Best Value Way to Call Russia?

[Fettman 0]

What services are people here using and which ones have good quality? I am looking for something inexpensive, but at the same time I am trying to find a service that has pretty good voice quality. It can be calling cards or an internet service, but I would prefer something that I can use over the phone. I call her at work due to the time difference and the web filter interferes with Skype and other services. So, any practical advise will be great and I am not looking for the cheapest one, but something that will give me good quality at a reasonable rate. Thanks!

- Steven

[RMCCHURCH 0]

What services are people here using and which ones have good quality? I am looking for something inexpensive, but at the same time I am trying to find a service that has pretty good voice quality. It can be calling cards or an internet service, but I would prefer something that I can use over the phone. I call her at work due to the time difference and the web filter interferes with Skype and other services. So, any practical advise will be great and I am not looking for the cheapest one, but something that will give me good quality at a reasonable rate. Thanks!

- Steven

Hi Steven,

I use JAJAH, an internet provider. It cost me .06 per minute to call her in Siberia to her landlline (I also call her at her office) and .09 on her cell phone. The quality of the call is very good most of the time. Good luck

Bob

[YuAndDan 153]

We use Skype internet service, for 2 cents a minute, it has no problem with connecting to phone numbers in foreign countries.

Skype out is the service needed to connect to ordinary phones, and you can prepay it using paypal. If both persons are using Skype, then communication PC-PC is FREE.

http://www.skype.com/

Skype will keep a log on their website that you can later use as evidence of communication for the visa.

Edited March 11, 2008 by YuAndDan

[eekee 182]

We use Skype internet service, for 2 cents a minute, it has no problem with connecting to phone numbers in foreign countries.

Skype out is the service needed to connect to ordinary phones, and you can prepay it using paypal. If both persons are using Skype, then communication PC-PC is FREE.

http://www.skype.com/

the op already said skype is out of the picture.

my tip: if it's possible, is to go to an area with a lot of immigrants from eastern europe and buy a card there. i got a really good phone card from a polish store. these people have to call their families all the time too, so they know what the best deals are.

Edited March 11, 2008 by eekee

[russ 1]

What services are people here using and which ones have good quality? I am looking for something inexpensive, but at the same time I am trying to find a service that has pretty good voice quality.

I use one of the many VOIP trunk providers to connect a SIP telephone. I've had good luck with vitelity.net - calls are routed over XO - good quality. About 1 cent/minute to Moscow, 5 cents / minute to the rest of Russia.

EDIT: The quality of your telephone has as much to do with sound quality as anything else. Polycom and Cisco are both good, but pricey ($300 or so)

Edited March 11, 2008 by russ

[slim 1,523]

You may want to check into calling directly from your cell phone. I had a plan with Sprint (Sprint is horrible, I hope you don't have them, but if you do) where I paid $4.50 a month for an international plan and I could call Russia directly, no pins, no extra numbers, for $.20 minute. It's higher than a phone card, but to be able to direct dial from my cell phone at any time was a very nice convenience. And, the quality was pretty good, all things considered.

What we're doing now is using a phone card called Crazy USA through www.uniontelecard.com. They're $9 and I believe it ends up being around six hours of talk time so that's less than $.03/minute. Not too bad, I guess. My wife reports good quality and they have sales promotions and stuff where if you buy so many you get one free or at a discount or whatever. For the quality and ease of use (I like it because once you enter a credit card or bank account number you can automatically update or one-touch update) it's pretty good. I think your first card or first four cards are $10, but once you buy a few they drop down to $9.

[mox 298]

What we're doing now is using a phone card called Crazy USA through www.uniontelecard.com. They're $9 and I believe it ends up being around six hours of talk time so that's less than $.03/minute. Not too bad, I guess. My wife reports good quality and they have sales promotions and stuff where if you buy so many you get one free or at a discount or whatever. For the quality and ease of use (I like it because once you enter a credit card or bank account number you can automatically update or one-touch update) it's pretty good. I think your first card or first four cards are $10, but once you buy a few they drop down to $9.

How's the call history feature (for providing as evidence of relationship) with Crazy USA? The plan I'm using now is about $0.03/minute, but the voice quality has gone downhill over the last couple months.

[slim 1,523]

To be honest, I don't know, I've never used it.

Standby....

[Fettman 0]

I have been using PennyTalk (www.getpennytalk.com) and the rates are great, but the quality level and service has been going downhill so I am bailing it for this service Free Call Planet (http://www.freecallplanet.com), which so far has been pretty good (1.6 cents a minute for the 2500 minute plan). They offer calling plans that have pretty reasonable rates and the quality has been nice. They also offer a "easy dialer" service where I can dial a local number direct and get connected to my fiancee's number. 20 cents a minute is just too much. I call her too often for that to be economically feasible. It is great for once in a while, but terrible for like 2000+ minutes a month. With this new plan and unlimited minutes through my provider I think I will be sitting pretty. I was curious what others have been using.

- Steven

You may want to check into calling directly from your cell phone. I had a plan with Sprint (Sprint is horrible, I hope you don't have them, but if you do) where I paid $4.50 a month for an international plan and I could call Russia directly, no pins, no extra numbers, for $.20 minute. It's higher than a phone card, but to be able to direct dial from my cell phone at any time was a very nice convenience. And, the quality was pretty good, all things considered.

What we're doing now is using a phone card called Crazy USA through www.uniontelecard.com. They're $9 and I believe it ends up being around six hours of talk time so that's less than $.03/minute. Not too bad, I guess. My wife reports good quality and they have sales promotions and stuff where if you buy so many you get one free or at a discount or whatever. For the quality and ease of use (I like it because once you enter a credit card or bank account number you can automatically update or one-touch update) it's pretty good. I think your first card or first four cards are $10, but once you buy a few they drop down to $9.

[slim 1,523]

Looks like they document how many you buy and when but I couldn't find a way to access the numbers dialed. I didn't really dig for it though, so maybe it's in there somewhere.

Quick edit: There's really no need to send pages of detailed "evidence" of calling. When my wife went to her interview, I don't think she took any evidence at all of phone records or calling cards.

Edited March 11, 2008 by slim

[Fettman 0]

I have been using PennyTalk (www.getpennytalk.com) and the rates are great, but the quality level and service has been going downhill so I am bailing it for this service Free Call Planet (http://www.freecallplanet.com), which so far has been pretty good (1.6 cents a minute for the 2500 minute plan). They offer calling plans that have pretty reasonable rates and the quality has been nice. They also offer a "easy dialer" service where I can dial a local number direct and get connected to my fiancee's number. 20 cents a minute is just too much. I call her too often for that to be economically feasible. It is great for once in a while, but terrible for like 2000+ minutes a month. With this new plan and unlimited minutes through my provider I think I will be sitting pretty. I was curious what others have been using.

- Steven

edit: Free Call Planet offers printable histories that show minutes used and what location was called.

You may want to check into calling directly from your cell phone. I had a plan with Sprint (Sprint is horrible, I hope you don't have them, but if you do) where I paid $4.50 a month for an international plan and I could call Russia directly, no pins, no extra numbers, for $.20 minute. It's higher than a phone card, but to be able to direct dial from my cell phone at any time was a very nice convenience. And, the quality was pretty good, all things considered.

What we're doing now is using a phone card called Crazy USA through www.uniontelecard.com. They're $9 and I believe it ends up being around six hours of talk time so that's less than $.03/minute. Not too bad, I guess. My wife reports good quality and they have sales promotions and stuff where if you buy so many you get one free or at a discount or whatever. For the quality and ease of use (I like it because once you enter a credit card or bank account number you can automatically update or one-touch update) it's pretty good. I think your first card or first four cards are $10, but once you buy a few they drop down to $9.

[Bobalouie 0]

I have been using PennyTalk (www.getpennytalk.com) and the rates are great, but the quality level and service has been going downhill so I am bailing it for this service Free Call Planet (http://www.freecallplanet.com), which so far has been pretty good (1.6 cents a minute for the 2500 minute plan). They offer calling plans that have pretty reasonable rates and the quality has been nice. They also offer a "easy dialer" service where I can dial a local number direct and get connected to my fiancee's number. 20 cents a minute is just too much. I call her too often for that to be economically feasible. It is great for once in a while, but terrible for like 2000+ minutes a month. With this new plan and unlimited minutes through my provider I think I will be sitting pretty. I was curious what others have been using.

- Steven

edit: Free Call Planet offers printable histories that show minutes used and what location was called.

You may want to check into calling directly from your cell phone. I had a plan with Sprint (Sprint is horrible, I hope you don't have them, but if you do) where I paid $4.50 a month for an international plan and I could call Russia directly, no pins, no extra numbers, for $.20 minute. It's higher than a phone card, but to be able to direct dial from my cell phone at any time was a very nice convenience. And, the quality was pretty good, all things considered.

What we're doing now is using a phone card called Crazy USA through www.uniontelecard.com. They're $9 and I believe it ends up being around six hours of talk time so that's less than $.03/minute. Not too bad, I guess. My wife reports good quality and they have sales promotions and stuff where if you buy so many you get one free or at a discount or whatever. For the quality and ease of use (I like it because once you enter a credit card or bank account number you can automatically update or one-touch update) it's pretty good. I think your first card or first four cards are $10, but once you buy a few they drop down to $9.

Give these guys a try MCC Telecom The call quality is top notch, I think maybe 1 call in a hundred has poor quality and the cost is 0.10/min to Russian mobile, and most landlines are .0775/min. Look here for rates. It is the best one I have found. Calls sound just like you are calling your neighbor.

Edited March 11, 2008 by Bobalouie

[Don E 0]

I've been using discall.com and have been pretty satisfied with them. Most of the time, the connection is good. There are occasional disconnects, and there is no call history available. When all fees are taken into account, it's about $0.05/min for me to call Tomsk. I've got pinless dialing from my home phone and cell phone (cost is the same for either). Cost varies depending on the city, and a call to a mobile phone is always at least a little higher. I use the Discall EZ Dial card. You can set up your account for auto recharge if you want.

http://www.discall.com/cards/

[kud 0]

I use Primus Telecommunication. The Plan I have is $40 flat for 1000 Minutes to Europe and Russia. Not sure if this particular plan is available still, but a l;ot of the Russian community in DC seem to be using them as a Long Distance company.

http://www.primustel.com/

[kud 0]

I use Primus Telecommunication. The Plan I have is $40 flat for 1000 Minutes to Europe and Russia. Not sure if this particular plan is available still, but a l;ot of the Russian community in DC seem to be using them as a Long Distance company.

http://www.primustel.com/

OR this link:

http://www.primusld.com/primusldWeb/tripleplay.jsp