Bhutan telephone directory, now available for download

The Bhutan Telecom phone directory, in PDF (1.5MB), is now available for download here. Two comments: The file contains phone listings only, and the various sections with the lists of BT's available features, fees, tariffs, etcetera are missing. Also, it would have been useful to have an online search function to avoid having to download the whole file to locate a single phone number.

As is often the case with these kinds of books, while the main plot is a little thin, the book is packed with plenty of interesting characters.

More love for your fixed-line

I previously blogged about reasons to keep your fixed-line phone. I promised a future post with "secret" features that come with your line. So here it is!

Every phone line in Bhutan comes with a set of optional service features. Alas, information about these features is hard to come by. You won't be able to find any information on the BT website (the most obvious place to list these features) or in the printed phone directory. However, the BT representative at the One-Stop-Shop was kind enough to provide me with the relevant information, so I'm sharing it with you. The features are now listed on a special page at ThimphuTech.

To enable any of these features, you would need to contact Bhutan Telecom. Among the more useful or interesting ones are Alarm clock (*55), Call waiting (*43), and my all-time favorite, Camp on Busy (*37).

Keep on loving your BT fixed-line phone

Everyone in Bhutan, from Phuentsholing's business people to Laya's yak herders, seems to carry a mobile phone (or two) these days. And when home - even when a fixed-line phone is available - it is quite tempting to keep using your slick and shiny handset, with the address book and all. But there are many reasons to hang on to your fixed-line and keep using your dusty, plain, MP3-less, camera-free telephone that lies in the corner. Here they are:

1. Health: Mobile handsets emit powerful electromagnetic waves which are absorbed by our brains. It is still not clear what are the health implications of this kind of radiation, but many people believe that there are significant risks involved, especially for children. Fixed line phones are virtually radiation-free. 
2. Money: The monthly service charge for a fixed line is Nu 100, but this includes Nu 100 worth of free calls. So if you're not taking advantage of your free calls, you're throwing away 3 momo plates' worth of money every month.
3. Tariff: If I got it right, local calls (within the same area code) are terribly cheap (Nu 0.6/minute). Calls to different Dzongkhangs (Nu 3.5), and calls to mobile phones (Nu 3/minute) are much more expensive. So if you're calling a mobile number or a different Dzongkhag, it will probably be cheaper to use your mobile handset, but remember: you might be paying with your health.
4. Internet: To connect to the Internet from home, you'll need either dial-up or broadband Internet. You will need a fixed line for either. (Broadband has two advantages over dial-up: It is much speedier, and you can keep making and receiving calls while surfing the Internet).
5. Fax: This probably affects only a small number of people, but still... to send or receive a facsimile, you will need a fixed line (and a fax machine, but that's a different story).

Last but not least, there are a few "secret" features that are available with your fixed line. More information in an upcoming post.