Nostalgia for the time of ‘timing every second’ when making cell phone calls

Around 9 p.m. every night, Bich Thuy, 30 years old in Hanoi, often lies on the sofa, watching movies and calling to “chat” with friends via an OTT application. The two discussed the movie they were watching, commented on the coffee maker they were planning to buy, and told stories at work. Sometimes the two of them silently surf the internet together, then continue the story.

According to the Department of Telecommunications – Ministry of Science and Technology, traditional communications “continue to decline”, in which domestic voice calls decreased by 17% and international calls decreased by 40% during Tet 2026. The reason is that users are shifting from traditional voice calls to Internet-based forms of communication such as texting, voice and video calls via free OTT applications or social networks. Meanwhile, mobile phone prices are also cheaper, causing many people to no longer care about time or worry about charges like they did more than 20 years ago.

In the 1990s and early 2000s, mobile phones were a luxury item. Low per capita income makes telecommunications costs of more than 1,000 VND per minute, even 3,600 VND/minute interregionally, become a burden for many families.

Not only are prices high, the way mobile charges are calculated is also different from today. Carriers apply the “block” method of calculating calls, which means dividing calls into fixed intervals, the most common being one-minute blocks. If you miss just one second, the system rounds it to two minutes. A slow “thush” sound means adding a few thousand dong to the bill at the end of the month.

From then on, a habit gradually formed: using seconds to speak.

Mr. Minh Tuan (Hai Ba Trung, Hanoi) still remembers the feeling of talking while looking at the wall clock. He and his group of friends passed on the secret to each other before dialing the number to have the content in mind. When you press the phone, you get straight to the point. At the 50th second, you start closing the number and saying goodbye.

Over time, the method of calculating fees gradually changed, blocks were withdrawn from one minute to 30 seconds, then 6 seconds. “I work in sales, have had a mobile phone since 1993-1994 and have trained to keep each call close to a multiple of 30 seconds,” reader Bui Thu Hien said. “Back then, if you didn’t call well, the sale money wouldn’t cover the phone bill.”

“In the past, there was a 3-second block for free, chatting with each other all day without spending any money,” reader Tran Hoai Nam recalled, mentioning the “super short” calls that have become a type of code among students.

Hoang Long, a former student of Polytechnic University, also remembers the legendary “unspoken and then hung up” calls: “7 o’clock at the back gate”, “photo shop”… without needing the listener to respond because at that time texting also cost a few hundred dong per SMS.

“With the previous appointment, we even just rang the phone and set a convention, like one ring means we’re almost there, two rings means we’ll go down right away, three rings means we cancel the bet,” Mr. Long recalled. “In the dormitory, if someone’s phone rings for a few seconds and then goes silent, the person involved will understand what to do. Save to the maximum, but be creative.”

According to Mr. Do Trung Ta, former Minister of Posts and Telecommunications, the popularity of mobile phones in Vietnam is thanks to the decision to open the telecommunications market, create competition, and end monopoly in the early 2000s.

As soon as it opened, prices dropped rapidly, causing “mobile phones to be like ordinary rice”, “farmers having cell phones in their waistbands”, and opportunities to access telecommunications services spreading from urban to rural areas. “This is a proud step forward for mobile networks and a success in the state management of the postal industry,” he said.

From here, mobile phones gradually became a popular means of communication from an item and service for the few. Mobile fees gradually decrease, smartphones appear, and Internet calling applications almost erase the concept of “counting every second” for users like Bich Thuy and Hoang Long. But the memory of those close calls still brings back the same feeling of suspense because every second that passes has its price.