Need help calling International!

[Lunar-Knight]

Hi,

my girlfriend is currently in America in Michigan and i used to call her on her "Cell" phone or mobile whatever it's called, because we have Sky Talk Unlimited so i thought it was £5 a month with umlimited calls to the her phone... turns out my parents got a heafty phone bill... anyway now i can't call her anymore because some woman on the phone when i dial says "sorry you cannot make this call from this line" is there anyway to get cheap calls to her mobile or anywhere in the US? i really miss her

i heard about apparently dialing something like 0844... (something) and it's only 1p a min any time of the day can anyone confirm this?? or is there any other way?

sorry if this is in the wrong section or something i'm new here

[Ratcliffes]

There is no way I know of which would allow you to call an international mobile number from the UK at 1p per minute. If you want to keep the cost down, try one of the voip services and call her landline number or better still if she has a PC use Skype, Google Chat or Sipgate at no cost whatsoever. Just use a soft client at both ends of the call to avoid having to buy any equipment. Sky Talk, like most bundled call deals includes only UK landline calls in the price - all calls to mobile numbers and international calls are charged on top of the £5 per month as you now know!

PS - Sounds like your parents might have asked Sky to bar international mobile calls to ensure there is no repeat of the previous phone bill!

PPS -Have just looked up the cost per minute of a call from Sipgate to a US Mobile number to find it is just 1.5p per minute. Had no idea it was that cheap now. See http://www.sipgate.co.uk

[Lunar-Knight]

Thanks alot for that post!

yeah i told her to use Skype and stuff like that however she doesn't have a microphone for her comp i don't really know much about Skype all i know is that you can make calls via microphone on the PC

i'll look into that sipgate!

cheers

[Isitme]

If she has a PC tell her to buy a headset/mike set, it will only cost a few dollars. Adding a webcam would enable you to talk and view for free using one of the messenger services. It is really one of the best ways to communicate with friends overseas.

[Ratcliffes]

As long as you have a microphone on your PC, you can use a Sipgate account and their softphone client to call any ordinary phone number anywhere in the world (including the GF's US mobile - That way she won't need a microphone for her PC). Rates are on the Tariff page of the sipgate website. The surprise for me was that a call to a US mobile number is the same as that for a landline call - 1.5p per minute. It costs nothing to have a sipgate account. All you need to find is £10 to put the account in credit in the first place. If you don't use it, it costs nothing (ie there is no line rental charge). The calls will not appear on your folks bill, just on your sipgate bill.

I know that there are many other voip providers in the UK - some probably have lower call costs but I have used Sipgate for about 4 years now and would recommend them.

[Heinz]

my girlfriend is currently in America in Michigan and i used to call her on her "Cell" phone or mobile whatever it's called, because we have Sky Talk Unlimited so i thought it was £5 a month with umlimited calls to the her phone... turns out my parents got a heafty phone bill... anyway now i can't call her anymore because some woman on the phone when i dial says "sorry you cannot make this call from this line" is there anyway to get cheap calls to her mobile or anywhere in the US?

There are many firms offering calls to USA landlines and cellphones for 1p per minute or less - see HERE.

However, you didn't say whether she has an American cellphone or a UK one which is roaming in the USA. If it's the latter, calls to it will cost the same as they would if the phone was still in the UK - which can be as little as 6p or 7p per minute (see HERE). However, it will cost her up to £1 per minute to receive your calls.

[googleme]

Pc/ microphone/ webcam/ msm, it's upto you what you get up to ;-)

[Smithy99]

Xbox 360's and chat

You could even play the odd game together, true love