IPhone what network?

whellman1030

I'm thinking in going for Meteor and my plan is to make phone calls to abroad using skype.

Don't know if it is the best idea.

flyguy

whellman1030 wrote: »

I'm thinking in going for Meteor and my plan is to make phone calls to abroad using skype.

Don't know if it is the best idea.

You didn't give enough info, do you intend to Skype over wifi when abroad or are you going to use your data/3G connection (data roaming)? If you're using wifi it doesn't matter which provider you use as the connection will not be billed on your mobile connection. If you are using data roaming, last time I checked meteor are one of the worst/most expensive for data roaming.
Check vodafone €2/50mb per day (Europe only), 3 like home (very few countries) and whatever O2 are offering these days....
-edit- forgot to mention, anything with video -YouTube, FaceTime, Skype- will use up quite a lot of data quickly. If you're data roaming you're better of making VoIP calls (no video) with apps like viber.

whellman1030

flyguy wrote: »

You didn't give enough info, do you intend to Skype over wifi when abroad or are you going to use your data/3G connection (data roaming)? If you're using wifi it doesn't matter which provider you use as the connection will not be billed on your mobile connection. If you are using data roaming, last time I checked meteor are one of the worst/most expensive for data roaming.
Check vodafone €2/50mb per day (Europe only), 3 like home (very few countries) and whatever O2 are offering these days....
-edit- forgot to mention, anything with video -YouTube, FaceTime, Skype- will use up quite a lot of data quickly. If you're data roaming you're better of making VoIP calls (no video) with apps like viber.

You didn't understand. Basically I'm going to be in Ireland making calls to Portugal with skype with 3g network from meteor. So I won't be using abroad 3g. The intention of the skype calls is that they cost 1c per minute to call abroad.

MonkstownHoop

wouldnt buy an iphone purely for skype

flyguy

whellman1030 wrote: »

You didn't understand. Basically I'm going to be in Ireland making calls to Portugal with skype with 3g network from meteor. So I won't be using abroad 3g. The intention of the skype calls is that they cost 1c per minute to call abroad.

You're right I missed the "to" abroad. Like other poster said, you don't really need an iPhone for that there are plenty of other cheaper phones that can do that. Nothing against the iPhone, I love mine...
With regards to it being a good idea or not that depends on that your data allowance and how many calls you're making... Also if the receiver of the call has a smartphone there are plenty of free ways to call them. You can also make free calls from a pc/laptop.

Solair

If international calls are your main concern, Tesco Mobile does most destinations (landlines) for 1c per min on both prepay and billpay.

flyguy

Good point Solair. Other networks may have deals as well. I know with vodafone you can pay an extra €5/month on bill pay to make all your bundle mins international and on the higher plans they are international mins as standard.
I don't know what kind of number you will be calling but some providers only offer good rates on calling landlines abroad, not mobiles (vodafone is for both) something to keep an eye on...

Solair

OP:

The other thing to bear in mind is that the quality of VoIP on 3G connections is variable at best.

VoIP depends on low ping times, which is something that very few cellular networks offer. The download / upload speeds are largely irrelevant once you're getting beyond about 1mbit/s. However, the ping and connection quality will make a huge difference.

They're still not remotely comparable to a DSL or Cable broadband line, even if the download/uploads speeds are decent, the stability of the connection on a mobile is usually all over the place with often really horrendous ping times.

I've tried to use Skype and other VoIP services on 3G / 3.5G in various countries and the result's usually abysmal.

The other option you could use is a dial-in VoIP service e.g. Blueface has 'Go 2 Mobile' where you can basically dial a (01) number and it will recognise your mobile's caller ID and you can then use your Blueface account to dial onwards to other destinations.

If you've free / inclusive landline calls, this can work out very cheap.

You can also use various pre-paid cards to do that too.

I've checked around on the various other offers and basically the only ones that just has plain flat cheap rates abroad seems to be Tesco
http://www.tescomobile.ie/international-rates.aspx

I'm not trying to promote them, but they're just pricing calls at the same kind of level as the pre-paid calling card and VoIP providers and way cheaper than most landline providers.

soundsham

If your a business customer (probably need to be vat registered)and your calls are to the uk eMobile have a super offer at the moment
It says €50 incl vat on the website but its available till June for €30 + vat approx €37

It's unlimited calls and texts to mobile and landline in Ireland
1500 units to UK mobiles
Each minute/text is a unit
So it's approx 25 hrs with no texts or 20 hrs if you send 300 texts
Connect to Tmobile I think (not 100% if that is the network) if in the uk and use away as if your in Ireland i.e. no roaming
15gb data allowing tethering

iPhone 5 €99
not 100% as my colleague got iPhone 4S free 18 month contract