Europe, U.S. Separated by Telephone Cultures, Reuters, 13 Mar 2005

“European and American culture differ in language, automobiles, sports and -- less obvious but no less important -- the way they use telephones… An FCC report said American mobile users talk more and pay less than Europeans, citing it as "evidence that the U.S. market is effectively competitive" compared to Europe and Japan. But eight of 10 European Union residents have mobile phone numbers while only six of 10 Americans do… Europeans traditionally pay by the minute for both fixed lines and mobiles. Teenagers save money using cheap SMS messages instead of mobile calls, and pay nothing to receive. Those Americans who have SMS must pay to send and receive.�

Full story at http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050313/tc_nm/column_pluggedin_dc