touring america..cheapest way to phone home ?

pennymakespounds

friends going to spend couple of months travelling america .. .

have 4 sons/daughters here that they'll want to keep in touch with . .. all have landlines .. and mobiles

what will be best ie cheapest way to phone them from usa ?? .. and vice versa i guess .. the kids phoning them .. if needed . or cheaper way


(i use "sim4travel" when in europe .. whether same or similar is best from usa ? )


thanks

esuhl

Calling from the UK to the US should be straightforward. Discount Dial (https://www.discountdial.co.uk/rates.php) offer calls to US landlines and mobiles for 0.5p/min.

You just need to dial 0844 200 9595, and then you'll be prompted to enter the US number that you wish to call.

I'm not sure about US to UK calls, though...

Amba_Gambla

I bought a cheap PAYG mobile:

www.tracfone.com
www.net10.com

You can call UK landlines for 10¢ a minute on these, and then to call landlines, you can use rebtel for US to UK mobiles (www.rebtel.com) but make sure you use quidco for £7.50 cashback! - on this, you can call UK mobiles for 7¢ minute

I've used all (and still use some) of these services!

robellett

Landed back from the US yesterday, and generally use AT&T pre-pay phone service whilst there - you can buy a phone for less than $15, complete with Sim card, or just use your own phone with a US sim card.

Something to be aware of is that incoming calls to American mobile numbers are chargeable - so get incoming calls going to a landline if at all possible.

I've used Net10 and AT&T pay as you go, and find the service and support better from AT&T. $100 on a ATT pre-pay gives 1 years worth of service: useful if you're likely to return. Net10 calls cost 10c per minute for US calls with a 5c per minute surcharge for international use, ie. 15c per minute - you're charged as soon as you dial, meaning some unsuccesful calls are charged for. If you get more than 1 ATT number you can get free calls between them, if you choose their 10c a minute tariff, for all other calls ($1 per day tariff when the phones are used for chargeable calls).

Calls from ATT prepay back to the UK are fairly cheap too - though do not beat the https://www.18185.co.uk 0.5p per minute from the UK to USA landlines or mobiles (though the USA mobiles called have to pay for incoming calls, as mentioned earlier).

You can buy ATT prepay phones at Walmart, RadioShack (the US version of Tandy) and many other stores. I've got a Motorola C168i, which I got from Walmart, though RadioShack San Francisco had this in store at $14.99 last week (it's higher priced on their web site).

If you have someone who could receive a phone bought directly from ATT's website, they are offering some good deals of phones with credit at below the cost of the top up. See here: http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-phone-service/packages/prepaid-packages.jsp?rel=nofollow&wtSlotClick=1-0018Q9-1-1

Hope this helps. Good luck! Rob

Amba_Gambla

(by the way, my Nokia 1600 on net10 cost me $30, and gave me $30 credit.... how long you going for?)