Question about 1st Episode Phone Call
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Deutschland 83
Beethovens100 — 10 years ago(January 05, 2016 10:41 AM)
Martin makes a phone call to his girlfriend in East Berlin from West Germany.
But what this really possible from anywhere in the West never mind his general private residence?
I remember my history book mail were often censored or phone calls weren't never allowed. -
lillurr — 10 years ago(February 28, 2016 02:03 PM)
Yes, I don't understand why he didn't do it from a phone booth.
I think all calls to the East would potentially have been listened in on, regardless of if they came from a phone booth or a general's residence. -
Karl Self — 9 years ago(April 20, 2016 02:10 AM)
IIRC he calls from West Germany to his rural home village in East Germany.
Such self-dialled calls from West to East Germany were possible since 1972. On the other hand, private phone lines were hard to get by in East Germany. Not everyone had a phone. You were often on a waiting list for many years. So Martin Rauch alias Moritz Stamm technically could have made the call, but might have had no number in East Germany to call.
The other way round (from East to West Germany) it would have been much more difficult, even on a private phone line the call would have to be booked at the telephone exchange, and it could take hours for the connection to come through. I. e. you'd call the telephone exchange (provided that you had a phone), tell them that you wanted to call number xyz inside the Evil Empire, and after some undetermined time they'd call you back and make the connection; and in this time you naturally had to stay close to the phone or else you'd miss your call. -
GuyOnTheLeft — 9 years ago(October 19, 2016 04:24 AM)
Okay, but it definitely would have shown up as a long distance call on their phone bill, right?
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Karl Self — 9 years ago(October 22, 2016 05:53 AM)
IIRC (and I think I do) West German phone bills in 1983 were not itemized. You were just billed an indescript lump sum.
Caused a few heated family arguments, let me tell you especially since long distance and especially international, and especially overseas phone calls cost a fortune. The upside was that your parents could suspect a lot but couldn't prove anything.
Another upside was that local calls were not being timed. You paid the same (20 Pfennig, roughly a dime) regardless whether the call lasted one minute or 10 hours. Great for teenage girls and BBS users. -
GuyOnTheLeft — 9 years ago(October 24, 2016 04:48 AM)
Huh. Much different from the U.S. at the time.
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