Calls to USA Cellphone

muffler

I have a daughter who has just gone to the US for a year. She got a cellphone over there and text the number to us.

What is the cheapest way of calling her on the cellphone?

Ruu_Old

Probably from a calling card of some sort as she might be charged for incoming calls (if you call from a landline), alot of the mobile phone networks in the US are like that.

muffler

I know this is a stupid question but how does the calling card work with a landline? Or did you mean to use it with a mobile phone

Ruu_Old

You can use it with the landline (you can probably get one with special rates to US numbers or possibly US mobiles). The way they normally work is you call the number provided on the calling call (freephone probably) from your landline then enter the card number on the card, it'll then ask you to enter the country code, area code and number. In this case that would be 001 (123) 456-7890 for calling the US. I think such cards can be bought at the post office or newsagents.

muffler

Thanks Ruu, I will check that out at the Post office on Monday

tech

you could use skype?

muffler

tech wrote:

you could use skype?

Ah now, while I have heard of this and I know it is something you do on the PC I wouldn't have a clue.

Can anyone explain this in "child's language" and can it be used to call a cellphone in the US

the Guru

www.skype.com

Get a mic and speakers get your daughter to do the same, speak over the Internet.

Also your daughter can get www.sunrocket.com if she is in the states this is 9.99 per month this will allow her to have a cheap land line for you to call. she must have broadband to use it.

also you can use www.telestunt.ie

Telestunt is your best bet

muffler

Thanks for the help guys - much appreciated

Foxwood

muffler wrote:

Ah now, while I have heard of this and I know it is something you do on the PC I wouldn't have a clue.

Can anyone explain this in "child's language" and can it be used to call a cellphone in the US

In very simple terms, the owner of a mobile phone in the US pays the "premium" for a wireless call - it doesn't cost any more to call a US mobile than it costs to call a landline. There are no seperate "area codes" for mobiles in the US - your landline could be (987) 654 3210 and your mobile could be (987) 654 3211.

You can call any US number, mobile or landline, for the same price. From your own landline, you can call any US number for the price of a local call by dialling 1890 99 05 05 and then dialing the complete US number - 001 987 654 3210 in the example above. You'll be billed for a local call on your next phone bill (that's 1.26c/min at the weekend, 4.9c/min during the day at eircom rates).

But your daughter will have to "pay" for the incoming call. If she's using a "prepaid" cell phone in the US, that'll cost her as much as 25c/minute. If she's using a pre-paid phone, it'll come out of her "bundled minutes" - typcial prepaid plans in the US start at about $40/month with about 500 minutes per month. Some plans have unlimited evening/weekend minutes, but the evening minutes won't help much, unless you want to talk to her after midnight, Irish time.

If you have broadband, the simplest low cost way to call the US is to use something like voipcheap.com, which will allow you to set up a call between your landline and a US phone number for just 5c. That's just 5c for the call, not 5c/minute (up to 5 hours a week). You don't have to even install any software on your computer, just login to their website, and set up the call there. If your daughter has access to broadband, then using voipcheap.com will definitely be the best way for her to call family and friends in Ireland, as you get 300 minutes per week free, whereas skype will cost for every call to Ireland (Skype only offers free calls to the US and Canada).

muffler

Foxwood, many thanks for the very easy to understand and detailed explaination of the ins and outs of calling to the USA.

I think by all accounts that the PC calling is the way to go. At the moment we are using email to keep in touch but its hard to beat the old natter on the phone or mic. or whatever.

Thanks again

the Guru

I have just spoken to sunrocket and they have advised that there services will work over seas so you can get her to get the equipment (free) and mail it to you, you can set it up over your BB connection and you will have an US land line number that she can call you on, its much cheaper and better quality

Foxwood

the Guru wrote:

I have just spoken to sunrocket and they have advised that there services will work over seas so you can get her to get the equipment (free) and mail it to you, you can set it up over your BB connection and you will have an US land line number that she can call you on, its much cheaper and better quality

Sunrocket costs $9.99/month, which includes 200 minutes of calls. Calls after that 3 hours and 20 minutes per month cost 3¢(US) per minute. Or you could get the $25/month package, and get unlimited free calls to the US.

It's hard to see how that's going to work out cheaper than 5 hours a week of free calls, with additional minutes at 1¢.

As for quality - I haven't used Sunrocket, but it's difficult to see how the quality could be any better than the quality I'm getting with voipstunt.com.

Oracle

If you register with this company www.13434.ie you could call from your home phone for 0.005c per min (that's half a cent per min. or it's 1c per min. if you're not with Eircom) and a 5c connection fee, anytime. This "dial around" service and Telestunt (now called Dialwise) are probably the cheapest options without using a VOIP/PC phone.
I'm not sure about the cost at the other end though.

muffler

Another couple of good posts. Things are working out good so far as her employer is allowing her to make 3 x 15 minute long phone calls home every week so that combined with the email will keep us going in the short term.

Keep the suggestions coming as a lot of other people will benefit from the information here.

Thanks guys

Foxwood

muffler wrote:

Another couple of good posts. Things are working out good so far as her employer is allowing her to make 3 x 15 minute long phone calls home every week so that combined with the email will keep us going in the short term.

Keep the suggestions coming as a lot of other people will benefit from the information here.

She should absolutely NOT make any international calls from the US unless she is using some sort of calling card or calling pan.

The "default" rate charged by all the major US long distance companies is about $3/minute! (It makes eircom seem cheap!).

http://www22.verizon.com/Foryourhome/sas/sas_BasicInternationalRates.aspx
http://serviceguide.att.com/ACS/ext/Documents.cfm?DID=1826

If you sign up for a "calling plan" for $5/month, they'll only charge you 15c/20c per minute, but your daughter should make sure of the situation before she runs up 45 minutes worth of calls at $3 a minute.

The simplest and cheapest way for your daughter to call Ireland from a US landline, without worrying about anyone elses costs, is for her to get a calling card. If she knows someone who has a membership card for SamsClub, or BJs or Costco, she can get a $25 calling card that will allow her to make calls to Ireland for about 6-8c per minute (by calling a 1-800 number, so no cost to the owner of the phone).

cubix

Can someone clarify something for me please. IF I dial an american cell phone using the international dialing code and then the cell number the person in america with the cell phone will still incur a charge(similar to a roaming charge) even though I called them and they are in country the cell phone was meant for?

Cubix

Foxwood

cubix wrote:

Can someone clarify something for me please. IF I dial an american cell phone using the international dialing code and then the cell number the person in america with the cell phone will still incur a charge(similar to a roaming charge) even though I called them and they are in country the cell phone was meant for?

No. The recipient of your call will incur the same charge as they would if they were called from a US number. If they're a pay-as-you-go cellphone user (a tiny minority), they'll pay 15c-30c/minute for all calls, incoming or outgoing - essentiay they pay for "air time". If they're paying $30-$50 a month for a "call bundle", the 10 minutes that they are on the phone to you will come out of their 400 minutes a month, or whatever is incuded in their bundle.

It won't make any difference to the person you call whether you call is international, domestic or local - it still costs "air minutes". If they happen to be roaming when your call comes in, they will be charged roaming rates. If they are "on network" when your call comes in, they'll be charged the regular rates (which usually means it'll come out of their "bundled minutes").

cubix

Cheers FW, how come USA operate this type of system as here in Ireland the recipient does get charged anything or is call charges lower in the US?. Also can you tell me if they operate the same type of system as the US in Canada

Thanks

Foxwood

cubix wrote:

Cheers FW, how come USA operate this type of system as here in Ireland the recipient does get charged anything or is call charges lower in the US?. Also can you tell me if they operate the same type of system as the US in Canada

In the US (and Canada) the cell-phone owners have always paid the premium for the benefit of having a mobile phone. There are no seperate cell-phone-only area codes so there was no way for callers to know that they were calling a cell phone. And because many "local" calls in the US are free, charging very high rates for calling a number that looked just like a local number would have been problematic.

(Many area codes have been "split" two or 3 times in the last 20 years, because there weren't enough numbers to go around).

So the difference is largely historic. Market conditions for these services are very different in the US than in much of the rest of the world (low cost local calls, a much higher proportion of "long distance" calls, etc), and they just adopted a different pricing model. Both models have advantages and disadvantages (low cost for the "owner" means much higher penetration of mobiles in Europe, especially for PAYG phones. The high cost for the owner of a mobile in the US has led to competition driving down the cost somewhat, but the cheapest "prepay" mobile still cost $35 or so per month).