BOBA_T

What will be the cheapest way to call from Europe (Italy) to USA/Europe? I imagin hotel phone would be the most expensive way...

Thanks

LapLap

Maybe somebody in Italy could help you a little better about which is the best to use – but you should check out local international calling cards when you’re in Europe. Generally speaking, you purchase a card at a newsagents or discount telephone store for about $10, then you call the number on the card – which could be a free phone number or a local (Italian) number, and from there you enter the Pin number on the card and so on (typically starting 001 + 10 digit US number).

From the UK, I generally dial using 0870 747 7277 (8p, peak times, less than 4p in the evenings, and that lets you dial most international numbers. if you dial this number on a weekend you will be given an alternative 0844 number that costs about 5p per min. I think it’s offered by Tiscalli). Perhaps there is something similar in Italy so that you don’t need to get a card.

As to what your hotel will charge you – there’s the rub. If you can get a phone card with freephone access, the hotel may not charge you anything at all, but then again…. Please remember that hotels can charge you absolutely anything they like - there is no consistency whatsoever about how much you can expect to pay. Do ask the concierge at your hotel how much it will cost per minute to call any number you have in mind.

Only very expensive cards will be OK to use across Europe, each country has its own telephone businesses and each have different deals.

oontiveros

Yes what LapLap said.

The thing to watch out for is the connection charge should the card require one. That may take a huge value charge on the total prepaid amount.

Try to get a card that does not have connection charges or work out the math beforehand. The variables are 1) cost of call to locality, 2) connection charges (if any), 3) freephone vs. cost-per-minute calls and 4) peak vs non-peak hours.

grouse

In the UK, Telediscount to the US is 2p/min: 0844 4 621 621. It also comes out of inclusive minutes on my O2 mobile plan so essentially I have 500 free off-peak minutes to the U.S. every month. Not too shabby!

This is not off-topic since the original topic was so broad, although it doesn't address the OP's question.

empedocles

I use prepaid calling cards.

lmermaid

With MCI you can call US from Europe for 8 cents/min (and vice versa), with their world plan, and it might save you $ over a calling card in the long run if you don't use an even calling card multiple (ie either 20 euro or 40 euro, etc.). Europe to Europe, I use calling cards or my US-based mobile if it's not a long call.

holmedown

From the UK - I agree with grouse

I use http://www.telediscount.co.uk/accessnumbers.php

also this was 1p/min until fairly recently when it increased to 2p/min but this is to both US landlines and cell phones

and have done for the past 18 months - excellent and cheap and have had no problems - but it is worth just checking the access numbers on line before you dial as they do change them fairly regularly.

SPG-DL TRAVELER

If you own a GSM compatible phone that has access to the SIM module, you can use it on most any telephone network in the world through the use of Pre-Paid SIM cards.

What you do is buy a prepaid phone card for whatever country you might be traveling in and swap it for your USA based SIM module. What this will do is make you a "Pay as you go" customer in that country. It will also allow you to receive incoming calls for free as per most European Cellular providers.

I have used the service myself with a Siemens S-46 Worldphone and it worked great!

Now there is ONE catch, you need to make sure that the cellphone has been unlocked! If the phone has not been unlocked then you will need to either take your GSM phone back to your local service provider so they can unlock it for you. Many of the the Nokia GSM phones that use SIM modules you can unlock yourself once you have obtained the proper code. These can be found at several websites for a small fee of usually $5-10 US.

Once you have your phone unlocked, you can go to:

www.telestial.com

Purchase the correct phone card for the country or countries you will be traveling and then swap it with your US card. The cost per minute to the US is usually about $.03-.05 US.

If you will be needing to use your laptop for internet access and do not want to use hotel phone to do so, I would suggest that you also find a GSM phone that can double as a cellular modem. I know for a fact that the Seimens S-46 that I own can be used as such and I am sure that Nokia and Samsung phones will have this feature too on a their worldphones.

If you have any questions that I can answer about the Siemens S-46 unit, please let me know.

Have a great trip!

UncleDude

IDT prepaid Global Calling Card...Details here with 1-800 connections available from Italy


http://www.idt.net/products/debit/gc/

SPG-DL TRAVELER

I almost forgot about another way to get very inexpensive rates to the US from just about any country in the world.

I used to use a service called Cognicall to phone to the US from trips to Europe.

The website you can find more information at is:

http://ld.net/products/?product=cogw...?hope4u&bizop=

Hope this helps you out too.

oontiveros

The other catch is to ensure that you have a triband phone such as the one listed above. US dualbands largely do not have band access to networks in the rest of the world.

LapLap

Excellent! If this works, you guys will have cut my phone bill to Japan in half. Cheers!

Vulcan

While I don't see it listed, if you are lugging a laptop and have a high speed connection, you can use SkypeOut (see www.skype.com) and call the US from anywhere in Europe for 0.017 euros per minute.

stimpy

If you have a Vonage account calls are FREE back to the US! As for mobile phones, I use a Quad-band Motorola 600 which works nearly everywhere I go, the only exceptions being Japan and Korea. But I can use my SIM there to keep the same number.

holmedown

You're welcome, just remember to check the site before you dial as I said earlier, they do tend to change the access numbers for various countries at random.