Advice wanted- calling UK from USA

tjhooker1975

Hi everyone, i'm off to New York for a few weeks and am going to have to call back to the UK (mostly to administer ebay auctions), so I wondered what the best way of going about it would be? Do they have an equivalent of telediscount etc? Would I be better of buying phone cards to UK over there, or getting something sorted before I go?

Thanks in advance for all your advice, i'm sure this will be useful to other people as well.

Tom

samuela66

Hi TJ,
When I worked in the States I used to buy a calling card for 10 dollars, it used to get me 3 hours talk time to the UK including mobiles!
HTH ;D

tjhooker1975

Cheers, that sounds perfect. Did you use it from payphones then?

D.A.

Be aware that the ones you buy in shops over there are quite often a lot more expensive than ones you can buy on the internet. I used one from Nobelcom (https://www.nobelcom.com), which while not being the cheapest, was good quality and reasonably good value for money.

If you do a Google search, you'll find there are loads of these cards available - most of them will email the PIN rather than having to send you a physical card.

Be aware that a lot of them will phone you at your home number and check your credit card details just as a fraud prevention measure (Nobelcom don't), so ensure you apply for the card *before* you leave the UK.

Quinny_2

I was in the USA in June this year,and bought a phone card from the local 7eleven.I paid about $10 for it,and got a huge amount of phone time for it.

You can buy them from almost anywhere,and they come in various denominations.

Far cheaper than using a mobile.

Ken.

Robert5988

I spend a lot of time in the USA and phone back to UK a lot.

Look very closely at the terms and conditions of all cards - many have all sorts of surcharges on them.

I use GoTalk - a pre-paid UK account and find that the cheapest; 10-12p a min from USA to UK and 2.5p(3p?) a min from UK to USA. In USA you ring a free 1-800 No and enter pin - there is no surcharge from a payphone in USA but there is in UK.

Of course I get family to ring me back in the USA for long calls using GoTalk or any other cheap system

dag_2

dmoz.org has a whole directory devoted to calling card suppliers - you could do much worse than check there first. You should easily be able to find a card that charges two cents per minute or less to call the UK - but like DA says, watch out for surcharges. Many of them have a "service charge" which is debited every week until your credit has run out.

The cheapest card I've found for calling mobiles in the UK is Zaptel "Destination Cell".

D.A.

Robert, if you're paying 10-12p per minute to phone from the USA to the UK, you're paying far too much my friend!

Some of those Nobelcom cards are 3 cents per minute.

Robert5988

Robert, if you're paying 10-12p per minute to phone from the USA to the UK, you're paying far too much my friend!

Some of those Nobelcom cards are 3 cents per minute.

DA,
Thanks for the above.

I did look into this in some depth(and tried one) and I agree with you the cost of the calls is cheaper per min. However they usually have surcharges for pay phones – and you often get a deduction even if number is engaged. Also, and most importantly, they run out after X weeks after first use. I visit every couple of months.

For GoTalk my credit lasts until I use it up – it has an automatic top-up – no surcharges in the USA and it is just about as cheap as most systems for UK to USA. Lastly, as I said before I get family to ring me back in the USA for long calls using GoTalk or any other cheap system. Most of the time I just ring them and hang up and Caller ID shows the same London Number and my call is returned.

For my usage the savings using a phonecard would be minimal(if any) and the inconvenience greater; although I accept that it may be different for others.

I would add that I have no connection with GoTalk and if anyone has a better system including non-surcharging and non time expiring phonecards I would be most interested.

Robert

D.A.

Fair points Robert.

I think you're unlikely to find a non-surcharged calling card in the States though, because as far as I recall it's a federal surcharge which must be paid by all phonecard providers when a payphone is used. (which can of course be avoided with GoTalk, as it isn't a card)

clock24

Earlier this year, in Washington DC, I used a 'Cardinal' card from lehed.com.
This proved excellent value ($5 I think) and I only managed to use a fraction of it in the week. The bonus was that the hotel had free local calls, so all the minutes on the card were available without 'connection charges'.
Using call boxes would have been costlier, but not prohibitive.
Pin number sent via email, instantly. No problems at all, will use again.