 American telecommunications companies commonly offer a flat rate to residential customers for local telephone calls.However, a regular rate or "Message Rate" is advantageous for those who make only a few short calls per month.Flat rates were rare outside the US and Canada until about 2005, but they have since become widespread in Europe for both local and long-distance calls and are now also available for mobile phone services, both for traditional GSM/UMTS voice calls and for Mobile VoIP.