Tess4

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone had any tips on cheap calls to the UK and Europe? I tried out ringbritain, but the access call (local) costs 39 cents per minute! And the call through ringbritain is only 1 cent. So thats a no-go for me. In Austria i used something called telediscount, no charges for the access number at all; 1 cent per minute, end of. Any tips? Skype is not that great because our internet connection sucks; lightening speed through BH, yeah right.

Thanks in advance.

rpjs

Skype is around 3c a minute I think. What I like is that I can set it up to have a local US number for me to call my father in the UK and vice versa - these fancier features do cost a bit more tho.

NatashaB

Lol, we also have the Brighthouse 'lightening speeed' issue. It is a joke. We have a vonage phone which works despite the crappy internet, as does Facetime.

Tess4

thanks for the feedback. @rpjs mine is at 1 cent a minute, but who cares, 1 or 3 cents is excellent....only trouble we have is that the internet connection is abominable! Lightening speed....a joke as NatashaB has said. In order for it to work as they advertise, which is a lie in itself, you should live in a house or flat that is 20 m long and wide, no windows, no doors, right, well that sorts that out, no lightening speed for any of us LOL....totally ridiculous. In Vienna, the bog standard speed is fibre optic, go figure. I had windows and doors, but then again, they know a thing or two about that, as opposed to BH. Am way too annoyed at BH to even talk about it LOL. And now they are advertising 300 MBPS! They do all look happy on the ad though, I'll give them that, but for the wrong reasons

Just had an email back from ringbritain. Block all international calls and download the app, then i wont be charged. Shall try that.

scrubbedexpat027

You can do audio only FaceTime calls. Might work better for you.

phodg

I've used Onesuite for years. No connection fee, 2 cents a minute to landlines, 22 cents a minute to mobile phones.

https://www.onesuite.com/long-distance/check-rates

rpjs

Yeah, but what you can do with Skype is buy a local number in the US, and set up the UK number you call the most often[1] to receive call forwards from Skype, then simply don't connect to Skype over the Internet at all. You call a US local number (toll-free) and it connects to the UK number. You just pay whatever the Skype international calling rate you have, plus a quarterly charge for the local number and call forwarding. Not as cheap as using Skype on the 'net but probably cheaper than calling direct from your phone.

ETA: [1] If you don't mind the hassle, you can simply log on to Skype and change the call forwarding to whichever UK number you want before you call. In my experience the change goes through immediately.

Tess4

perfect! Thanks everyone for the tips, I'll try them out. Phodg havent heard of onesuite so will look into that as well.

Pulaski

We use Onesuite too. Not so much these days since we got Skype, but it only costs me $10-$20/ yr to have a way to call my mother from home, work, or (any) cell and not have to worry about the cost.

markonline1

I used to use a monthly subscription with Skype. It was something like $5.99 a month for unlimited calls to the UK. Can't remember if it included landlines and mobiles though. Alternatively, get everyone you know to buy an iPhone, then it's free

Tess4

Just wanted to put in a note about ringbritain, i didnt want it to come across as me dissing them, not at all, it was the provider we use here that charged the 40 cents per minute. They have been outstanding (ringbritain) with customer service over the past 2 days. Immediate response to emails and although i didnt expect any money back from the $20 i had bought, they have refunded me the $17 i have left without me even asking! Really great service.

Sally Redux

Viber is brilliant.

Novocastrian

You're all annoyingly entitled. <harumph>

When I first emigrated to California (in 1977) a three minute phone call to the UK cost $13.

This was, in my first year there, 0.1% of my annual pretax salary.

Can't you discuss the price of a cup of coffee instead?

Tess4

nope, the thread is about cheap calls to the UK

Tess4

thanks Sally, my issue is the very slow lightening speed we have with BH, so although i have vibre, skype etc, none are of much use because of speed issues.