Divorce of Country Code and Area codes

My good friend Rajan is based in Bangalore and runs a biotechnology firm with global customers. When you dial a L.A. based number +1 714 XXX XXXX the phone rings at his home in Bangalore. His wife, a software program manager, program manages an off shore development project, with daily conversations with her U.S. based principles. Their daughter goes to school in Los Angeles and they speak daily ” we have not missed our daughther since she moved in August ” exclaims Rajan. He also talks to his prospective clients all over the U.S. from 9pm to midnight before retiring to bed. If their clients are not at their desk he leaves voice mail with a L.A. number. When clients return calls the phone actually rings and is answered in Bangalore. How is this happening ? Thanks to a technology called VOIP which runs on Broadband. Rajan subscribes to VSNL’s broadband service which is always on and provides about 100 kpbs data speeds. He has deployed a VOIP phone from Vonage for a flat fee and a number that is local to L.A. For the flat fee of US$35 he is able to talk unlimited to any number in the U.S. There is a even better new service called Lingo that retails for about US$20 and you can even call Western Europe. We believed only mobile phones are location independent, even fixed lines are going that way. Some say the world is becoming a smaller place day by day. I would say that location is becoming irrelevant and where you stay even more irrlelevant.

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