Home Phones And Cell Phones!

[Jane]

Bit of a minefield to the uninitiated (me). Okay, bought (almost) the house, now we have to find a phone company, or two. Can anyone recommend cell and home phone companies that will enable us to phone Europe at a very very cheap rate?

[Bevdeforges]

The US is a big place. It would help to know where (roughly) you are located.

But for cheap calls back to Europe, nothing beats VOIP with a good, fast ADSL line. Skype is usually the one most people think of, but there are loads of others. We use Wengo over here in France (and have our fixed phone system hooked up to it). I've heard good things about Jajah which works with regular phones. And I see that Vonage (the popular US VOIP service) offers international "all-you-can-call" plans - but the pricing strikes me as far more expensive than the pay as you go services. (However, "your mileage may vary" as the old saying goes.)

Google "VOIP providers" and you should get a large selection to choose among.
Cheers,
Bev

[Jane]

Thanks Bev that really was very useful info. We are in Colorado.

[twostep]

I use OneSuite which works fine as 800-number on my land line and cell phone as I need the flexibility to chat with family in Europe when I am stuck in traffic.

[arnette]

I call friends in the UK quite frequently on my home telephone line from AT&T. They have an international add-on plan (5$/mo. regardless, then $0.02 for every minute used per month). I think you can add this to any regular/local phone plan from ATT (maybe $22/mo? Just a guess).
I have the entire package - phone, internet, cable TV - through ATT which equals about 120/mo. for me with my international calling. I might use 1hr a week of intl. time.

Hope this helps! If you have a fast connection, Skype is hard to beat if you talk computer-to-computer (Free!). Skype can call computer-to-landline as well for about $0.02 a min depending on the country. The benefit of Skype is that it's pay-as-you-go. The benefit of ATT is that it's always available to receive a call and the line quality is better.

[Fatbrit]

Originally Posted by arnette

AT&T.

Does this forum not have a sweary filter on it?

****, ****, ****!

Seems to -- so why did they leave out this one, I wonder?

[Fatbrit]

Originally Posted by Jane

Bit of a minefield to the uninitiated (me). Okay, bought (almost) the house, now we have to find a phone company, or two. Can anyone recommend cell and home phone companies that will enable us to phone Europe at a very very cheap rate?

We need some idea of usage!

Also, since the monopolies that screw us like to bundle, we need to know what your need internet and/or tv-wise together.

[twostep]

Originally Posted by arnette

I call friends in the UK quite frequently on my home telephone line from AT&T. They have an international add-on plan (5$/mo. regardless, then $0.02 for every minute used per month). I think you can add this to any regular/local phone plan from ATT (maybe $22/mo? Just a guess).
I have the entire package - phone, internet, cable TV - through ATT which equals about 120/mo. for me with my international calling. I might use 1hr a week of intl. time.

Hope this helps! If you have a fast connection, Skype is hard to beat if you talk computer-to-computer (Free!). Skype can call computer-to-landline as well for about $0.02 a min depending on the country. The benefit of Skype is that it's pay-as-you-go. The benefit of ATT is that it's always available to receive a call and the line quality is better.

Skype does not work "on the road"
I spend about 2 hrs/day. Some European providers offer unlimited US calls unter 5 Euros/months.

[FLOYD]

There are litterally a million choices. What is best for you may not be what someone else recomends.

A good start would be to do an internet search on international calling cards- you buy blocks of prepaid minutes and can be used from (I think) any landline. This may be one of the cheapest routes and at least gives you time to find what works best for you. I have friends whose daughter was overseas for a couple of months and they used this type of card. I forget the country but it cost them 6 or 7 cents a minute

[tcscivic12]

Originally Posted by Fatbrit

Does this forum not have a sweary filter on it?

****, ****, ****!

Seems to -- so why did they leave out this one, I wonder?

AT&T