Calling card to Russia

[Ruemonst 0]

Hi,

I have been calling to Saint Petersburg for 3 years. I am using Peanuts LD.

With peanuts you can print out a record of your calls. But, the quality is awful.

It wasn't always that way. I call to a mobile phone.

Is there a calling card that has very good quality?

I don't really care about the price anymore. I just want to get and keep a good

clear connection.

[slim 1,525]

My wife uses Crazy USA ($10 for around 5 hours to landline in Far East... unknown to St. Pete or mobiles) and the quality is pretty good. I'm not sure if you can print out a call record but I know it keeps a record of your previous purchases and you could print that out if you so desired. (Don't know why you would need any of that though as it's not required.)

http://www.uniontelecard.com

There have been many different phone cards and calling plans listed here over the years, but the best deals I've seen are the one above and a Sprint International plan I had a few years back. The card above is probably not the cheapest (around 2 cents a minute) but it's easy and good quality. If I have to jump through hoops I could care less about saving a penny a minute. The Sprint plan I had was direct dial from my cell phone to her house and it was $4.50/month plus 20 cents each minute. Kind of pricey, but very nice to just pick up the phone and dial. We never really talked too much (one hour a week or every two weeks) so it didn't cost me a lot.

You guys still in the K-1 phase should keep in mind that printing out "proof" of your phone conversations is cool and all, but something simple like a hand-written letter goes 1,000 times further than a print out. You can "create" all the "proof" in the world, but the "proof" they're looking for is her genuine sincerity to come marry you and your willingness to sponsor her over. "Real" stuff goes a long way in doing that. 20 pounds of phone records and E-mails may show some communication, but it doesn't show "two people in love" the way a dried flower or a little teddy bear or something like that would. Get mushy!

(I just totally messed up my attempts at p!$$ing off mox's visitors.)

[mox 298]

(I just totally messed up my attempts at p!$$ing off mox's visitors.)

This is why we never have company, Slim.

[Brad and Vika 129]

You guys still in the K-1 phase should keep in mind that printing out "proof" of your phone conversations is cool and all, but something simple like a hand-written letter goes 1,000 times further than a print out. You can "create" all the "proof" in the world, but the "proof" they're looking for is her genuine sincerity to come marry you and your willingness to sponsor her over. "Real" stuff goes a long way in doing that. 20 pounds of phone records and E-mails may show some communication, but it doesn't show "two people in love" the way a dried flower or a little teddy bear or something like that would. Get mushy!

I second that. The consular officer at our interview did not even want to see printouts of email or phone cards. Several pics and proof of my ability to provide support - and that was it.

[John24689 0]

Try this site: http://www.enjoyprepaid.com/enjoyprepaid/j...anselection.jsp

I use the Emerald plan with no surcharge or weekly fee. They have several plans to choose from. You can chat on-line with them or call them. They may have a special: put in $40 and they will give you $50 worth of time. I just have them take money from my credit card when my account gets down to $10, they will automatically put in more time so I don't have to worry about being cut-off when I run out of money and then have to go in and recharge my account. They do it all for me. I have been using this plan for about 5 years and it works for me.

Good luck with your decision.

[AaronM 0]

Hi,

I have been calling to Saint Petersburg for 3 years. I am using Peanuts LD.

With peanuts you can print out a record of your calls. But, the quality is awful.

It wasn't always that way. I call to a mobile phone.

Is there a calling card that has very good quality?

I don't really care about the price anymore. I just want to get and keep a good

clear connection.

Slim is right , there is no reason you need to have a print out of the calls you have made . Usembassy really doesnt care , about your relationship . The only thing they want to see is evidence of a guinun relationship , and its ongoing . If you are that worried on calling cards , this is what i did sent the original calling cards . Along with the receipt for proof of purchase . With a piece of tape to attach both together . If you are really in a genunin relationship with someone , and the usembassy can see it by other evidence . Just having a calling card with proff of purchase , is enough for them to believe you used it to call the person you are in a relationship with .

[Neonred 3,564]

I'll agree that you don't need to worry much about phone records. I had one or two pages of records, but they were more impressed with my wife's phone bills showing she called me (always for less than one minute asking me to call her back!). Of much more interest for them were post cards and special occasion cards we mailed to each other. Don't know why but her CO really focused on them. The other thing they took were the tax transcripts.

Really it was a quick and easy interview.

[NYGirl 0]

NOTHING, sbsolutely NOTHING can compare with a Matreshka calling card. I have a friend in Moscow, and this card is a blessing. A $5 calling card to a landline could give you close to 1000 minutes. Even if you will buy a $10 card, it'll be the same thing cause apparantely they can not give more than 1000 min on a card. Even after 3-4 hrs of conversation, after i checky my balance, i still have about 1000 minutes left on my card although the card will say that my balance is for examples already $7. The best for Moscow for sure, so I am sure it'll be just as good for St. Peterburg.

Also, my husband uses this card sometimes too to call Ukraine and Israel and never had problem with connections, except of course calling those countries give him much less minutes.

There is also another calling call, it's called in russian " Nu pozvoni" there is a picture of wolf and a rabbit from a very popular and famous russian cartoon, " ny pogodi" that card gives a lot of minutes too. I don't think this calling card has a website though and who knows, maybe that card is sold only in NY, no idea.

http://www.zipdial.net/Matreshka.htm

or simply just www.matreshkaus.com

Edited February 17, 2009 by NYGirl

[chili74 0]

NOTHING, sbsolutely NOTHING can compare with a Matreshka calling card.

Thanks, NYGirl, we'll try it.

[slim 1,525]

If you click on "tariffs" you can select Russia to get the following rates per minute - (first is landline, second is mobile)

Russia = 2.5 - 3.2

Moscow= 0.5 - 3.2

St. Petr.= 0.6 - 3.2

A great deal for Moscow/St. Petr., but about average for the rest of Russia and mobiles. Also, there are local access numbers for the NY/NJ area, some parts of Illinois, CA, etc., but none for podunk Cincinnati where I live. We'd either have to call long distance or toll-free to access. Not really a big deal anymore, but still, more numbers to dial.

[OKIE2 0]

If you click on "tariffs" you can select Russia to get the following rates per minute - (first is landline, second is mobile)

Russia = 2.5 - 3.2

Moscow= 0.5 - 3.2

St. Petr.= 0.6 - 3.2

A great deal for Moscow/St. Petr., but about average for the rest of Russia and mobiles. Also, there are local access numbers for the NY/NJ area, some parts of Illinois, CA, etc., but none for podunk Cincinnati where I live. We'd either have to call long distance or toll-free to access. Not really a big deal anymore, but still, more numbers to dial.

Have none of you heard of NOBELCOM.COM I used it for 4 years good quality sound cheap price card name HELLO RUSSIA

2.2 cents a minute no hookup fee $20.00 908 minutes (15.13 HOURS)

[mox 298]

Have none of you heard of NOBELCOM.COM I used it for 4 years good quality sound cheap price card name HELLO RUSSIA

2.2 cents a minute no hookup fee $20.00 908 minutes (15.13 HOURS)

There is a $0.99/week "maintenance fee" on this card, which means you pay almost $52/year on top of however much you put on the card. Might still be a good deal if you talk a LOT, but otherwise there are cheaper alternatives out there.

[OKIE2 0]

Have none of you heard of NOBELCOM.COM I used it for 4 years good quality sound cheap price card name HELLO RUSSIA

2.2 cents a minute no hookup fee $20.00 908 minutes (15.13 HOURS)

There is a $0.99/week "maintenance fee" on this card, which means you pay almost $52/year on top of however much you put on the card. Might still be a good deal if you talk a LOT, but otherwise there are cheaper alternatives out there.

OK who is cheaper as I need a card to call from china to usa as now I am living in yudu China for a year now?

[mox 298]

Have you looked at the other cards mentioned in this thread?

Being that this is the Russian forum, not sure how much help we're going to be for your China-specific needs. You might want to see if there's a similar thread over in the China forum. You're of course welcome here, especially if you like to talk about guns and pie and naughty Russian words, but for a good phone card for China, you're probably better off searching or asking in the China forum

[slim 1,525]

did somebody say pie?