Answer the Beeping Phone !
p2pnet news | Mobiles:- Is your cell-phone credit running low, but you still want to catch someone’s attention?
Do what they do in Saharan Africa. Use a technique born out of need.
Beep them.
“You beep someone when you call them up on their mobile phone – setting its display screen briefly flashing – then hang up – setting its display screen briefly flashing – then hang up half a second later, before they have had a chance to answer,” says Reuters. “Your friend – you hope – sees your name and number on their list of ‘Missed Calls’ and calls you back at his or her expense.”
Seems reasonable enough, but according to the story, it’s driving mobile operators up the wall because they’re not make any money out of it.
“It is a concern for operators in African countries, whose networks become congested depending on the time of day with calls they cannot bill for,” the story has Informa analyst Devine Kofiloto saying.
What to do, what to do?
Faisal Ijaz Khan works for Zain’s (formerly MTC), a Kuwaiti mobile phone operator. And he’s responding by, “drawing up plans for a ‘Call-me-back’ service in Sudan, letting customers send open requests in the form of a very basic signal to friends for a phone call,” says Reuters, going on:
“The main advantage for the company is that the requests will be diverted from the main network and pushed through using a much cheaper technology (USSD or Unstructured Supplementary Service Data).”
And a handful of similar schemes are springing up across Africa, says Kofiloto.
But, “beeping is not only about money,” story goes on, saying Jonathan Donner, an India-based researcher for Microsoft, will publish “The Rules of Beeping” in Journal of Computer Mediated Communication in October.
“Donner’s ‘Rules of Beeping’ suggests a social protocol for the practice,” says Reuters.
“The richer guy pays,” he writes. It’s OK to beep someone if you’re short of cash and they’re flush, but, “Never beep someone poorer than you.
“Never beep someone you are tapping for a favour. You don’t want to risk annoying the person you are trying to win over.
“Never flash your girlfriend, unless you want to look cheap.”
Most beeps are requests to call back immediately, “but can also send a pre-negotiated instrumental message such as ‘pick me up now,’ or send a relational sign, such as ‘I’m thinking of you’,” Donner says, adds the story.
The Rules of Beeping: Exchanging Messages Using Missed Calls on Mobile Phones in sub-Saharan Africa was initially presented at the annual meeting of the International Communication Association, Sheraton New York, New York City, last year, from the look of it,
Says the abastract:
This paper explores the widespread practice of “beeping” between mobile phone users in sub-Saharan Africa. Beeping involves calling a number and hanging up before the mobile’s owner can pick up the call. The mobile’s call log and address book functions signal who called, and when. Most beeps are requests to the mobile owner to call back immediately, but beeps can also send a pre-negotiated instrumental message such as “pick me up now”, or send a relational sign, such as “I’m thinking of you”. Based on interviews with small business owners and university students in Rwanda, the paper identifies the “rules of beeping” and assesses its significance using a variety of frames, including linguistics, structuration, and communication technology and economic development. The paper contrasts beeping with SMS/text messaging, and suggests paths for future research.
Could this trend spread to wealthier parts of the world?
Beep 
Also See:
Reuters – Phone credit low? Africans go for ‘beeping’, September 26, 2007
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September 28th, 2007 at 5:39 am
It’s actually very ironic because the original idea of having set times where you don’t have to pay for calls was to eliminate congestion at peak calling times which is during the day. It would appear that people are willing to wait in other countries that aren’t as tech connected as countries like the U.S. is.
September 28th, 2007 at 4:58 pm
It’s already used in the UK. My daughter does it to me all the time!
September 28th, 2007 at 10:19 pm
It is pretty popular with japanese high schoolers,too. Called “wan-kiri denwa” if I am not mistaken…
October 1st, 2007 at 8:43 am
popular with students the world over. need cash beep your parents :p