Ben.M

Think someone mentioned a while back that there are some telecoms companies in NZ offering cheaper international calls than TelecomNZ, but didn't mention the names.

Does anyone know any of these companies or calling cards that offer cheap international calls, other than Telecom's 0161 service?

Thanks,
Ben

wotwots

We use slingshot who also provide our internet service, we pay about 14c per minute to the UK (it costs more to ring Auckland with telecom) but most of the cards offer the same rate -some a little cheaper

xpat19

hi - Telstra Clear offer up to 2 hours talk for a capped rate of $7.00 between 8pm and 8 am - also have special offers for other times of the day

theguitardoctor

Hi Ben,

There are loads of international dialing cards available from pretty much every Post Office and newsagent/superette... such as Yabba, Chi-Tel etc - all allowing calls to the uk for around 13cents a minute. You just pick them up - usually in denominations of $5, $10, $15 etc. You dial a number (uch as 0124 with Yabba), type in your pin number (stamped on the Yabba card), then dial the Uk number.....It keeps you infromed of the balance when you make the next call, and there's a warning beep when the card is almost out of credit. You can top a Yabba up with your credit card, or just buy another....

Telecom offer a capped rate of $8 for 2 hours at present during off peak times, but this is only to one number at a time, i.e if you dial a UK number and hang up after 30 minutes to redial another UK number, you will be charged for each call rather than grouped Uk numbers totalling 2 hours (if you see what I mean)... each call will cost up to $8 for a max 2 hours.

There's the 0161 prefix too, but we don't use it as Yabba is cheaper and easy to use.

all the best, Rich.

Gill and Rob

Can I ask what the 0161 thing is?


Gill

Ben.M

Thanks for the replies.

0161 is a 'cheap' service operated by Telecom but they don't guarantee the call quality and as GD says, at .19c a min it's still more expensive than the other services. Details here.

Calling cards are probably a good temporary option but Slingshot looks good at .12c for all national calls and to several countries including the UK, the US and Oz. Only catch is that yoy have to sign up to their Internet servcies but they offer an unlimited dial-up plan for $16.95 a month and a reasonably priced Jetstream Starter ADSL plan.

Nice to know there are options though...

Ben