Hey VJ'ers,

Pretty soon, I'll be living out in Utah and will be wanting to call home to chat w/ friends and family. I doubt FI and I will have a landline (he doesn't have one now) so we'll likely be "cell phone only" people - SO - any suggestions on some good cheap calling cards? Here in Canada I use the Presidents Choice ones to call my FI ... but have not been able to find something comparible in the USA.

Have you considered Vonage? http://www.vonage.com

I have Vonage (Canada) now and pay $40 for unlimited access for a month. I spend about 1500 mins on the phone with my husband each month.

If you are going to get a cellphone of your own, Verizon is the only company that has a "North America" plan which means NO long distance to Canada or the U.S. -- I can even take my phone up to Canada and pay no roaming. It's pretty awesome - I bought one for Michael to have in Canada and I have one down here. He has unlimited evening/weekend minutes for about 49.99.

Hope this helps

no, i will have my own cell phone. but i did not know that verizon has a north america plan. i'll have to mention that to FI as he uses verizon I believe .. but obviously has the wrong plan.

we tried vonage .. but FI's wireless network at home is not the best right now .... vonage IS a good deal though especially if you have cable or dsl .. but you have to be physically at home to chat with someone.

will check out that verizon plan tho ... am still convinced that there must me a decent calling card tho ... Canada has soo many!

Too bad you didn't have much luck with Vonage. I love it. I pay $40 Cdn a month for unlimited and I talk to my husband for at least 1500 mins a month.

oh i hear you there! i think that once i move there, we going to have to get basic cable (for TV) and with that, we can have cable internet and reliable vonage. it is the best way to go (albeit you have to be at home to chat .. but that's likely when i'll be chatting with friends and famly anyways ....).

however, ...i will have a cell phone, and it's always nice to have a calling card handy if you want to make a call while you're 'on the run' somewhere and do not have a good cell phone long distance plan (yet)...

Ive had Verizon for 4 years because Riblet is right , it is the only cell company that offers Canada plans that I could find.
Just an FYI on Verizon's " North America's Choice" plan....... they say no roaming in North America but that's a mis-statement on their part.......there are areas you will incur roaming charges........I found that out the hard way.I found a spot west of Gatineau along the Ottawa River. When I called to complain I was told " the coverage includes 'most' areas and in all major metropolitan areas". In the past if my phone said " roaming " I was told to just ignore it as there was no roaming at all on my old plan but on the NAC plan , if your phone says its roaming then you will incur roaming charges. They have a coverage map for canada I think. Another option if you're not going to be calling a lot but still want a lower rate is , you can add International calling to the plan for $3.99 a month and then its 10 cents a minute for calls to Canada.
I have considered giving up my land line but then considered the amount of minutes I would require to do all the " free " talking...... hubby and I do a min of 1500 minutes so the land line pays for itself. For 50 bucks a month I have AT&T with unlimited calling to Canada, plus Im not using minutes for regular local calling.
Seems to me Comcast Cable also has something called " digital voice" which is similar to Vonage Im guessing..........not avaiable in all areas but worth a look-see I think.

I use SKYPE -- I LOVE it. It's VOIP and is about $30.00 for a year of service (called SkypeOut) -- unlimited calls between the US and Canada. You need a high-speed internet connection -- I plug a microphone and earphones into my computer and off I go. I've found it to be a terrific product.

You can also get a SkypeIN phone number that would be a local call for your other half -- then he/she calls your computer from his/her telephone and it's only a local call . . . that costs about $10.00 for 3 months of service

And, Skype to Skype is free, always.

just my 2 cents.

Another approach is Yahoo Messenger with voice (though that requires computers with speakers and microphones AT BOTH ENDS). In that case, the cost/call is $0.00.

I was thinking about that after I posted as well...........MSN, AOL, YAHOO, all have voice chat. If you're on dial up it sucks tho.............well dial up suck period

I used Primus in Canada.. 29.95 taxes in.. unlimited anytime calling to Canada & the US.

Here in the US we use vonage.. same price

my hubby and I used this card, Liberty.... it is Canadian card but they do have a Canada/US toll free number ....
http://www.thephonecardstore.ca/(1kdh0j45j...px?ProductID=37

My hubby seemed to get almost double the amount of time using the card to call me in Canada then I had when I used it to call him in the United States...


It has been awhile since I have used the card so not sure if it still works the same... From what I remember hubby had about 6 hours or so with the $10 dollar card...

and I am not sure how it works with cell phones....

That site I posted is a good place to buy the cards too because they offer discounts etc.....

I use www.getpin.com. $20 USD gets me about 1100 mins (using a local access number). No hidden fees or connection fees. No additional phone line or contracts. I have been satisfied. Also, you can pull up each month's calling records. I think you can use them for evidence of an on-going relationship, too.

Oh yeah, I forgot, for international calls I use tel3.com... I think it's a pretty good deal, & you don't need aa card, it's all online and you don't need a pin, you just call the number and it recognizes your account.

www.nobel.com They have some pretty good calling cards. I have been using them for a year now. I have also tried skype but sometimes the connection isnt the greatest.

Nobel calling cards have a feature called pinless dialing. You just register your phone number online with the card you have and then dial the local access number or if you have unlimited nationwide calling you dial the main number and then you go right ahead and dial the area code and phone number you want to call. I think I pay about 1.9 cents a min to Canada when in the US and about the same calling from Canada to the US.

I also use Skype and Skypeout! It has its problems, as it sometimes cuts off words or repeats things (which usually make us laugh, ha) but is incomparable to anything else in my opinion, as anything else is way too expensive.



I've considered doing that, it would be pretty cool.

Sorry Vonage doesn't work for you. $35 here in the US. I use that and I have a local number for her to call me here. If we had to use calling cards it would not be pretty.