AT&T International Day Pass is GREAT for US travelers while in foreign countries.

BUT, how do you make calls FROM the US to Europe/Asia at affordable rates? $3-$5+ per minute is outrageous! That is $180-300 per HOUR!

 

they have add on plans, $15/month unlimited

https://www.att.com/international/long-distance/

 

I installed Google Voice app and call international from the app instead of from my mobile carrier (T-mobile). Google's international calling rate is very competitive.
Google Voice International Rates

 

Skype

 

Check your rates from your current ISP first. I have Comcast and they charge $.08 a minute to Italy for instance. I recently got Xfinity Mobile and I think I saw their Euro calling rate was $.05 a minute.

The Xfinity Mobile had a $200 rebate VISA debit card for port in lines which ended on 1-10-22. That was per line, so we moved our Red Pocket lines over and will be charged $15 a month for both lines + tax to share 1Gb. Our $400 rebate will pay for this for over a year and a half. It is nice to have a second carrier on our phones for US travel. They are on Verizon and should fill in the most of the gaps in our T-Mobile service. The current promotion is for a $100 debit card per line.

 

I use this as well, thought OP wanted AT&T only options.

 

OP here: Yes, I know of very many options for cheap calls. BUT When I am on the go, I want to make an International call on my new AT&T cellular service. AT&T is GREAT for US/Canada/Mexico. AT&T has a great plan for $10/day from most other countries back home, with unlimited talk/text/data. The problem I am trying to solve is when I am on the go in the US and need to call around the world right now, right where I am. Standard issue is $3 to $5 per MINUTE ($180-$300 per HOUR)! I can pay $15 per month PER LINE OF SERVICE for a decent plan to maybe 80 of the countries. But the country I call the most requires the $15 per month plan (which I sure don't want to pay because these are only incidental, occasional calls, though sometimes very long), and I STILL have to pay $0.78 per minute to my favorite country (or $46.80 per hour) on TOP of the $15/month!

What I am HOPING to find (which I can't find on myATT.com) is a cheaper way to use my cell phone to place International calls from the US TO other continents.

If I can't find that, Skype works (at least when I have my laptop). WhatsApp works, at least to WhatsApp users. I haven't investigated Google Voice app yet.

If AT&T doesn't have it, is there ANYONE that calls the WORLD from the US for DECENT rates, and it is dead simple and just works, lets me use my contacts, and doesn't make me think about it? And so I can just tell my 10 cellphone users "do it this way" and we'll be happy to pay for it! The 10 users need it to be simple out-of-the office on the run, or they won't use it, or I will get abused.

 

You can load money on google voice and use it as needed. I do this when I have to call a hotel etc from the US to country I plan on traveling to. Check the rates above and see if that works for you. Without knowing the countries you're calling, best advice would be to get calling card like we all did back in the day for that specific region.

 

Install the Skype app on your phone. I use Skype on my iPhone and Samsung phone.

Google Voice works best when the other person has GV overseas but the account setup requires a US number to create. GV works over data/WiFi without using cell minutes

 

I went to look at Google's plans, and for my favorite country, Google charges 16, 24, 43, and55 cents per minute depending on what type of service the person in the other country has. This is a no go for me.

WhatsApp and GoogleVoice BOTH allow free calling if the person at the other end and you set yourself up for using them in advance. But it TOTALLY doesn't work when calling random people in random countries without planning. And my circumstances need to be random and random.

 

925,

What is your favorite country where you'd like to make calls? I have a variety of links to cellular carriers that I can check if I knew where is a priority.

 

Georgia is where I have traveled 85+ times in the last 25 years. A great and hospitable place.

 

A quick search turned up Ultra Mobile that runs on the T-Mobile network in the US. They have plans for 2Gb of data @ $15 month if you prepay for 6 months. Calls to Georgia are listed as $0.10 a minute from mobile to landline, $.12 a minute mobile to mobile. I don't know what you think is a good rate, so maybe look at their site and see if it can work for you.

https://www.ultramobile.com/

 

10 or 12 cents is a fantastic rate for this small country. Truly great! Much thanks!

Now if only AT&T had a rate lower than $3 per minute or $0.78 per minute AFTER a $15 per month fee.

 

Google's rates are going to about 10% margin over the wholesale termination costs. That is, that's basically whatever it costs to terminate a call to those numbers. Presumably one of those higher rates are for cell phones and the lowest one is for regular land lines. Any pay as you go voip provider will have rates in that ballpark. The only way you'll get something totally different is by finding a flat rate plan where they're betting you don't use it every month. That may make sense for a business expense where you have a maximum you can expense and just need to be sure you don't go over that but it isn't going to save money in the long run.