I’ve got some friends overseas, and am about to have one more…one of my best and oldest friends is leaving next week for 6 months in Croatia. Historically I’ve used prepaid cards to call my friends, but I find them a bit awkward sometimes…having to buy them in $5 or $10 increments, and then having half the card eaten up by fees if I can’t use it quickly after it’s activated. But my long-distance company’s fees aren’t great, either.
So what’s the cheapest way to have flexible overseas calling abilities without having to buy cards? I’d prefer something without a monthly fee or a per-call minimum, as it’s very annoying to have to pay a couple of bucks to reach someone’s answering machine. The places I call are the U.K., a couple of spots in Western Europe, Taiwan, and soon (apparently) Croatia. All tips appreciated!
I use 10-10-987 for the occasional fax to a client in Italy. 39 cents to connect plus 3 cents/minute. My last fax was 2 minutes, so 0.45 base fee, plus 0.04 Federal Universal Service fee, plus 0.03 fed/state tax, for a total of $0.52. I find the “extra, hidden” charges acceptable.
If it were just the silly Hrvatski boy, I wouldn’t bother…we all know how much of a pain it is to deal with him. (Not to mention how much fun it will be to get him on the phone in the first place, considering my zero level of Croatian and his aunt’s zero English.) But I do have other friends, really I do, and some of them actually enjoy talking to me once in a while.
Check out this website. A good friend who does a lot of overseas (and national long-distance) calling uses this site and has never had any problems with it.
For example, there’s 1010phonerates.com, a site that routinely surveys the 10-10-xxx services and finds those with the cheapest rates for calling various countries. Check their international tables.
I normally use 10-10-987 (their rates are here) - no hassles, no monthly fee, you can even call from your cell phone with no surcharges.
To shop around, try here which lets you compare rates (including monthly fees, minimum charges etc.) for a whole bunch of countries/phone comapnies/call lengths.
Just out of curiousity, how long do you keep the cards? I usually keep them for a month of so and they don’t really lose any value. I’ve also found that I have to read the fine print on the card, since some don’t have a connection charge and some do.
Most of the ones I see that have halfway decent rates have no connection charge, but have a $0.75 or $1 weekly charge if you haven’t used the card up yet. If I play phone tag with someone 6 or 8 time zones away over the weekend and activate the card, by the time I get the chance to call again I may have eaten up half the card in fees.
I buy phonecards online at Pinzoo.com, they’ve had the best phone card rates I could find for the international calls that I was making - and very good rates for the UK. For calls I make from my landline, I use the 10-16-400 dial-around, which also has given me great rates.
You can sign up for free and get great rates, and if you don’t use it, you don’t get charged. Or you can pay a small monthly fee (that is credited to calls you make) and get even better rates.
We call Germany a lot, and I think it is less than 5 cents a minute.
New Zealand is about 10 cents a minute.
That is for 24 hours a day, every day.
You also save $1.00 a month if you allow them to send you bills via your email and pay on-line.
Have turned a lot of people on to them, and they all continue to thank me.
