Anyone know an affordable way to contact a friend in the US?

oddone

Does anyone know of any alternative and reasonably ways of contacting someone by telephone in the US.

I want to keep in tocuh with a close friend from the states but if she calls my mobile from hers it costs a fortune for both of us, seeing as I dont have a housephone and she wanst to be able to contact me when I am out and about can anyone suggest any alternatives, we stay in touch using yahoo messenger but the time difference means that when she gets home from work its after midnight here so it's hard to have to stay up late just to keep in touch, i would love to find a cellular phone network that we could both use so we can send text messages and take calls which wont cost an arm and a leg.

Ruu_Old

Skype, GoogleTalk or one of those maybe?

robinph

Skype

Timmins

If your phone bill really is a huge pain, try getting a cheap phone on 3 and a data bundle, and connect using skype

Bluefrog

If you are a symbain user and have wi-fi on your phone or a generous data provider (not Three) you can make free US calls using truphone until the end of december if you register before the end of september as I recall. Check their site.

Now I guess the landline operators will hate me as much as Three probably do

ardmacha

Your friend in the US will probably have to pay to receive texts or calls, so she needs a good plan for this.

You can call the US cheaply by using a VOIP service e.g Blueface where you ring an Irish number, and then pay 1c min to ring US. The call to the Irish number this uses your minutes, if you have an account or bundle here.

You can text cheaply using AFT, see the thread on this, if your friend can receive texts.

1huge1

Timmins wrote:

If your phone bill really is a huge pain, try getting a cheap phone on 3 and a data bundle, and connect using skype

ya thats the best option by miles

get a 3 phone and get x-series then you can have skype on your phone what more could you want

GekkePrutser

What you could also do is get a globalcaller card. If you ring the Dublin access number (01) you pay landline rates on your mobile, and the global caller card will charge you 2 cents per minute (tariffs). This is how I usually call to Holland.

The good thing about it is that the landline minutes are usually either very cheap or included as free minutes. And that you can use it from your own mobile so you don't have to be near a computer.

It might be a bit more expensive when calling a mobile but you can always get a 5€ global caller and see how many minutes you get. It will tell you at the start of the call.

PS: You don't need to buy these cards through that website, every newsagent has them. There's other brands as well, just make sure they have a landline (01) access number otherwise you will pay a lot more.

GekkePrutser

1huge1 wrote:

ya thats the best option by miles

get a 3 phone and get x-series then you can have skype on your phone what more could you want

Except that it doesn't actually work, see this thread, and that's only one of the many threads of complaints around here. However 3 may eventually improve their network to make it possible of course. But for the moment the internet service on 3 is very intermittent and I wouldn't advise to even try it. The cheapest way to get on their network (3pay) still costs 100€ because you have to buy a phone from them.

Edit: Sorry, I take that back, according to this thread the X-series skype does work, albeit voice-only (no chat). So that might be an option too. Other internet apps still have a lot of problems though.

GUIGuy

www.CheapCalls.ie

International calls at local rates from your landline. If from youre on O2 try DomeTelecom

The Corinthian

www.telesavers.ie

oddone

Thanks everyone for replying, kind if caught in five minds after reading the above though
I'm certainly not very technically minded when kit comes to this type of thing but I will research them all, thanks again.

turly

www.call13434.ie does the job for me.

I spend about half my time in Ireland and half in Spain. I don't have a landline in Ireland, only a mobile. After setting up with call13434, calling Spanish landlines costs 5c connection fee + 0.5 cents per minute on top of the charge for calling a Dublin number (which they route through.) Calls to US landlines are 5c connection fee + 0.0 cents per minute. Calls to foreign mobile numbers are generally one-third to one-fifth the price charged by my Irish mobile company.

If you have an eircom landline, it's even easier.

Best of luck!

1huge1

GekkePrutser wrote:

Except that it doesn't actually work, see this thread, and that's only one of the many threads of complaints around here. However 3 may eventually improve their network to make it possible of course. But for the moment the internet service on 3 is very intermittent and I wouldn't advise to even try it. The cheapest way to get on their network (3pay) still costs 100€ because you have to buy a phone from them.

Edit: Sorry, I take that back, according to this thread the X-series skype does work, albeit voice-only (no chat). So that might be an option too. Other internet apps still have a lot of problems though.

Well at least that saves me the job of proving you wrong

nice save

failsafe

Did a quick search and found this link from Vodafone. Sign up and you get calls to USA for 15c/min?? I'm not sure if the OP has a prepaid phone (i don't so I can't check it) but it might be worth checking out!

boopolo

You dont need '3'

Skype on your mobile. O2,Vodafone or any phone with latest symbian. 2c per min to landlines in most of globe. Free to other skypers.

To do this use fring. Free download for Symbian phones. I use on N95 wireless and on 3g.

PRND

If you are going to use AFT to make text messages to the US, you should sign up to Voipbuster which allows calls to US mobiles for 2c per minute through a Dublin land line number. Then It's a matter of making sure your provider gives you enough free minutes to Irish numbers.