Mie-Yun Lee Convention says that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. But when it comes to placing international phone calls from a foreign country, it is often cheaper to place a call to another country through the U.S. than to do so directly. Convention must never have dealt with international calling. It is this strange but true reality which accounts for the healthy growth of the international callback industry.
Many foreign counties charge outrageous rates for international calls.
Callback companies provide callers with U.S. based phone calling privileges and the accompanying lower rates. That way, users can avoid the high rates of overseas telephone monopolies and calling cards when placing calls from abroad. International callback works by having a caller place a call to the service bureau from a previously designated phone number. The user then hangs up and waits for a call back from the service. When the call comes through, the user picks up the line and is patched into another a U.S.-based phone line.