washburn
@xipline.com
1 edit | Monthly international plans
I have been researching for a long time now the best ways to keep in touch with someone who lives in the Philippines. I live in the U.S., and I have discovered that it is much cheaper for the person in the Philippines to call the U.S. than vice versa. The problem is that my girlfriend in the Philippines cannot be on the internet very often, so we are looking for an alternative to skype. I can call her cell phone from the internet, but it costs a lot of money, whereas it would be really cheap for her to call me from her internet if she could access it more often. We are already through with phone cards, as we can never understand one another. Does anyone know of an affordable plan that offers unlimited minutes for a flat monthly rate (preferably under $30/month)? There must be some reliable service that allows her to either call me from her cell phone to my internet or for me to call from the internet to her cell phone. I am sure it would be too expensive for us to call from phone to phone. I'd appreciate any help I can get. |
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soitgoes2
Premium
join:2005-01-14
 ·Future Nine Corpor..
1 edit | Re: [VOIPo] Monthly international plans
Termination costs to the Philippines are too high for any provider to offer unlimited calling to that country.
Your best bet is to find the cheapest PAYG rate and go with that: »www.comparevoipproviderrates.com is one source.
Of course, if your girlfriend could get reliable Internet access, that would be the cheapest of all. |
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RockyBB
Premium
join:2005-01-31
Longmont, CO
| reply to washburn
Re: Monthly international plans
said by washburn :
We are already through with phone cards, as we can never understand one another. Does anyone know of an affordable plan that offers unlimited minutes for a flat monthly rate (preferably under $30/month)?
You understand, of course, that foreign cell phones are cheap because the caller pays the airtime. You are the caller, so you are paying the airtime. You also understand that cheap phone cards use compression techniques to be so cheap. Now you want unlimited minutes for a flat rate? How do you expect they're going to do that? With prime routes or super compressed crap routes? Each frying pan you're jumping in is hotter than the next. Since she's not here, use all the money you're not spending on food and clothes and alcohol and tickets and pay for a decent phone connection. Maybe you could spring for a landline for her, then your LD costs would be much lower. |
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Eat Me
join:2002-09-25
Sussex, NJ
 ·PenTeleData
·Future Nine Corpor..
·VOIPo
·Vonage
| I agree with RockyBB here - overseas it is a different story from here in the US. A lot of countries are "calling party pays" including developed countries like the UK.
This means that to call a cellphone costs a lot more than calling a landline.
Let her get a landline. It will work out to be a lot cheaper and she won't have all that RF going to her brain, so there's less chance she'll leave you for another man with more money. (only kidding  ) |
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voipjunk
join:2004-08-07
Largo, FL | reply to washburn
Try This
»www.pinoycalls.com/
»www.aspen-communication.com/ |
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nitzan
Premium,VIP
join:2008-02-27 | reply to soitgoes2
Re: [VOIPo] Monthly international plans
(that's actually »www.comparevoipproviderrates.com/ - just the domain won't work  |
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melenet
join:2005-09-16
Ashland, OR
| reply to washburn
Re: Monthly international plans
Well congratulations and good luck with the long distance relationship. My wife is also from Philippines.
We currently use www.rebtel.com for prepaid service. 13.9 cents/minute. Connection is clear, connects on the first try. We have tried several but this is what we use now. Never tried a unlimited service. Do realize some of these unlimited phone setups use Sun Cellular. Much smaller cell company than Globe and Smart, much smaller coverage. Also Due to the reduced cost of staying within the network, my honey did not want to switch to Sun. Some of the unlimited setups are to only one designated phone in the Philippines.
Before calling, you may want to text message first. Globe and Smart have GSM SIM cards for international roaming. Keep enough balance on the card and you she can send you text messages to you on 2nd phone you would have in the states. Incoming SMS is free.
www.Chikka.com allows you to send SMS to Philippine cell phones for free from your PC
www.Aryty.com is a good service to let you buy "load" or prepaid credit to Philippine cell phones
Ultimately for the best deal, bring a computer to leave there in Philippines. These small netbooks w/ xp and webcam would be perfect »www.dell.com/content/products/pr···hp&s=dhs . Then sign up for internet. Wireless broadband with Globe is ~1000 php or $22 monthly. Yes there usually is a contract, but once she is in the states, you might want to keep this going until the contract ends due to expensive calls back to family. »www.globelines.com.ph/packages.php
Use Yahoo or MSN Messenger for webcam and voice and you have free video conferencing. Voice is much clearer than most phone cards.
So ultimately I can't recommend a unlimited method, but you can give these a shot »www.google.com/search?q=Philippi···ted+voip |
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melenet
join:2005-09-16
Ashland, OR
1 edit | One more thing: The one voip service I did use while traveling (in manila & bagiuo) was Packet8 and no one knew the difference. It was very clear. But you probably don't need a monthly service like Packet8. |
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Eat Me
join:2002-09-25
Sussex, NJ
·PenTeleData
·Future Nine Corpor..
·VOIPo
·Vonage
| reply to nitzan
Re: [VOIPo] Monthly international plans
But I am betting that the owner of that domain could fix that?  |
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