International Phone Calls From US

[KY_TOP]

I recently called a friend of mine in Germany from my home phone and when I got my bill I had been charged approximately $2.50 per minute by my long distance carrier AT&T. Yesterday I purchased a 500 minute Domestic AT&T Calling Card for $25.00 that states it can be used for International Calls but the rate varies.

 

After purchasing I called the 800# on the back to find the rate for Germany. Ends up the card is good for 250 minutes for calls to Germany from the US. 250 minutes from my home phone thru AT&T would cost me over $600. $600 vs $25 with the same company, this has got to be the biggest ripoff I have ever seen. Screw my home service I'll purchase calling Cards from now on.

[bigguyinpasadena]

Might I suggest visiting a site called "lowermybills.com"

It has side by side comparison for many long distance carriers.I switched to a company called buyersonline,and now I never have a long distance bill over $15.oo-including their fee.My local bill on the other hand-that is a rip-off with sbc's zone charges.I am going to sign up for a company that will cover zone charges.

I always buy a phone card when I travel.By a local one that has good rates/low connection fees.I never use the phone in my room unless local calls are free-and the locally bought phone cards have local dial through numbers-thus my long distance call are just pennies!

[+ Billsboy4]

I agree with you about the phone cards. The best deal that I have found for domestic calls is the phone cards that are sold at Costco.

 

For international calling, from my home phone I use 101-6868 (http://www.101-6868.com), which gets billed on your local phone bill. Germany costs 9 cents per minute.

 

However, recently I switched over to KissLD (http://www.kissld.com)as my long distance carrier. I pay 3 cents per minute domestic and Germany would be 7 cents per minute. Since I don't make that many calls, it's the best for me. One plan has a $3 monthly charge, but if you refer a friend, it's waived forever.

 

Hope this helps.

[Guest YFSC]

>I recently called a friend of mine in Germany from my home

>phone and when I got my bill I had been charged approximately

>$2.50 per minute by my long distance carrier AT&T.

 

Not that I disagree with your point or the advice in this thread, but was that a garden-variety direct-dial call, or was it operator-assisted or person-to-person or something like that? Even AT&T can't have the balls to charge $2.50/minute for every minute to Germany on a direct-dial call.

 

BTW, if you call directory assistance and they ask "would you like me to connect that for you?" or if they offer "press X and your call will be connected automatically," always *refuse* because then you will pay the operator-assisted rate instead of the direct-dial rate. Even if there has been no operator, just the voice-recognition software and "press X." Is that what happened to your call?

[+ Lucky]

Verizon charged me $7.00 a minute to call Spain.

[KY_TOP]

>Not that I disagree with your point or the advice in this

>thread, but was that a garden-variety direct-dial call, or was

>it operator-assisted or person-to-person or something like

>that? Even AT&T can't have the balls to charge $2.50/minute

>for every minute to Germany on a direct-dial call.

 

This was a direct dial from my home phone, no assistance from anyone.

I have been with AT&T forever and my monthly bill is even sent by e-mail.

[Guest fukamarine]

>Verizon charged me $7.00 a minute to call Spain.

 

Holy shit - it doesn't even cost $7.00 a minute to FLY to Spain!

 

 

fukamarine

[+ Hoover42]

>>Verizon charged me $7.00 a minute to call Spain.

>

>Holy shit - it doesn't even cost $7.00 a minute to FLY to

>Spain!

 

Yes, I just checked and discovered that flights from Washington to Madrid are available for 78 cents a minute.

[grweyers]

I belong to PowerNet Global. The web site is http://www.pngnet.com

Take a look, they have really great rates, you will "Save"

alot of money....You can also call them at Toll Free

1 866 329 7280.

Should you choose to get there services, please give them this

Referral Number 7022639872..Yeah it will give me a savings of a

couple of cents...;-)

[Casteran]

I also use Thaitel.com - they offer very low rates prepaid via calling card # for Thailand and across the globe

[KY_TOP]

Thanks for all the calling options guys. I didn't realize there were so many cheap options available. Makes me feel even more like I've been ripped off in the past.

[trilingual]

All the big carriers (AT&T, MCI, Sprint) offer long-distance calling plans. Call and check the prices and rates, but they'll be fairly competitive. You just have to sign up and then check back periodically (like every six months or so) to find out if they're offering even better rates/plans.

 

I've been using MCI, which has an int'l plan that includes very cheap domestic long distance for $9.95 a month. Calls to Brazil have dropped to 15 cents a minute. Europe is 8 or 9 cents a minute. AT&T's plan has similar rates and a lower monthly cost. However, MCI is the only one of the major callers that allows you to call any INTERNATIONAL number from anywhere in the U.S. using your calling card and pay only what you'd pay if you were dialing from home, PLUS the same low home rates apply when calling back to the U.S. from abroad using their USADirect lines. You can program your cell phone with MCI's access number and just make all your international calls from your cell phone using your calling card and pay the cheap rates. I'm a happy camper with them, as it's been hassle-free, and it's cheaper using them to call back to the U.S. from abroad than the local phone companies charges tend to be (even though calls from Brazil to the U.S. are finally coming down in price, too).