Cheap phone call prices Australia <-> USA
Voirin
This is my first time posting in this newsgroup. My fiancee is in America
and I'm in Australia. Things are a bit tough at the moment and previous
phonebills have run into the thousands. Would anyone know what phone
companies are the cheapest these days? The 3 best deals I've come across
are:
1) Ecomtel (Australia): $AU0.19/min to USA. They also give you $AU5.00 off
your bill if its over a certain amount.
2) WorldXChange (USA): $US0.05/min to Australia (Only for the first 3 months
of connection). Then it reverts to the normal cost of $US0.11/min
3) Northgate: Somethign like $AU0.12/min or around $AU20.00/call unlimited
(I forgot the prices).. but the lines quality is very bad as compared to the
normal lines like the above two. Note: This company was withdrawing illegal
amounts from my credit card so I've stopped my services with them. Maybe I
should sue them and get the money I win from the lawcase to fly over to my
finacee hehe.
Does anyone know of any cheaper phone services?
Many thanks,
Voirin.
Stacy the Procrastinating
getting a few nasty surprises on my phone bill. Best bet so
far--www.worldphonecard.com's nickle card, whch is 5 cents/min after a
$1.25 connect fee. Even better is that you get the phone # and PIN
instantly after plugging in your credit card #.
-Stacy
-stacy
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
bookbug of the browser's bookweb
http://bookweb.simplenet.com
Voirin
phone card or do you have to pay this each time you make a call with the
card? I'm guessing they deduct the $1.25 from your credit card each time you
make a call ?
Thanks again for the info!
Voirin.
Stacy the Procrastinating <sc...@barnard.columbia.edu> wrote in message
news:Pine.SOL.3.96.990726...@eclipse.barnard.columbia.edu..
.
Stacy the Procrastinating
good for $20 of air time) and nothing more gets added to your credit card.
Which is good for avoiding surprising bills. And yep, the $1.25 is per
call--so talk for a long time each call ;)
-stacy
(who just got her 129f approval notice today, yippeeeeeeeeee! processed
in about two weeks. VSC rocks.)
bill...@my-deja.com
<Pine.SOL.3.96.990726...@eclipse.barnard.columbia.edu>,
Stacy the Procrastinating <sc...@barnard.columbia.edu> wrote:
> My Aussie boyfriend and I have switched to prepaid phone cards after
> getting a few nasty surprises on my phone bill. Best bet so
> far--www.worldphonecard.com's nickle card, whch is 5 cents/min after a
> $1.25 connect fee. Even better is that you get the phone # and PIN
> instantly after plugging in your credit card #.
I'll second that opinion... their are hundreds of phone cards on the
market, take a look at any convenience stores or markets that cater to
more ethnic interests and you will see lots of the phone cards' placards
on the walls, listing individual country rates. The one I currently
use is Econolo, a Massachusetts based card - you can buy it up to $25
in value (prepaid - no credit card involved). The rate is something
like 15 cents a minute to Japan. I cannot describe how much money it
has saved me (it is so nice to be able to just babble on and not have
to worry about a ridiculous phone bill each month).
It also has the ~$1 fee for connect, so call when you know your S.O.
is there... infrequent long conversations work out much better than
frequent quick talks! Getting the answering machine sucks; I usually
call with normal LD first just to verify she's there and then call
back with the card. Surprisingly, the quality of the phone line is
decent (to Japan) - I expected far worse when I first used these
cards. YMMV.
Also, when looking for cards, try lots of different stores - not all
cards are equal, don't just settle on the first card you find. Like I
said, ethnic neighborhoods/stores are the best place to find a large
selection of cards that have good international rates. Read the
placards for the rates, and keep in mind the 'connect' fee - it varies
on each card and is usually in small print. 13 cents a minute may sound
better than 21 cents a min but not if the connect fee is ridiculous!
The worldphone card mentioned above sounds like a good deal for Oz.
- Billy-san
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Share what you know. Learn what you don't.
Voirin
Australia so I'm not sure and havent heard much about them here. I emailed
worldphne cards and they couldn't help me out in that regard. I'll just tell
my fiancee inAmerica to get a hold of these cards. Thanks so much for your
help!
Voirin.
<bill...@my-deja.com> wrote in message news:7nmvvt$s4e$1...@nnrp1.deja.com...
Norm
to the US (who doesn't?!) and want to try to escape the grasp of BT (their
international call charges on a regular domestic line are outrageous), I've
found 'Speak-n-Save', 'America First' and '1st National' phonecards to be the
best recently. 'Millenium' were really reliable, but maybe too good, because
they seem to have gone bust :-( Most newsagents' windows (at least here in
Saarf Lunnon) seem to be completely plastered with phonecard adverts these days.
The cheaper the rate per minute, the higher the connection charge, so read the
small print. Many give a choice of freephone or local call connection (note to
US readers: local calls are NOT free in the UK), and adjust the rate
accordingly. Quite often the rates offered vary with the denomination of the
pre-paid card, too - the more you pre-pay, the lower the rate. The best I've
managed overall is about 4p per minute. It seems to be a highly competitive
business at the moment, so prices are likely to drop further. Its also worth
noting that some vendors' access numbers can be busy frustratingly often and
that companies seem to come and go very quickly, so use your card quickly.
Shop around... practically anything is better than BT.
Norm
********************************
View From This Side Photography
London, UK
norm...@writeme.com
http://travel.to/vfts
More than just a pretty picture
********************************
sweet...@my-deja.com
.09c a minute (Australia to USA and USA to Australia), you can download
the software directly from their site for free. If you do a search on
the internet, you will come up with many many more... Good Luck.