phoning from abroad

andrewrscott

does anyone know the equivilant to ie teledicount in Germany to allow calling at a discount rate

andy88_2

Welcome. From Germany, there are plenty of providers listed on this site, including Telediscount itself.

http://www.billiger-telefonieren.de/

However, I notice that you have posted this on the Mobiles Board. If you were intending to ask about landlines, that site will be useful, and disregard the long-winded remainder of this.

So I'll add that almost all of the providers use prefix codes such as 010-- or 01900--, which are for use only from landlines. There are some calling card services that use 0800 numbers (which are free from some networks), but you will see that they charge a higher rate from mobiles.

So the thing to do is find a calling card service that the mobile networks do not recognise, as they block some - particularly popular American ones. This will probably depend too on which network you are on. My brother lives in Germany and he has checked several from Vodafone; at the moment I use it with Alpha Telecom, but I'm looking at a couple of cheaper ones to get him to try soon.

eddmac

Thanks for the useful reply. I'm going to germany to work for the next 6 months or so. A few years back I took my o2 mobile on a six month work placement in Denmark. That was a financial disaster.
Basically I need to call back home to my wife and children and also for them to call me.
At Present my family use call1899 but for me to receive calls, while abroad, on an 02 phone can be very expensive.
My intention was just to buy a local PAYG, and get them to call me using the 1899. Any comments welcome.

andykolo

i have family in france so when i visit is there any telediscount to phone back to the uk ?

andy88_2

eddmac, yes get a German SIM card. I have a Vodafone DE SIM. Calls to 0800 numbers are free. I believe e-plus have free 0800 calls, but am not sure if this includes from payg. I'm not sure about T-mobile either. It is certainly worth finding out. Then as I say, you need a calling card system that the German networks do not recognise. With Alpha Telecom, it costs 13p/min to call UK from Germany, very similar to the 1899 15p/min it costs to call you, though it would be much cheaper if they can call you on a landline at 0p/min at the moment. I'm looking for a cheaper calling card.

andy88_2

andykolo, for use from landlines you can look at Telerabais and Telesoldes. Telerabais is equivalent to Telediscount - in other words, an instant-dial callthrough access from an 0811 local tariff number. Telesoldes is equivalent to 1899 with an account set up, and at the moment costs a bit more to Royaume-Uni.

http://www.telerabais.com/index2.php
http://www.telesoldes.com

If you want to get cheap access from a mobile though, I think you will need to set up a callback service

tiger

hey my advice is for you to get a landline in german and for your family to call (not you calling them)
the cheast way (i am assuming your family leave in city/big town) is for them to buy this new international phonecards available from newsagents/corner shops/also available on the internet.i use one called EUROCALL/HII EOUROPE to call holland/german.
the cards are normally sold in units of £5.00
for £5.00 u can get about 1000-1500 minutes
if you are lucky in some place the £5.00 card are discouted and you can even get them for £3.50-4.00

dont you think that is cheap? no bills/line rental etc.there 0800 or 0207 acess numbers to use on this cards

BexTech

Not point in faffing around with calling cards if dialling German landline from the UK, as 1899 charge 0p/min. The Netherlands only 1p/min. Plus you only pay for the calls you make, not for what you may make.

(0207 is not a dialling code 020 however is).