Someone I know is doing a trip to Europe next year, and wants to ensure she can call back to the US every other day to various people to update her on her trip using her cell phone which was registered for use in the US.
I believe she has a T-mobile pre-paid plan with a smartphone. It is my understanding that T-mobile has now added 100 countries to its data plan, so my impression is she can access data from most countries in Europe.
So if she wants to call people (who are both using cell phones and landlines in the US) what is her cheapest option? Is there a good app that will allow her to use data (which should be free under her plan, as far as I know) to call people? Will the people she calls get hit with huge fees?
I know there are apps that let you use data instead of minutes (OTO, skype, vonage, Line, etc) but I do not know how they work internationally, or if they have fees for the person receiving the call.
My daughter lives in Germany, and we use Skype. If she calls me at work where I don’t have Skype running she still calls my cell with it. Also, download WhatsApp which is free, and lets you text to and from Europe for free. You can record a voice message, but it does not do phone calls.
She’ll still be paying roaming fees for data (i.e., 3G/4G), and that adds up really fast. I’d recommend just sticking to your voice chat program of choice over wifi. I can’t speak for receiving calls from Skype, but you can get a Skype subscription to call the US (both landlines and mobile) for $3/month. If she doesn’t want to pay for a subscription, you can do a pay as you go for about 2 cents/minute.
If there are as many WiFi hotspots in Europe as there are in the USA, then something like Skype for voice, or WhatsApp or BBM or any of a handful of messaging systems for data. I also noticed recently that Facebook has a voice call feature - a quick web search makes me think it works via Skype.
It’s worth calling T-Mobile to discuss the specifics, to make sure there aren’t hidden fes, as NinjaChick mentions.
So what programs would be best if she uses wifi to make calls from various places in Europe (UK, France, Germany, Italy, I forget where else she is going) to the US?
I’m assuming Wifi in Europe is like it is in the US (probably better), you can get it at most fast food restaurants, bookstores, hotels, etc.
There is (or once was; I haven’t been overseas since 2000) a service called USA Direct that allowed you to call the US from any European country, from Japan, and doubtless many other places for a very reasonable fee and have it charged to your home phone. There was also a similar Canada Direct. It is, I think, essentially a callback service using a local 800 number. One place I could not use it from was Barbados because from there you had to go through an operator (for any call off the island) and I rang the operator for 15 minutes without success. Standing at phone booth. That’s when I installed Skype. Any wi-fi hot spot ought to allow you use that.
Her data is highly unlikely to be free in Europe. Which country is she landing in? I would research there what the best cellular plan is for her requirements and just pick up a sim card for her phone. We paid less than $20 for the three weeks we were in Italy last year and that was sufficient data for us to update facebook with photos and make a few skype calls home.
Skype is free everywhere you can get wifi which is almost everywhere in Europe. I’m seconding SmellMyWort. Also - that’s where facebook comes into its own. Upload a few photos every day or so - that way everyone gets to see what you’re up to without you having to interact too much.