The cheapest international call

[mikeandlani 0]

My family doesn't have a landline nor internet at home, just cellphone. I have been trying to make them call me using PLDT budget card (since that's what I used to call my husband when I was still in the PI) but the nearest PLDT booth there is at the mall, 2 jeepney rides from home, which is very incovenient for them. That's why we're looking for a way for me to call them on a regular basis without being robbed blindly. Call cards are cheaters, of that I'm sure. I guess I'll start with calling our provider here. Our phone, internet connection and cable are all in one package. Maybe they can help us with adding another feature, which is international calling that is not so expensive.

Thanks for all the help guys!

--Mae

hi mae, me again. if they are using Globe, they can just dial the 12800 number to call or the 12808 for calls between 10pm-5am its just P7.50/min. oh and PLDT came out with a new wireless phone, its worth checking out. =)

lani

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Mae,

Jinky uses Yahoo Msgr and does voice chat with most of her family and friends back in the PI. For any other time, we use my Verizon cell phone - pay like a $4 a month international calling plan fee and then the rate is .16 a minute which we find reasonable without the hassle of those often unreliable calling cards.

[djturbo 0]

Mae,

Jinky uses Yahoo Msgr and does voice chat with most of her family and friends back in the PI. For any other time, we use my Verizon cell phone - pay like a $4 a month international calling plan fee and then the rate is .16 a minute which we find reasonable without the hassle of those often unreliable calling cards.

Mister Fancypants?? Its that you???? WOW its been a long time since I seen a post from you. Very soon am going to have Fancypants too..

[sofia2009 1]

Rebtel is the only one that I know of that will give you 10 free minutes to start and also only charges 0.13cents landline and 0.15cents mobile. They also will give you a $20 credit just for signing up.

That is all I use because they let you print your phone records, have no dropped calls, clear connection and even provide a local number for the person abroad to call you back for free (costing you nothing).

Anyway, I would recommend them over a phone card ANY day.

Peace

Really? I will switch then!!Thanks

[LOSTGURL--SOPHIA 2]

I suggest your family should apply for smart broadband internet. Its a wireless internet and uses antenna on the top of the roof to get a connection. It costs 1,000 pesos for installation fee and 999 pesos per month for unlimited use of internet. They have lots of base stations scattered all over the philippines. Applicant should just bring his or her passport or any valid id and pay the installation fee to the nearest smart center and after 3 days people from smart would come and install it. I am in a remote area so cable internet is not accessible but thanks to smart I can go online 24/7. I use yahoo voice to call my husband's cellphone in california and my sister in texas and it only costs me 1 cents per minute. So if you convert that in pesos, it only costs me 40 cents per minute for my US calls. I think Globe has wireless internet too but its only available in Luzon.

BAYANTEL AFFORDACALL php100 FOR 14MINS... TRUST ME IT WORKS

[David-and-Mae 15]

Mae,

Jinky uses Yahoo Msgr and does voice chat with most of her family and friends back in the PI. For any other time, we use my Verizon cell phone - pay like a $4 a month international calling plan fee and then the rate is .16 a minute which we find reasonable without the hassle of those often unreliable calling cards.

Thanks, Steven! This got me so interested... Thank you all too for all your replies. Appreciate it! Happy weekend all!

--Mae

[hoosier 0]

Rebtel is the only one that I know of that will give you 10 free minutes to start and also only charges 0.13cents landline and 0.15cents mobile. They also will give you a $20 credit just for signing up.

That is all I use because they let you print your phone records, have no dropped calls, clear connection and even provide a local number for the person abroad to call you back for free (costing you nothing).

Anyway, I would recommend them over a phone card ANY day.

Peace

Really? I will switch then!!Thanks

I've been using Pingo @16 cent a minute to mobiles. Been real happy with the service. I just tried Rebtel, it seems good also. The sound quality was decent. 1st 10 minutes is free to try it out then if you add $10 the give you another $10 credit. 15 cents a minute to mobiles in Phil.

Generally we use MSN for voice and video chat on the PC I like their video quality vs yahoo with our webcam.

[john & jean 37]

we use aspen communications. The quality is good, flat rate, several plans to choose from .aspen communications.com john&jean

[Perseverance 1]

We use pingo for all of our international calls, we added a local access # to our faves (tmobile) does not count against our cell minutes, we only pay for the international call through pingo

[anonymous08 0]

we're using Vonage V-phone.

When i was in the philippines last month, i gave my wife a vonage v-phone, it is unlimited call to US, Europe, Canada, and some other countries. She has a US number, specifically Minnesota area code., i can call her anytime and she can call me too., i paid 34.95 and i got 4 months free.... so, 34.95 for 4 months is a great deal.

All she just need is an internet connection, then plug the device in, its a USB device., and it comes with a headphones,

And sometimes, when im so busy with my work, i can forward my business phone numbers to her number, and she can answer it herself, i asked my customers about the reception and they said, they cant even tell that i am in the philippines coz its really clear, like a regular US to US call.....

hope that helps.

Larry.

[DavidandJenny 1]

Making calls can get very expensive. In the past year (actually longer) I have used Sprint calling cards (ouch $$), ATT (before I knew they had a international long distance plan ) Various discounted calling cards (cheap ones .11¢ and poor quality, many dropped calls) FiLam (terrible quality .13¢ - .16¢) and primarily now for consistancy, quality, reliability, AT&T International on the home phone (.16¢ ) & I bought a Verizon Mobile Phone, and make calls internationally at about .19¢ when Im on the go here.

Overall...expensive if you make a lot of calls. Can't use the Aspen Service (location in Mindanao/Zamboanga del Norte) Have used many hours courtesy of Yahoo & Skype (best) online (free sort of) however internet service depending where you are in the PI is unreliable, sometimes very sloooow and will cost a little for your SO. And is not very convenient for your SO to battle the crowds, traffic & inconvenience, So, I bought a laptop for jenny. And she has used Smart for her internet service this past year.

Buying the laptop has probably saved us hundreds of dollars/php. And you can see and talk

[David-and-Mae 15]

Thanks everyone for all the suggestions and replies. I just signed up to Rebtel and it seems like the rate is pretty decent and the connection is really good. Let's see if they're consistent with their services...

Have a happy Sunday all!

--Mae

[Tim & Cai 15]

I use Skype over the internet. It only cost me a laptop and around 20 bucks a month for smart internet service and We talk every day for hours. The quality is better then any other land line long distance service I have tried.. Good luck

[Dr Mirage 0]

I've used calling cards and everything and I know how everyone feels about getting ripped off, you name it, i've used it.

But something did work for me.

The problem is my fiance doenst go online as often as me. She mostly uses her cell phone. Also I have acess online most of the day. Unless I am outside not at home or work.

FOR TEXT.

My fiance has SUN IM. Its unlimited texting to her cell phone from AIM or Yahoo (SUN YAHOO). You'll have to purchase this add on to your cellphone.

I use AIM to chat with her and this is unlimited. The only thing is, I have to be online to text / IM her.

FOR VOICE.

Best thing that work for me and my fiance is myworld.

Its a phone that receives unlimited calls from the US because the phone itself has a US based #.

Its basically a cell phone (via nextell) and you can call using a local number. ( you can chose an area code )

TRUST ME, I was very skeptical about this when I heard about it, but the service works!!! I have been using this since November of 2006.

Its a flat rate fee of $40 per month and you get a phone free. However, there is a 1 year contract which isnt that bad. When my fiance moves over here to the US, she will just pass the phone to her parents so she can call them whenever.

The call is very clear as long as you have service.

Metro Manila is great, even works in Tagaytay. Just remember as long as your have service. (my fiance works in quiapo and there is weak signal there, so I cannot call her when she is at work) But I can call her anytime when she is not in QUIAPO area.

The only problem I have had with myworld is it takes long to set up the account because the guys at Nextel didnt have many subscribers inquiring and they didnt know how to help me, but I was able to speak to someone.

Also another drawback is my fiance already has a GLOBE and SUN Phone. So having the NEXTEL phone she has to carry 3 phones with her all the time now.

But its totally worth it cause imagine how much you will save when you do not have to use phone cards.

This only works with incoming from her. I think there is outgoing also, but we opted for incomming service.

If anyone has questions, please send me a message

FYA. My fiance doenst use the internet much so we do not use YAHOO or SKYPE.

[JSRF 0]

Hello my VJ family! I'm sorry if this topic has been brought up. I tried searching but to no avail. Do you have any suggestions on this one? I have been using call cards to call my family in the PI but that darn card is robbing us blind. The minute you started dialing even their 1-800, it's charging me up already. A $5 worth call card is supposed to last an hour and a half but I can only enjoy a 30 mins talk. When I'm down to $1 balance on it, it's not allowing me to call international anymore. After 2 weeks, that balance is forfeited. Isn't it cheating? I'm aware that call cards are good for one time calling to make the most of it, but it's so hard to get a connection and before I could get a hold of my family, the balance on it is not sufficient at all because like I said, it charges up right when you dial the number, whether you get through the connection or not. We're thinking about direct calling from our landline to PI but it's way too expensive using our own provider.

Can you give me some help and ideas on what to use? Thanks all and have a good rest of the week.

--Mae

I have Aspen Communication which is about $ 60.00 per month, and that is unlimited calling. I am at work right now and do not have website. Please reply back to me by email and I will get you the infromation.