The world has transitioned from traditional physical meetings to online conferencing or video calling for carrying out most of the meetings, be it formal or informal. The situation around COVID-19 is not improving any time soon. Thus video calling apps are going to be in high demand for the foreseeable future. There are many apps one can choose from in India. Jio recently came out with Jio Meet, Airtel partnered with Verizon to bring BlueJeans, and some other popular video calling apps are there such as Google Meet, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has issued an order to the telcos for ensuring that the customers are wary of the ISD charges that they can attract while video calling.
ISD Charges on Video Calling, How Can that Happen?
International Subscriber Dialling (ISD) charges are those which are levied on making international calls. Telcos have been warning their customers about the ISD charges that can be levied on the video calls if they are not aware. If an international number is called using the dial-in feature of either of these apps, then ISD charges will be applied to that call.
But there is a way one can escape these charges. It is to use either a laptop or desktop computer and opt for the built-in audio. But if the call is made from the smartphone and an international number or premium number is dialled in while the smartphone is connected to a cellular network, then ISD charges will be applied.
This notification has been issued by Trai to the telcos because a lot of customers were shocked at the bills they received over the last few months. It seems like they were not aware of the ISD charges that were being applied to their video calls.
The most effective way to save yourself from these charges is to avoid making video calls from your smartphone. Just do it from your laptop or desktop computer if you are in front of it. This is applicable to every video calling app be it Zoom, Jio Meet, BlueJeans, or any other app.
