Best Value Way to Call Russia?

[Satellite 1]

It all depends on how much you talk and how long is your average conversation.

CrazyUSA is the cheapest at $0.028 if you plan on talking for 179 minutes straight, otherwise the 30% tax per call is too high.

We used to use BossUSA at $0.04 a minute to anywhere in Russia.

Both cards are from http://www.uniontelecard.com/destinations/7/russia/

Now we use VOIPCHEAP, which for 10.50 Euro ($15) gets you 300 free minutes per week for 90 days and then the money is subtracted at 0.024€ a minute. So if you do the math 416 Minutes + 300(12) = $15/4000 minutes for 3 months or roughly 1/3 a penny per minute. Best deal in my opinion. But requires you to use a microphone but you can dial to a land line so your Russian counter parts don't have to pay for outrageous bandwidth costs or if calling places where high speed internet is not available.

http://www.voipcheap.com/en/rates.html

[Neonred 3,461]

It all depends on how much you talk and how long is your average conversation.

CrazyUSA is the cheapest at $0.028 if you plan on talking for 179 minutes straight, otherwise the 30% tax per call is too high.

We used to use BossUSA at $0.04 a minute to anywhere in Russia.

Both cards are from http://www.uniontelecard.com/destinations/7/russia/

Now we use VOIPCHEAP, which for 10.50 Euro ($15) gets you 300 free minutes per week for 90 days and then the money is subtracted at 0.024€ a minute. So if you do the math 416 Minutes + 300(12) = $15/4000 minutes for 3 months or roughly 1/3 a penny per minute. Best deal in my opinion. But requires you to use a microphone but you can dial to a land line so your Russian counter parts don't have to pay for outrageous bandwidth costs or if calling places where high speed internet is not available.

http://www.voipcheap.com/en/rates.html

Internetcalls is a better deal as you get 120 days of 300 free minutes per week before they start charging you.

[irish44 0]

I've been using discall.com and have been pretty satisfied with them. Most of the time, the connection is good. There are occasional disconnects, and there is no call history available. When all fees are taken into account, it's about $0.05/min for me to call Tomsk. I've got pinless dialing from my home phone and cell phone (cost is the same for either). Cost varies depending on the city, and a call to a mobile phone is always at least a little higher. I use the Discall EZ Dial card. You can set up your account for auto recharge if you want.

http://www.discall.com/cards/

I use a system that is similar to discall.com called Dialbug (www.dialbug.com). The rates are 0.055 per minute to cell phone in Sochi or anywhere in Russia. Moscow, however, is cheaper at 0.029/min.

I have been using it for 6 months now and it works consistantly and well. As with discall, it has pinless dialing from the phone of your choice and has auto-recharge or manual pay.

It does have accessible phone records, which I used as one of my proofs of ongoing relationship.

Edited March 12, 2008 by irish44

[Fettman 0]

The plan I have now is 1.8 cents a minute for Moscow, which is where she lives. I am not around a computer enough to use a VoIP service at the times I make my calls. So, I feel I am getting a decent deal. No connection fees, just a flat sum of minutes a month at a flat rate. If I go over it is 2.5 cents a minute after that. Thanks for all the input all!

- Steven

I've been using discall.com and have been pretty satisfied with them. Most of the time, the connection is good. There are occasional disconnects, and there is no call history available. When all fees are taken into account, it's about $0.05/min for me to call Tomsk. I've got pinless dialing from my home phone and cell phone (cost is the same for either). Cost varies depending on the city, and a call to a mobile phone is always at least a little higher. I use the Discall EZ Dial card. You can set up your account for auto recharge if you want.

http://www.discall.com/cards/

I use a system that is similar to discall.com called Dialbug (www.dialbug.com). The rates are 0.055 per minute to cell phone in Sochi or anywhere in Russia. Moscow, however, is cheaper at 0.029/min.

I have been using it for 6 months now and it works consistantly and well. As with discall, it has pinless dialing from the phone of your choice and has auto-recharge or manual pay.

It does have accessible phone records, which I used as one of my proofs of ongoing relationship.

[Igor&Veronika 1]

I'm surprised noone has mentioned this:

I call thru www.voipstunt.com PC to phone or phone to phone.

You put $15.00 on the account and you receive 300 minutes of free calls a week to Russia.

If you don't use your balance of 15.00 you can call russia for the next 120 days every week for 300 minutes charge free. (Every week you receive 300 free minutes)

If you use phone to phone there is 0.05c fee for connection and no per minute charge.

Can anyone beat that plan?

[mox 298]

I'm surprised noone has mentioned this:

I call thru www.voipstunt.com PC to phone or phone to phone.

You put $15.00 on the account and you receive 300 minutes of free calls a week to Russia.

If you don't use your balance of 15.00 you can call russia for the next 120 days every week for 300 minutes charge free. (Every week you receive 300 free minutes)

If you use phone to phone there is 0.05c fee for connection and no per minute charge.

Can anyone beat that plan?

I looked at VOIPStunt a few months ago, but the Wikipedia entry scared me away. Especially this part:

The company has been accused of fraudulent activity on several websites. Hundreds of clients have had their accounts blocked with the code ERROR 33 and their deposited funds confiscated for no apparent reason.[3] Betamax has not made any attempt to respond to customer enquiries or explained what Error 33 is, why it has occurred or how to fix and prevent it from occurring again.

[visaveteran1 33]

Has anyone mentioned Skype? It's free talking computer to computer and I heard it's reasonable when calling computer to phone but I have not tried that service.

[mox 298]

Has anyone mentioned Skype? It's free talking computer to computer and I heard it's reasonable when calling computer to phone but I have not tried that service.

Skype has been mentioned, but the OP wanted to avoid computer-based services.

I use Skype (but not to Russia), even have a Skype phone, but my experience is that the connections can be lossy. One call can be okay, the next call is terrible. I've never had a "great" connection via Skype. Also, for whatever reason, my calling card refuses to work with Skype. Whenever I dial the toll-free number, it rings busy. Yet I can get through fine on a land line or my mobile. But for $36/year (to get a dedicated phone number), it's still a helluva deal compared to what a land line would cost me.

[ramzis51 0]

What services are people here using and which ones have good quality? I am looking for something inexpensive, but at the same time I am trying to find a service that has pretty good voice quality. It can be calling cards or an internet service, but I would prefer something that I can use over the phone. I call her at work due to the time difference and the web filter interferes with Skype and other services. So, any practical advise will be great and I am not looking for the cheapest one, but something that will give me good quality at a reasonable rate. Thanks!

- Steven

http://www.trycards.com/ These are SUPER CHEAP international calling cards. They worked great for me.

[Kazan' Tiger 1]

I'll second that. I use Skype for my official home number and my mobile for those I care about! I see zero need to have old 20th century home phone service anymore.

As for the thread, I use a calling card and my mobile. I pay around 4.5¢ a minute and the connection is always clear. I shop around to find calling cards with permanent pins and no monthly service fees.

Has anyone mentioned Skype? It's free talking computer to computer and I heard it's reasonable when calling computer to phone but I have not tried that service.

Skype has been mentioned, but the OP wanted to avoid computer-based services.

I use Skype (but not to Russia), even have a Skype phone, but my experience is that the connections can be lossy. One call can be okay, the next call is terrible. I've never had a "great" connection via Skype. Also, for whatever reason, my calling card refuses to work with Skype. Whenever I dial the toll-free number, it rings busy. Yet I can get through fine on a land line or my mobile. But for $36/year (to get a dedicated phone number), it's still a helluva deal compared to what a land line would cost me.

[Scott and Iryna 2]

I know Skype is out for this OP, but for others who will find this thread, I wanted to throw in my Skype 2 cents also...

During my last visit, I bought my Ira a laptop and web cam. So now we can instant message each other every day, and we regularly use it to talk to each other, both audio and video. And it's completely free! Because of the language barrier, if a topic becomes too complex, we can even video conference with our Interpreter, and she lives in yet a another city in Ukraine! When Ira's visa is finally approved and she moves to the US, she will leave the laptop behind for her parents. This way she will use Skype to video conference often with her parents, and it will never cost me a dime! Hard to beat that!

[dmhweb 0]

Peanuts LD from LDpost is decent & cheap!

RUSSIA 5¢

RUSSIA, MOSCOW 1.5¢

RUSSIA, ST. PETERSBURG 1.5¢

RUSSIA, MOBILE 7.3¢

• No-PIN dialing
• No need to switch your current long distance carrier
• No expiration period
• No Maintenance fees
• No Connection fees
• 1 min rounding
• Speed dial feature
• Auto recharge option
• Live Customer Service support
• Local access numbers in most states and Canada
• Local Access Number in a Variety Of Countries

Edited March 24, 2008 by dmhweb

[Satellite 1]

http://www.trycards.com/ These are SUPER CHEAP international calling cards. They worked great for me.

I looked at the terms of all thees cards, and they are hard to swallow:

Example:

· Connection Fee - 18 cents (for calls over 1 min.)

· Maintenance Fee - 88 c/weekly

· Service Taxes & Surcharges - 28%

I can live with all but the last one. Pretty much you lose 1/3 of your card value after making even a 1 minute call.

http://www.trycards.com/p/info.php/123 - Cheapest card to Russia.

And it's completely free!

How so? Most Russians do not have access to FREE flat rate broadband internet. When I was lat there it was $20 for 1 gigabyte. That can go by really fast when you are sending audio and video through skype. Edited March 24, 2008 by Satellite

[eekee 182]

How so? Most Russians do not have access to FREE flat rate broadband internet. When I was lat there it was $20 for 1 gigabyte. That can go by really fast when you are sending audio and video through skype.

In moscow and st. Petersburg the tariffs are much better, i think. My guy downloads like 4 movies a day. He pays 30 dollars a month for unlimited bandwidth.

Edited March 26, 2008 by eekee

[slim 1,514]

Hell, that's better than what most of us are paying.