this is very popular among pre-paid users. It's termed as either a 'Missed Call' or more popularly, a 'Ring-Cut'

                              e.g: I will giv u a missed call or I will giv u a ring-cut

                                • n
                                • niro iyashi
                                • vj1
                                • 28 Sep 2007

                                Hey! I forgot to tell you that here in the Philippines we also have Unlimited Call!!!(Offered by SUN CELLULAR) for just 30 pesos you can have 1 whole day (24 hours) of unlimited text and Call (limited to the subscribers of SUN CELLULAR, regular rate is used if you call to other network ^_^ ).

                                Those innovations make all the people here in the Philippines connected to one another from poorer to richer.

                                DROP CALLS are permanently out of our choices coz the networks here charge us of 1 minute call right after the connection has been made. Even MISS CALLS are being one of the endangered CELL PHONE activities here in the Philippines including the sending and downloading Picture Messages.& Logos

                                Texting is made cheaper here in the Philippines and that’s why we are called the TEXTING CAPITAL of THE WORLD!!! (^_^)

                                  • ?
                                  • Anonymous
                                  • PNE
                                  • 28 Sep 2007

                                  this is the most annoying thing; people that "prank" or "beep" and expect to be called back... here in Oz, unless I noe the person has no credit, I don't call back.

                                    • n
                                    • niro iyashi
                                    • vj1
                                    • 28 Sep 2007

                                    Darn! This news is so OLD!!! Here in the Philippines we do that many years ago... I’m doing that since im in High School! And I am working now...

                                    We Call that "Miskol" (miss call) and we also do DROP CALLS (you can make a call for 5 second without a charge!) when I was in High School. In that time it’s to hard for a student in High School to buy Php 300 prepaid card (minimum card load) so we do this things.

                                    Then another inovation comes for the students and teenagers...
                                    All Text 100! a 100 pesos Text Card for those teenagers / students who has shortage in budget to buy 300 pesos worth of call&text card.

                                    So the innovation comes fast here in the Philippines... we have the E-Load or Electronic Load so now it is possible to load any ware here in the Philippines. We have many flexible loading systems for the Poor and Teenagers or even the one who is considering their budget to afford like PasaLoad, Unlimited Text, All Text 20, Talk 20.

                                    Not to forget we also now remit Money Trough our Cell Phones (Smart Money & Globe G-Cash).

                                    And that’s not all!!!

                                      • y
                                      • yvo
                                      • U2V
                                      • 28 Sep 2007

                                      yeah it's called pranking in Australia

                                        • d
                                        • dookie
                                        • pp@
                                        • 28 Sep 2007

                                        it sometimes can be very annoying when you know that the person which is beeping you has more credit than you... happens to me all the time.
                                        in my country, Serbia, when someone beeps you once it means that he/she is thinking of you, wheres twice means that he/she demands a callback...
                                        interesting to find out about customs in other countries