Ideas for cheap calls to a South African mobile number please

LilElvis

Our friends in South Africa have given up their landline and now only have mobile phones so we need to find a cheap way to call them from either our BT landline or my EE iPhone.

We can skype, but this still means we have to call first so that they can switch the computer on. Sadly can't skype to their mobiles as they can't seem to log in to the app.

Any suggestions gratefully received as I hate to think how much bt or EE will charge per minute.

GRM

http://callchecker.moneysavingexpert.com/intcallchecker/south_africa-mobile/bt/all

macman

Email them to switch their PC on? Assuming they have smart phones with email acccess.
Or failing that, a text would be quicker.
Or have a 'signalling' arrangement to let it ring say 4 times, and then terminate the call before they pick up.

LilElvis

GRM - thanks for the link. Just need to check the feedback on the companies and give it a try.

Madman - good suggestions! Sadly I'm dealing with technophobes! The Nokia has nothing enabled on it and the Galaxy and BlackBerry only collect email when connected to wifi, which is a mobile dongle and needs the laptop to already be turned on. Makes me want to bang my head against a hard surface! Texting not really a good idea as I would have to send to all 3 phones and hope they aren't outside as they have several hectares. Hopefully I can get their son to help me sort out their mobile skype and email in a couple of months when he gets back from Botswana.

noelphobic

Viber - there's an app for that.