Advice please. Calling German mobile from UK mobile.

Simon_Harston

I would be very grateful if any of the phone experts out there could assist me with this matter.

In connection with my business I call a single Germany mobile number from a UK mobile number for approximately 90 minutes every day. The cost of this is high, currently about £140 pounds per month.

I am with T-Mobile at present and shopping around through the various networks ( 3, Orange etc), this was the cheapest deal on offer.

The idea of cutting this monthly sum substantially sounds great, but in practice, it seems impossible to achieve. It should be stressed that I have to call from a mobile, not a land line, and the person in Germany also has to receive the calls on a mobile phone. I completely understand that if we were both able to use landlines, the cost of calls would be next to nothing, but sadly, we both have to be out and about when calling and are typically not near wi-fi hotspots.

My first investigations led me to internet telephony, but this doesn't seem to fit the bill. I realise that Skype equipped mobile phones are available in the UK, but Skype does not work in Germany on mobile phones.

I have looked into Viber and this appeared ideal, but in practice, it isn't a winner. I believe that I would be using approx. 1 meg of data per minute of voice call. This works out at roughly 3000 megs per month. Orange charges £5 per 500 megs of data, BUT I should add that I also pay the bill for the user in Germany and data rates are similar there. In theory at least, I could save some money in this way, but I feel that somebody who really knows the mobile phone/ internet telephony scene inside out could probably come up with a much better solution.

Any thoughts ? I should add that I am completely willing to buy a new phone ( any model) and take out a new contract with any network if this helps me to find a way.

If anybody can turn their expertise to this, I would be over the moon. If a proven, useable and cheap solution actually comes to fruition, I'd be the first to offer a bottle of good Scotch as a token of appreciation to the guru who came up with a working, long term, strategy.

Many thanks for your time,

Simon Harston, Hull, Yorkshire.

DUTR

Confused, why do you have to call from a mobile?
Besides if it is for business, then the call should end up earning more than it costs.

Simon_Harston

Thank you for your response. It's pretty straightforward really. I have to call from a mobile because I spend most of my time driving round the rural Yorkshire moors in my car. I am not near a landline or a wi-fi hotspot for most of the time when I need to make the calls to Germany. Similarly, the person in Germany is also on the road in similar circumstances, hence they need to receive calls to a mobile, not a landline.

Regarding your second question, in common with most small business owners, I am always very keen to reduce all my trading expenses, or, to put it better, to avoid paying more than I have to for overheads. Finding a way to lower the monthly expenditure on these calls would be very worthwhile.

DUTR

Simon_Harston wrote: »

Thank you for your response. It's pretty straightforward really. I have to call from a mobile because I spend most of my time driving round the rural Yorkshire moors in my car. I am not near a landline or a wi-fi hotspot for most of the time when I need to make the calls to Germany. Similarly, the person in Germany is also on the road in similar circumstances, hence they need to receive calls to a mobile, not a landline.

Regarding your second question, in common with most small business owners, I am always very keen to reduce all my trading expenses, or, to put it better, to avoid paying more than I have to for overheads. Finding a way to lower the monthly expenditure on these calls would be very worthwhile.

The only option I can think of at a quick glance is to have a landline diverted to the German number routed via a reduced cost carrier, then dial the landline number from your mobile.

Ypaymore

If you have inclusive minutes these people will supply you with a UK Geographical Number that points directly at German Mobile Number.

5.3p a minute. No contracts or monthly fees, and no connection or service charges.

http://www.localphone.com/call/germany

But it doesnt offer much saving if any.

Simon_Harston

That's clever. I'm impressed and you clearly know your subject well. I will certainly look into that in the next few days and see if it would work in practice.

Thanks a lot for your time and in the meantime, if anyone else has any bright ideas, please post them up.

I'll add a final development and say that when I researched this last, about 8 or 9 months ago, Skype was not available on mobile phones in Germany. I'm not a German speaker ( the person I call in Germany is English), but looking at the German Skype website now, it appears that it is now offered. The big question is, can a German mobile phone with Skype installed be called free of charge from a mobile phone with Skype on it in the UK ? If so, my prayers have been answered. Again, if anyone reading has specific experience with this, I'd be most grateful for their input.