What all billing wise happens when somebody makes a long-distance call, and what are possible exceptions?

Question

Because somebody called me long distance on their cell phone, and I'm curious as to who gets billed.

Answer 1

When making long distance phone calls, the calling party always pays for the LD call.

If you receive the call on a cell phone, then the only charge you will incur will be your normal air-time charges, which just depends on your cell phone package terms.

There are some VoIP services that charge for all incoming calls (just like some cell services).  Again, in these cases it doesn't matter if the incoming call is local or LD, it is charged on a per/min incoming call rate.  And, that's because these are budget pay-per-call packages.  So, again just depends on package one is signed up for.

(But, you never pay long distance charges on behalf of the caller - the caller always pays the LD charge)

The only exception is when someone calls you "collect" and you verbally tell the call operator "I will accept the long distance charges" for the incoming call.  In which case, you are fully aware and acknowledging billing charges for the call.