Most cost effective way to call a US landline

[payxibka 10,045]

When I am in PI in March I will have to make phone calls to my employer's landline.  What is the best way, short of using my US cellphone.

 

My employer doesn't know about my international trip as I am working remote and I don't want to let them know.. 

[Cyberfx1024 7,980]

Just now, payxibka said:

When I am in PI in March I will have to make phone calls to my employer's landline.  What is the best way, short of using my US cellphone.

 

My employer doesn't know about my international trip as I am working remote and I don't want to let them know.. 

Get a magic jack and use it there. It will come across with a U.S. number.

[Boiler 45,657]

Most of the time I use wifi calling, free.

[Grant PDX 183]

Wifi calling, as Boiler suggested.  Or if you don't set that up, get an app like viber and use hotel wifi.

[payxibka 10,045]

Awesome...  I just set up WiFi calling on my phone.  Didn't even know this existed.

 

Hopefully we will have Wifi Fiber installed at the house soon

Edited February 8, 2018 by payxibka

[butanding 1]

how about when calling from Phil to a US landline no. using cellphone?

[JE57 239]

I use SKYPE for calls to the USA (it isn't free but it's not expensive).  You can configure it to show a phone number of your choosing for callerID.  You can also purchase a US phone number subscription $18/year and then you could forward your home phone to your skype number and you could do the same thing with your mobile phone.  That way anyone calling you in the USA will ring Skype on your mobile.  Perhaps magic jack and other solutions mentioned above offer the same options.  Depending on who you work for if you don't want your company to know that you are working remote from an international location and you have to login to a corp. network I'd suggest that you also sign-up for a reliable VPN that would allow you to make your IP address appear to be in the USA.     All in All not sharing the information about your international trip with your employer sounds like a particularly bad idea that could put your company at risk of tax penalties and potentially expose them to  other legal risks such as export violations of Intellectual property depending on the industry..  I suspect also that should then find out that you could be dismissed for intentional deception so I recommend to consider carefully rather the benefits of your planned deception outweigh the risks    

[Chris Duffy 1,257]

Best and most clear connection I have found to date is using Sun Cellular SIMS Card.  It is for calling the USA only. It runs 1 or 2 pesos per minute and was the best way I found to call USA and to have a clear and strong signal and sound.

 

 

[Chris Duffy 1,257]

6 hours ago, Grant PDX said:

Wifi calling, as Boiler suggested.  Or if you don't set that up, get an app like viber and use hotel wifi.

How is the sound and clarity?

 

Seems like finding a strong internet signal  and fast internet speed is a challenge in the Philippines......

[Chris Duffy 1,257]

6 hours ago, payxibka said:

Awesome...  I just set up WiFi calling on my phone.  Didn't even know this existed.

 

Hopefully we will have Wifi Fiber installed at the house soon

How much is Fiber costing?

 

What is the speed?

[RO_AH 1,659]

I use WiFi calling too. The last time I was there I was using it in my hotel in Manila on their WiFi and at my wifes house on hers. It works great because I use my cell, with my number. It doesn't use a lot of data bandwidth so you don't need to worry too much about the crappy internet there. I have T-Mobile which I love because international texting and data is also free.

 

Where I used to work no cell company had good coverage in my office so that is when I first started using WiFi calling.

[RO_AH 1,659]

55 minutes ago, Chris Duffy said:

How is the sound and clarity?

WiFi calling is actually clearer that regular calls on my cell.

[Chris Duffy 1,257]

24 minutes ago, RO_AH said:

WiFi calling is actually clearer that regular calls on my cell.

My relative was in Davao recently, he was using a pocket wifi.

 

The sound was pretty good,  Is this the same thing you are talking about?

[Hank_ 9,174]

8 hours ago, payxibka said:

When I am in PI in March I will have to make phone calls to my employer's landline.  What is the best way, short of using my US cellphone.

 

My employer doesn't know about my international trip as I am working remote and I don't want to let them know.. 

I use google voice.  I have the app on my smart phone which works over internet (of course) using a phone number is a U.S. number in my home area.    And this is FREE.

 

Plus I have an OBI (or 2) that I plug my landline phone into - been using this as my home phone for years. 

 

I kicked magic jack to the curb many years ago.

Edited February 8, 2018 by Hank_

[Hank_ 9,174]

1 hour ago, RO_AH said:

WiFi calling is actually clearer that regular calls on my cell.

That is funny .. most all phone services are VOIP now (Centurylink, ATT, Comcast .. yada - yada)  .. but  I do find google voice to be extremely clear.