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Your advice for calling America from your mobile

Ladies and gentlemen, I am in need of your advice for calling America.

Today I need to call America from my mobile handset. And I’d like to avoid paying the crazy 1 pound and 25 pence per minute charge that I pay on Vodafone Contract. At least, I think it’s 1.25. Or something like that. I dare not look lest it cause me to flip out and wonder what the point is in paying Vodafone so much money every month, when it’s free to call America from my landline.

I understand there’s an overhead that mobile operators need to pay to maintain their network facilities. However I can’t see why the average chap has to fork out so much for international calls.

So I need your advice. Who do you use to call the USA — or any other country — from your handset?

I’m toying with the idea of going into a Vodafone shop and getting a Pay As You Go sim so I only need to pay 5p a minute. Crazy isn’t it. PAYG customers get all the deals. Contract customers get nothing but a shiny new handset every 24 months. I could buy a new handset for the amount Vodafone would charge me to call America for an hour.

Do you have any ideas?

Posted via email from MIR Live

32 COMMENTS

  1. I use O2 PAYG SIM with International Caller Bolt-On (one off £5 charge). Pretty much the only reason to use O2, really. 😉

  2. I use 18185 [www.18185.co.uk] they provide a 020 number that can be used from your inclusive minutes, it is then just 1.0p/min to call the US (with an initial 4p setup fee).

    You need to register for the service, and provide a mobile number that you will be using – but I use it on my fixed line in any case (0.5p/min to the US from a BT line) so it is a very cost effective way to call overseas.

  3. I just popped into a Vodafone shop and found that if I pay them five quid a month, they’ll only charge me 5p/minute to call the States. Not to bad!

  4. I second Truphone. If you can't call using wifi, it'll initiate a call to a landline (using bundled minutes). Good call quality IMHO. I used it the other day while driving to call my mate in Germany, who was receiving it via Skype-In 🙂

  5. Can I suggest you take a look at Vodafone International for contract customers? It's £5 a month (you can opt in and out on a month by month basis) and you get calls to US landlines and mobiles for 5p a minute. This bit of the Vodafone website has some more information. http://www.vodafone.co.uk/international
    Regards,
    Ben
    Vodafone International Team

  6. For frequent contacts use RebTel. They give you a local number in place of the international, but it only really works for people you call regularly.

  7. Was chatting to a client over in SanFran the other night for about an hour, both of us using Skype on our iPhones over our respective WiFi – worked like a charm, no drop outs and had crystal clear sound, if anything, worked better than the last time I called him using an old fashioned landline.

    Obviously no use if you're nowhere near a WiFi connection…

  8. I am using the new Rebtel app on the iPhone
    quality is excellent and my callers are presented with a USA CLI which they can call me back on if required
    No wifi, works on all phones and 1c to USA

  9. I second Truphone. If you can't call using wifi, it'll initiate a call to a landline (using bundled minutes). Good call quality IMHO. I used it the other day while driving to call my mate in Germany, who was receiving it via Skype-In 🙂

  10. Hi – I provide a cheap international call service for mobiles called http://www.gcsms.co.uk. Calls to the USA are 1p per minute and there's no pre-registration or anything fiddly. You just send a text message and get billed £5 – this is your sms calling card. You'll receive a PIN and a phone number which you need to dial, using it as part of your inclusive minutes. Then you enter your PIN and the number you want to call and you'll be connected. So for £5 you'll get 500 minutes rather than 4…and Vodafone get their fair bit out of the £5 😉 Hope this helps!

  11. Can I suggest you take a look at Vodafone International for contract customers? It's £5 a month (you can opt in and out on a month by month basis) and you get calls to US landlines and mobiles for 5p a minute. This bit of the Vodafone website has some more information. http://www.vodafone.co.uk/international
    Regards,
    Ben
    Vodafone International Team

  12. For frequent contacts use RebTel. They give you a local number in place of the international, but it only really works for people you call regularly.

  13. Was chatting to a client over in SanFran the other night for about an hour, both of us using Skype on our iPhones over our respective WiFi – worked like a charm, no drop outs and had crystal clear sound, if anything, worked better than the last time I called him using an old fashioned landline.

    Obviously no use if you're nowhere near a WiFi connection…

  14. I am using the new Rebtel app on the iPhone
    quality is excellent and my callers are presented with a USA CLI which they can call me back on if required
    No wifi, works on all phones and 1c to USA

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