Help International calling

[stuarta]

I'm about to head off to the US in 2 weeks for a month long honeymoon, and I'm looking into options for calling back to the uk.

We've looked at various replacement sim cards but I'm thinking some kind of VoIP is a better option. At the moment the easiest seems to be Skype as I have an account and my fianc

 

[SiempreTuna]

Skype's good. I have seen ads for services that let you make international calls for pennies per minute - I'm sure they also have them in the US - but if you can co-ordinate something with the olds to make sure they know when to get to a computer (or you pay to get Skype to call out to regular phones) then that's probably better.

 

[charliecc]

Are you with BT?

If yes, then you can use the BT SmartTalk app, https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bt.voiceapps.homeaway&hl=en.

"If you’re a Residential BT customer you can now make calls for the same great value as if you were using your BT calling plan, all through your smartphone’s Wi-Fi or mobile data connection."

So basically, it's just like using your home phone in terms of charges, assuming you're on wi-fi.

 

[John Bean]

That's a handy app. I didn't even know the BT VoIP service existed until I read this thread!

 

[mrdeucie]

I'm pretty sure this is different for people traveling to the US from other countries, but as a US mobile service subscriber using data outside the country is cost prohibitive, e.g., $15/mb. I have to resort to only using Wi-Fi unless I'm using my work device

 

[divandan]

Check Viber. It's great - much better than Skype, your User ID is your phone number, can be on all the time (doesn't use much battery), and it scans your contact list for all users that already have Viber installed, so you don't have to add every single one. And notifies you whenever one of them registers on Viber.