jayr

I'm sure this topic has been covered elsewhere but can anyone advise on cheap phonecards for calling the UK from Telstra home phone line.

How do they work, do I pay a local Telstra call rate and then the c/minute phonecard is on top of that? I amtrying to work out the best way to go to reduce my $86 of international calls last month and so want to do a proper price comparison.

I've seen a table whcih suggest Tell Me Too, Click and Go Bananas are cheap (and no connection fee)

wmoore

Not answering your question as such, have you tried making calls over the web? Have a look at [url=www.skype.com]Skype[url], which you can use to make calls over the web. It works a bit like MSN Messenger and will work on a dial up connection. Locl phone call then see?

sky

Whilst we're on the subject does anyone know the cheapest way of calling the uk from nz.

sky

phoning home using the internet looks interesting how do you do that

jayr

Not sure I can talk in zeroes and ones

"Hello how are you"

0001110101110011100111000011100011100001

"Good!"

bondipom

http://www.snapfiles.com/get/firefly.html

Someone I know uses the above software. I cannot verify if is any good but am planning on testing it.

DianeOZ

Hi jayr

We are on telstra too and use the phone cards. We chop and change as they seem to have different deals from time to time.
I assume the local call is charged to telstra and then as soon as you are connected to Uk it comes off your card credit. The quality of the lines are not always the best though but much cheapness. Telstra do a thing where you can book calls for an hour for $5 don't they?

My friend in NZ rang me in Aus with a phone card and she also uses it to ring Uk. Not sure which one it is though.

I think the card we are on at the minute works out to about 2.5cents per min

ABCDiamond

Don't forget that Telstra HomeLine Plus allows you to make 10 minute international calls for $1 to UK. Still not as cheap as some phone cards, but better than the normal 21c per minute.

http://www.telstra.com.au/phones/hom...nal_offers.htm


http://www.backpackersrus.com/rates.htm 3.9c pm

http://www.cardcall.com.au/ratesaver-card-rates.html 2.9c pm

But always take account of any connection fees.

sky

Does Yahoo do something similar where you cant actually talk to friends using the internet

sky

Trouble is when I get on the phone to rellies in the uk from here in nz I want to chat for an hour at least.

jayr

I use Telstra Homeline Plus and get 60 mins for $5.25. However, some shorter calls are also charges at this rate. I ended up last month with 22 calls, 15 were at $5.25 and 7 at $1.10. A total of $86.45. However, I used 351 minutes of time so it worked out at 24.6 c/minutes!

I looke d up the G'Day CArd, Telstra's own, and this would cost with a 25c connection, a local call capped at 17.5c and a 5.9c/minute rate at a total of $30.

How come it is cheaper to get a Telstar card to call internationally than it is to use Telstra fixed line? If I used Janeyray's card at 2.5c/minute (aasuming the same connection and local call fee) this bill would go down to about $20!

sky

Just downloaded this ... hope it works I will be emailing all my family and friends about it

bondipom

Good luck with it. I am interested on how you get on.

ABCDiamond

I've not checked your maths, but assuming you are right, I would be discussing this with Telstra.

Their basic rate to the UK is $0.21 per minute on HomeLine Plus, that figure obtained from:
http://www.telstra.com.au/phones/hom...ernational.htm

ABCDiamond

Just reading the Telsta info a bit more, I see the problem.

Using the 0018 number, the following applies:
If the call lasts for one minute or less, a charge of only $1.10 applies instead of the half hour charge, (of $5.25)

and you said you did 7 calls at $1.10 each, so each of these were under 1 minute each.

The 21c per minute is using 0011


What they give you on the swings, they catch you for on the roundabouts !!