Calling In-Laws in Japan

sb_surferdave

Just need to vent. My in-laws call about once every two weeks. However, they always call and ask my wife to call back and they live overseas as you can probably tell. Last month I had a charge of $84 for a 22 minute call. !!!!!!? I am assuming my in-laws believe it is cheaper for us to call them. Should I ask my wife to scale back the calls or should I just take the expense because it makes my wife happy? And am I safe to assume that calling the states from Japan is more expensive than vice versa?

Dave

BLACKHURSTM

Dave,if you are on broadband you can phone to a Japanese landline for 1p a minute using VOIPBUSTER
I am unsure but I belive if you have voipbuster in Japan they can call your landline for free.
All you do is download the software,buy €5 of credit to get unlimeted calls my €5 is still intact and I phone Spain every week.
They do not take money from your card or bank account if your credit runs out.you have to log on and purchase it.
Just need standard pc mic and speakers,or a headset.

Unlimated calls from UK TO
Free calls to any regular phone in:
Austria
Czech Republic
Denmark
Finland
Germany
Greece
Ireland
Luxembourg
Netherlands
Norway
Portugal
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
United Kingdom
United States
Japan 1p
Other countries vary see link
100% Free, no call setup! Check our rates page.


http://www.voipbuster.com/en/rates.html

BLACKHURSTM

Dave, just read your location.
you are in the same situation as we are in the UK.same tarrifs from US to Japn and visa versa.

FJSRiDER

sb_surferdave wrote:

Should I ask my wife to scale back the calls or should I just take the expense because it makes my wife happy?

Let your wife be happy - she is a long way from 'home'.

My wife calls Japan every week or so and the bills are now tiny. She currently uses Dialwise @1p/min. The cost is added to the BT bill.

You are in the States and can't do this? Shame eh?

(Us Europeans are so much more sophisticated..... )

mike_paterson

If they have a PC and broadband (extremely likely in Japan) Then you should both download Skype from https://www.skype.com and use that to chat for free.

pricefighter

Wouldnt the Op be more lightly to get suitable advice if he posted his questions on a USA site.?

gavinp

If you have broadband, it may be worth signing up with Vonage who are an American VoIP company.

They charge 5 cents/min to a Japanese landline or 17 cents to a Japanese cellular phone so a 22 minute call would be $1.10 or $3.74 which sounds a lot better...

http://www.vonage.com/

Thanks

Gavin

egbe

You need to investigate calling cards and call-through numbers.

I think they call the latter dial-around and numbers start in 1010. I'm not sure from here whether these are account-based or the call is automatically on the bill from the line provider; I suspect they're separate.

Actually, having just done a Google search for 1010 phone, I'm a bit disappointed in the charges on the first comparison site.
http://1010phonerates.com/rates.php?location_id=79&orderBy=name&location=Japan&cat=INTERNATIONAL&region=Asia%2C%20Middle%20East

So maybe phonecards it is - there are absolutely loads to choose from. The first few "calling cards" Google results are mainly for use in many countries. The site mentioned below has nearly 1000 US ones. Take a good look at tariffs on a few choices - some surcharge, some have weekly or daily maintenance fees, per minute or per second billing, different rates for 800 or local area code access, some have only a fixed life whether credit used or not, etc ....... yawn.

http://www.pinonsale.com/search.asp?Country=11&name=&connection=No+Preference&value=Any+Value

... looks like rates start below 1c, and you could try a couple of $5 cards to see how you get on - the Rescue and Next Asia cards mention CA local access numbers.

good luck - a research minefield I think

gkf

I find the Post Office phone card very good value for money, DD is in Vegas at the moment and yesterday I got 25mins talk time for 83p. A £5 card lasts for ages.

martin100_2

Not sure about the answer to your final question but I would assume so.

We are pretty happy with our Onesuite.com phone service, They charge only $10 to keep an active account and then you can call anywhere including Japan for very low minute rates. With that service you won’t incur phone bills upwards of $80 anymore. And maybe if you stress the ease of email and IM, the in-laws will be less inclined to pick up the phone when they need to chat with your wife.