Best Value Way to Call Russia?

[slim 1,533]

Awaiting Satellite's hidden charges break down......

[Satellite 1]

Speedypin.com is by far the best! (I think so at least! go to there website and you choose what phone card you want they give you a pin number to type in the phone every time you call(you can recharge=rge this as much as you want) I Usually buy 20 dollar phone cars at a time! 1 twenty dollar phone card to call from the USA to Russia is 1600 minutes!!!!

Awaiting Satellite's hidden charges break down......

It's pretty simple to do the break down.

For this card / website:

Gemini AT $20 you can talk for 1600 minutes but only if that is 1600 straight minutes. Here is why:

Connection Fee None

Billing Increments 3 minute rounding

Maintenance Fee 69¢ weekly

Carrier Service Fee 16% - 25% carrier service fee deducted after each call

http://speedypin.com/prepaid/phone-card/GEMX05

Once again, the 16-25% kills either 1/4 or 1/6 of your card per call.

[1HappyGuy 45]

My wife has been using Master Call Communications for almost a year now and it seems pretty reliable. We are paying 11 cents per minute to call Russia and 13 cents for Ukraine, although the cell phone calls in Ukraine are a little higher at 16 cents. MCC seems better suited for Russia and generally the connection is good. They seem a little up tight regarding the billing and have refused my wife access because the bill wasn't paid, even though it was not due to be paid. So, I've started paying it a little early so she won't have any frustrations.

We have used Skype in the past and it works pretty good for video conferencing if the other party has high speed internet too.

It seems that costs vary from plan to plan and/or when you sign up. The bottom line is get comfortable with something until it changes or you find something better or cheaper.

No matter what you find, it's going to cost more than you want to pay.

[slim 1,533]

We are paying 11 cents per minute to call Russia and 13 cents for Ukraine,

No matter what you find, it's going to cost more than you want to pay.

We use that Crazy U.S.A. card and it's only around 3 cents/minute. Even with the fees associated, it's still cheaper than using MCC at 13 cents/minute. It is, however, more than I'd like to pay.

Maybe someday we'll get to the point where all "telephone" calls are free. Kind of like how there's really no more "long distance" since cell phones and VOIP, etc. wiped it off the face of the nation. Phone service is a flat rate, and all calls, anywhere in the world are free. I'd say it's coming but it's going to be a long time due to reciprocity issues.

[Fettman 0]

Been using http://www.freecallplanet.com/ for about a month now and love it. 5.4 cents a minute anywhere in Russia. This may include mobile phones, however, with the plan I have with them I get 1.8 cents/min since my fiancee is in Moscow and it costs me only 7.9 cents a minute to call her cell, which if you know anything about calling cellphones is pretty cheap. The call quality is good and as far as I know there are no hidden fees, just one monthly charge. The do charge 1 cent a min more to call a toll-free number, but I use a cellphone to call her, so I can I use the local access number.

I am glad to have a service that does not have connection or maintenance fees. Those end up eating most of my money.

We are paying 11 cents per minute to call Russia and 13 cents for Ukraine,

No matter what you find, it's going to cost more than you want to pay.

We use that Crazy U.S.A. card and it's only around 3 cents/minute. Even with the fees associated, it's still cheaper than using MCC at 13 cents/minute. It is, however, more than I'd like to pay.

Maybe someday we'll get to the point where all "telephone" calls are free. Kind of like how there's really no more "long distance" since cell phones and VOIP, etc. wiped it off the face of the nation. Phone service is a flat rate, and all calls, anywhere in the world are free. I'd say it's coming but it's going to be a long time due to reciprocity issues.

[Corey-Mariya 14]

Speedypin.com is by far the best! (I think so at least! go to there website and you choose what phone card you want they give you a pin number to type in the phone every time you call(you can recharge=rge this as much as you want) I Usually buy 20 dollar phone cars at a time! 1 twenty dollar phone card to call from the USA to Russia is 1600 minutes!!!!

Awaiting Satellite's hidden charges break down......

It's pretty simple to do the break down.

For this card / website:

Gemini AT $20 you can talk for 1600 minutes but only if that is 1600 straight minutes. Here is why:

Connection Fee None

Billing Increments 3 minute rounding

Maintenance Fee 69¢ weekly

Carrier Service Fee 16% - 25% carrier service fee deducted after each call

http://speedypin.com/prepaid/phone-card/GEMX05

Once again, the 16-25% kills either 1/4 or 1/6 of your card per call.

Satelite but you can buy a 1200 minute phone card on speedypin.com has no extra charges or connection fees! So it is still very inexpensive about 1 cent a minute been doing this for months now and the voice quality is perfect 2!

[Corey-Mariya 14]

Speedypin.com is by far the best! (I think so at least! go to there website and you choose what phone card you want they give you a pin number to type in the phone every time you call(you can recharge=rge this as much as you want) I Usually buy 20 dollar phone cars at a time! 1 twenty dollar phone card to call from the USA to Russia is 1600 minutes!!!!

Awaiting Satellite's hidden charges break down......

It's pretty simple to do the break down.

For this card / website:

Gemini AT $20 you can talk for 1600 minutes but only if that is 1600 straight minutes. Here is why:

Connection Fee None

Billing Increments 3 minute rounding

Maintenance Fee 69¢ weekly

Carrier Service Fee 16% - 25% carrier service fee deducted after each call

http://speedypin.com/prepaid/phone-card/GEMX05

Once again, the 16-25% kills either 1/4 or 1/6 of your card per call.

Satelite but you can buy a 1200 minute phone card on speedypin.com has no extra charges or connection fees! So it is still very inexpensive about 1 cent a minute been doing this for months now and the voice quality is perfect 2!

Also you can pick between about 15 different phone cards they all work differently and for different situations! Some are real good for land line! Others are real good for a cell phone! There is a medium one for both but if you are gonna call a landline sometimes and you are gonna call a cell i would just get 2 different ones its cheaper this way! In all my expierience with phone cars for calling the amazing country of Russia sppedypin.com is definitely the way to go!

[slim 1,533]

I remember being overseas in the military and I called everyone maybe ONCE a week, and maybe for an hour. I'm sitting here wondering why we're trying to figure out how we can get the best deal on 15 hours of talk time. Do you really talk on the phone that much?

And if so, what are you doing for a living that affords you the opportunity to do so? I need to change jobs! I can't believe some of you have that kind of time to spend sitting on the phone (says the guy typing away at his keyboard...)

[eekee 182]

i usually just IM. we usually do talk on skype every day, but never for that long. i can multitask while iming, but not while talking on the phone.

I remember being overseas in the military and I called everyone maybe ONCE a week, and maybe for an hour. I'm sitting here wondering why we're trying to figure out how we can get the best deal on 15 hours of talk time. Do you really talk on the phone that much?

And if so, what are you doing for a living that affords you the opportunity to do so? I need to change jobs! I can't believe some of you have that kind of time to spend sitting on the phone (says the guy typing away at his keyboard...)

[Scott and Iryna 2]

Irina and I will IM every single day, but only speak via Skype occasionally. When we talk, we use the Web Cam, and that is great to be able to see each other, it really helps with the distance apart. We have also found the Web Camera to be VERY useful for, uhm, other things...

[Kazan' Tiger 1]

I have to say, I'm more in Slim's boat. I run out of things to talk about on phones. But I have never been a phone talker. I really don't like phone calls. I prefer to talk in face to face. Even calling Alla on the weekends, we run out of things to really say after 30 minutes. Life just doesn't change that much from day to day or even week to week for there to be news.

[visaveteran1 33]

I talk to my wife three times a day. I use a company called WDT. I think it's about 15 cents per minute but I stopped monitoring it. I accept the $100 per month phone bill as the cost of maintaining contact with her until we're together. Having to use pin numbers or sweating the fine print of hidden fees is not worth it to me. And there is value in just keeping it simple. What will I save bargain hunting? Maybe $10 or $15 per month shopping around. I look at this expense as nickel and dime compared to the costs for immigration fees and travel to Russia.

The calling has evolved from once a day to three times as the pain of missing each other has grown. Amazingly, my wife talks a lot given her limited English so we never lack for conversation. Talking frequently helps make the days go by faster and keeps us from getting too depressed as the immigration chaos and absurdly long process unfolds. Just hearing her voice puts me in a good place and we're actually developing our relationship and deepening our connection just talking on the phone. IMing or emails can't give that to me.

It would be nice to use skype but she is not good with computers so we're limited to the standard phone.

[slim 1,533]

I talk to my wife three times a day.

My wife is here and I don't think we talk that much.

We're a lot like the Russia forum, we handle business pretty quickly and then it's straight to the off-topic stuff.

[eekee 182]

Haha, I think that's what usually happens in a marriage once you're actually in the same country.

I talk to my wife three times a day.

My wife is here and I don't think we talk that much.

We're a lot like the Russia forum, we handle business pretty quickly and then it's straight to the off-topic stuff.

[Satellite 1]

I really don't like phone calls. I prefer to talk in face to face.

Add me here. Of course I already made my point about in person relationship building.

I talk to my wife three times a day.

Lucky, I suppose. When we were apart we talked like twice a month because I was and still am poor. Email was free so we did a lot of that instead and ICQ. Limited myself to two $5 cards per month; which still got me a total of 5 hours using:

http://www.uniontelecard.com/phonecards/2051/boss-usa/ at $0.04/m with no service fee.