Phoning Australia from UAE

potts · #1 (**permalink**) 20th May 2008, 05:23 PM

I have been living in Abi Dhabi for a couple of weeks and calling home to Oz is starting to hurt the wallet. I recently spent some time in Bahrain and was able to buy a calling card for about AU$15 and was getting about 3 hours of calls. With this card I would dial a servers number (about 9 digits) than the desired number. At the moment I pay 25Dhm (about AU$8) for about 10 minutes. I am aware of servers that make calls using the computer lines but I need a simpler solution that I can use with a local mobile anywhere at anytime. Anyone know the solution?

Ogri750 · #2 (**permalink**) 20th May 2008, 06:04 PM

This was asked on a different forum a couple of days ago, and apparently, there is no cheaper way using landlined or mobiles.

If I phone the UK, I use VOIP and that works out to just over 1p per minute.

Might be worth you going to an internet cafe, paying the 5dhs for the hour and do it that way

potts · #3 (**permalink**) 20th May 2008, 07:41 PM

Yeah thanks for that depressing news, the situation was already broke...now it's just broke more (you must have a special gift)? A weird country where either competition is not aloud or it's so hard to cut through the system that no-one bothers. For the record, how does a p compare to a d so that I can compare it to an Oz $? I do have regular access to the internet but hoped that I would be able to call home when say, walking around at the shops rather than having to be so organised.

Ogri750 · #4 (**permalink**) 21st May 2008, 08:54 AM

Just so you know £1 (100p) = 7.2 dhs

cheers

Iron Horse · #5 (**permalink**) 21st May 2008, 04:07 PM

Skype Do a search for this. Download it. Purchase time with a credit card. Purchase a headset with microphone, should have a sticker that says Skype friendly or approved, that can be plugged into your USB port and it'll be much cheaper to call anywhere in the world.

bleez · #6 (**permalink**) 22nd May 2008, 12:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Iron Horse

Skype Do a search for this. Download it. Purchase time with a credit card. Purchase a headset with microphone, should have a sticker that says Skype friendly or approved, that can be plugged into your USB port and it'll be much cheaper to call anywhere in the world.

It was my understanding that Skype was/is blocked in the UAE. Whilst there are ways around it, for the average computer user, its not so straight forward.

Unless this has changed?

Ogri750 · #7 (**permalink**) 22nd May 2008, 05:50 AM

I use Skype on a daily basis with no problems at all. Not had to do anything to get round any so called blocks.

Who knows, it could all change tomorrow