prepaid calling card
 

hello!

i´m going to spend my holiday in the usa and would like to call home (germany and holland). what is the best way?

during my last stay in the usa i had a prepaid calling card from walmart. do you have still have them? how much they are and where can i get them? can i use them with my european mobile or with the hotel telephone?

are there any other alternatives which are cheaper for a two week-stay?

thank you. :)

All depends on where you are calling. Best deals tend to be country specific and don't involve actually buying a physical card, but rather buying online and having a PIN code. Thus, there is no "best" card because different people have different needs. Here are some factors:

1. To what country are you calling?
2. Are you calling a landline or cell phone (makes a big difference in some places)
3. Is there a per call connection fee and if so how much?
4. For how long are your calls (some cards have minimum charges)
5. For how long is the balance good (maybe you don't use it all).

I have a prepaid card that costs me US$0.02 per minute to call land lines in Israel, but US$0.25 to call the UK. I would never use it for the UK, but it's a great deal for Israel.

Only you have the details.

How about Skype subscriptions to unlimted world for 1 month?

http://www.future-nine.com/callingcard.html

Great rates to everywhere in the world.

It`s a little complicated to figure out (particularly how to use the sipbroker.com access numbers available all around the US and the world), but once you do, this is the best all-around calling card ever. I particularly love their 1-877 access number which works in most US payphones.

Do note however, that using a calling card from a pay telephone almost always incurs a surcharge of anywhere from 50¢ to 75¢ or more per call. If you look at the terms of use for pretty much every calling card you'll see that you're charged a surcharge for its use from pay telephones.

thank you for all answers. ^

i´ll try to answer all questions.

1. from new york state to germany

2. In germany it´s a landline. is that better than a cell phone?

3. In germany we don´t have call connections fees. so i´m not street-smart to this. we´ll stay in a hotel. do us-hotels have call connections fees?

as an alternative i´ll take my german cell phone. but i think this is much more expensive than using the hotel phone, isn´t it?

4. 15 minutes. if short calls are much cheaper i would be okay to have shorter calls, e.g. 5 minutes. just to say hello.

5. the stay is about 2 weeks.

where can i get the calling cards in the us?

thank you so much. :)

Do NOT touch the hotel phone with a 10-foot pole. Hotel phones are a serious ripoff. Nobody uses them these days, since pretty much everyone has a mobile.

You can check the link below for calling cards that offer good rates to Germany. You need to register and they will mail the PIN to you. I have used MegaClean and purple card to call UK at very good rates. I have been using Rebtel lately though.

http://www.uniontelecard.com/?utm_so...FUbCKgod1BWxkw

what is the reason? do they have fees? with my former prepaid calling card i called a free number and there were no fees for the owner of the phone (i was a a friend´s house and used landline). the card was from walmart (about 10 dollars) and i could call for hours. :)

Calling cards are easily available in the US, many smaller stores sell dozens of different types of them.

You need to check with the hotel to see if they have a charge for toll free calls. Some do and some do not. If they do have a charge, it can be quite high. If you are staying at a hotel that has a high fee, you may want to use a pay phone or something.

You can get calling cards almost everywhere. Drugstores like Walgreen, some
supermarkets. When you get here, look at the back of them, note the card
type (marketing name) and the toll-free numbers and call them and
ask
1. cost of calls to german landlines (usually cheaper than calls to mobile numbers) (I recall that it can be less than 10 cents per minute)
2. connection cost if using a pay phone (usually about $1)

bring your German GSM phone, since it's unlocked you could pickup a
cheap sim (H2O or other MVNO) and get about 30-60 minutes for
a few dollars. use these minutes and the calling card to call from
wherever you are.

You could also look into ATT pay-as-you-go GoPhone sim. I haven't
done this but I think they have an international plan, BUT their plan
allows unlimited minutes for about $1-2 per day for each day it's used.
This allows you to use the calling card for as long as the calling card
minutes last.

lastly, if your german phone has wifi, bring it and use it at free
wifi sites (Starbucks?, McDonalds? supermarkets?) and download
Skype apps (my Android allows video Skype and it works!)

All this might cost about $50 ($25 for the calling card and a $25
refill and maybe a ATT gophone sim for ??) and the limit is the calling
card at about 250 minutes.

good luck
Bob

I mentioned that because most hotels charge a very high rate when you cal out from it. As I mentioned, hardly anyone uses the hotel phones these days.

As CaliforniaBob mentioned, it may even be cheaper to use your unlocked phone. The get a sim from any of the carriers. For example Tmobile's sim can be had easily on ebay or any of the stores around. The just sign up for one of their daily plans that gives unlimited talk, and then use that with a calling card.

http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/prepaid-plans

thank you so much. these are a lot of information. i have to think about it.

you have free wifi at starbucks, mcdonalds and supermarkets? how does it work? do i need a pin or is it a completly open net?

i have a blackberry and i think there is no skype app.

i understand. in germany we don´t have those rates.

do i have to get a contract for a prepaid sim? in germany it´s quite complicated to get a sim. you have to show your id and do sign different papers.

It is cash and carry. No questions are asked. By the way, as an American visiting Germany I had only minor problems buying a SIM. They accepted my US passport as idea and copied the address off my hotel itinerary for the address..

that sounds easier than in germany. i get my last sim years ago here in germany. maybe it´s easier today. :)