If you are on call one week every 3 months, it's mostly the calls that are annoying, especially at night.
If you are on call more often (e.g. 1/2 weekend for small companies/teams), it stops mattering how often pages happen. You are mentally on-call all the time and are forced to be physically ready. It's a huge drain on your life.
I get a small amount for each day I'm on call, plus an extra payment if I'm actually called. That seems a fair balance - I'm compensated reasonably for making myself available, and the actual callout payment makes it worth getting up at 3am a couple of times a year.
Maybe it's a psychological thing, with different people responding differently. But it isn't a huge drain on my life, at all.