Hi All,

Our promotional period just ran out with Cable ending our 2 years of free calls to the UK. Their International plan is $19.95 for 250 mins, I've done this for the last 2 months, the first month I went over and was charged an additional $19.95 and then this month I ran out of minutes half way through the month As someone who speaks to her mum every weekend for up to an hour I need a more cost effective way to call her. I do use Skype at times but like to call on the phone as the Skype connection isn't too great.

Anyone got any recommendations for calling cards, web sites offering cheap calls to the UK etc? I had a quick look in Target yesterday at some of their calling cards but there were that many surcharges etc every time you used the thing I couldn't work out the actual price of calling home and how many minutes I would end up with

For many years, nearly a decade I think, I've used Nobelcom.com. Reliable, long lasting company. Their cheapest plan to the UK is 1.4 cents a minute, but that has a monthly maintenance charge. I pay the 2 cents a minute, with no maintenance charge and no expiry, so long as you use it at least once a year.

When my mother was alive, I called once a day, but now I just use it very occasionally so the no maintenance charge option is right for me.

There are a myriad of companies offering rates of around 1½-2¢/ minute, we use onesuite.com. Others might be a tenth or two of a cent cheaper, but there wouldn't be much of a saving for us to move. Not only are such plans very cheap, but you can use them anywhere: at home, on your cell phone (you also use "minutes" to call a local access number), or from your work (assuming your employer is within a free local dialing area for the calling service). I live in a fairly rural area and there is a free local number for me to call into from home, and another near my office. If all else fails, onesuite.com also has a 1-800 national free number, but the calls are surcharged by about 1¢/ minute.

I can't believe anyone would pay $20 for 250 minutes (8¢/minute), that is outrageous!

I don't have any monthly plan for International calls. I just use 1010987.

I dial those numbers before dialling the UK telephone number I am calling and my per minute charge is around 9 cents a minute. Not particularly cheap but then I'm not paying for a monthly charge.

Most of my family in the UK either have an iPhone, iPad or both so we use Factime. It's free.

I'm not paying a monthly charge either, and I'm also not paying 9¢ a minute.

But how are you paying on that 1010987 call? Is that connected to your telephone service provider?

My problem with both Skype and FaceTime (I do use both) is that if I'm talking to someone, I'd rather just talk to them on the telephone, without the video component. I'm also not that keen on communal calls, I prefer one on one ... so traditional phone calls work for me.

That idiot would be me

Thanks for the website suggestions, I am going to look at those. I do Facetime my sister but I also like to be able to walk around the house and do other things when chatting on the phone. We have the triple
bundle with our cable provider so will pay a monthly fee with that for the phone, I'm not looking for a new telephone provider just a provider for international calls.

Rebtel.com

You get a US phone number to call (most people have free LD nowadays - we use our mobiles) and it costs just 1c/min and no monthly or connection charges. Just pre-pay with $10 and top up when needed.

Yes, it comes through on my AT&T phone/Internet bill each month.

I used 1010987 years ago. I would call from my landline and it would go on my phone bill. You get taxed on top of that as well. That was before Skype and other cheap calling card options.

The video component does take some thinking about. For instance don't answer the phone immediately after getting out of the shower.

I use Tel3, no monthly charges and they currently have a special introductory rate for 6 months at 0.8c. I currently pay about 2c. Have used this for years and have never had a problem. Might be worth a look :-)