Ok, back from vietnam but need some help

[BinhJerome 14]

ok, so i am back in USA va nho phi rat nhieu (and miss Phi very much) now that the interview part is over and now we are just waiting for her TB test results, and maybe waiting treatment for TB. I was wondering about calling cards. We dont need evidence anymore. my cellphone bill this month was soooooo high. it almost made me sick(400+USD). we talked alot and we sent MANY MANY SMS to eachother.

Anyone know of a good calling card, and maybe a program other than Skype for SMS? I sometimes use yahoo to send her SMS. that is free for me and costs her less. but she needs to be signed on yahoo on her yahoo account for her phone for her to get my SMS.

My Phone contract is up, so I can also look for a new company if it has better SMS rates. I am with Verizon Wireless.

SMS send =$.25 USD

SMS Rcv'd =$.20 USD

International Long Distance - Mobil = $0.56 / min

TXT Messaging-Int'l Sent messages -- 301 301 75.25

TXT Messaging-Int'l Rcv'd messages -- 235 235 47.00

International Long Distance - Mobil 165.76

I have Vonnage and I want to say it is only like .32 per minute, maybe .36 Still high, but for the price of your phone bill you can buy a cheap net book and send it to her and pay for internet. Just use Skype or Yahoo or msn. They all have video and voice connect and other than the internet bill you have no bill. We use our phone when the internet does not work or if I travel I use the Cell. Keep your head up I am sure that everything will work out for you! Jerome

[BinhJerome 14]

hey, welcome back. It's great to hear about your wife's interview.

As of the phone card, I use to use lots of them but they dont keep the record of who you're calling. Well, you said that you dont need it anymore so I guess I can suggest you to use "Mambo" That's the phone card that i use. Lots of minutes for such a good quality card. You don't loose minutes if you stop talking like some of the other cards.

I don't know much about text messaging because we don't use them at all.

Great to hear you're back safely. How is the situation over there with the H1N1 stuff? I'm coming back there in three days.

no worry N1H1, If you feel worried, then wear a mask when you fly, I saw people wearing them on the plane, but most were children and elderly people. also when on the plane, wash your hands often with soap, bring small bottle of hand sanitizer. (less than 3oz remember for carry on!!!!)

I got really lucky on my flight home. from Hong Kong to Chicago my ticket didnt have a seat number on it. they over sold economy and economy Plus.... (united Airlines) so I got to Fly 14 hours in business class at the cost of Economy!!!!!! it was like sitting in my living room. and Im 6' 1" so the leg room was great!

but I have to say, my 1st time I flew Korea Air, and this time was United. I would fly a non USA airliner if you can. the flight attendants on Korea Air were so nice and polite. but United were rushed and not polite. (but the ones in business class were very polite on united)

just my 2 cents

Good Luck on your Trip!!!!! and watch out for dunk honda's!!!!!!!!!!!!

I almost forgot, when I first got Vonnage you can add a line and it would have a us number, if you sent her the router and she had high speed internet it woudl not cost you a penny to call her, just the monthly actavation fee and I think that is only like 14$ You might look into it. The first Vonnage line would be $25 a month and then the second, beats the heck out of a $400 phone bill

[BinhJerome 14]

Josephs, why the obsession with SMS? It seems silly to get dinged every time you send a few words back and forth. Why not use email or instant messenger?

well I like to talk to her when i am on my break at lunch at work. or before I sleep. with the time difference sometimes i am not home or she is not home when i want to talk to her. Her speaking English is ok, not good. but her reading and writing English is very very good. half the time I have to send her a SMS while we are on the phone because she doesn't understand something i am trying to say. When we are together we have little problems talking. if she doesn't understand what i am saying and we are together, I just get out my phone and type it and show it to her. or if its only 1 word that she doesn't understand. I write it on my hand with my finger. So that is why we use SMS so much. and if i or she try to spell the word on the phone, that sometimes is worse. d sounds like b or she forgets how to say a letter or some of her letters sound the same. we are working on the whole B as in BALL D as in Dog system. maybe after we get that sorted out there will be less need for SMS.

communication will be the hardest thing in our relationship. but we are ready to deal with it. I think and her family agrees, that after she has lived here for about a year she will be able to talk English and understand very well.

So that is why we use SMS so much.

If your she lives in HCMC I can recomend a great english tutor. My fiancee Binh is a school teacher and she tutors people all the time. Her english is great. I think her english is better than mine at times! Jerome

[Josephs 0]

Josephs, why the obsession with SMS? It seems silly to get dinged every time you send a few words back and forth. Why not use email or instant messenger?

well I like to talk to her when i am on my break at lunch at work. or before I sleep. with the time difference sometimes i am not home or she is not home when i want to talk to her. Her speaking English is ok, not good. but her reading and writing English is very very good. half the time I have to send her a SMS while we are on the phone because she doesn't understand something i am trying to say. When we are together we have little problems talking. if she doesn't understand what i am saying and we are together, I just get out my phone and type it and show it to her. or if its only 1 word that she doesn't understand. I write it on my hand with my finger. So that is why we use SMS so much. and if i or she try to spell the word on the phone, that sometimes is worse. d sounds like b or she forgets how to say a letter or some of her letters sound the same. we are working on the whole B as in BALL D as in Dog system. maybe after we get that sorted out there will be less need for SMS.

communication will be the hardest thing in our relationship. but we are ready to deal with it. I think and her family agrees, that after she has lived here for about a year she will be able to talk English and understand very well.

So that is why we use SMS so much.

If your she lives in HCMC I can recomend a great english tutor. My fiancee Binh is a school teacher and she tutors people all the time. Her english is great. I think her english is better than mine at times! Jerome

She lives in Vinh Long. Atm she is going to chruch to learn more english.

[ScottThuy 140]

Josephs, why the obsession with SMS? It seems silly to get dinged every time you send a few words back and forth. Why not use email or instant messenger?

well I like to talk to her when i am on my break at lunch at work. or before I sleep. with the time difference sometimes i am not home or she is not home when i want to talk to her. Her speaking English is ok, not good. but her reading and writing English is very very good. half the time I have to send her a SMS while we are on the phone because she doesn't understand something i am trying to say. When we are together we have little problems talking. if she doesn't understand what i am saying and we are together, I just get out my phone and type it and show it to her. or if its only 1 word that she doesn't understand. I write it on my hand with my finger. So that is why we use SMS so much. and if i or she try to spell the word on the phone, that sometimes is worse. d sounds like b or she forgets how to say a letter or some of her letters sound the same. we are working on the whole B as in BALL D as in Dog system. maybe after we get that sorted out there will be less need for SMS.

communication will be the hardest thing in our relationship. but we are ready to deal with it. I think and her family agrees, that after she has lived here for about a year she will be able to talk English and understand very well.

So that is why we use SMS so much.

If your she lives in HCMC I can recomend a great english tutor. My fiancee Binh is a school teacher and she tutors people all the time. Her english is great. I think her english is better than mine at times! Jerome

She lives in Vinh Long. Atm she is going to chruch to learn more english.

Thuy goes to English class 5 nights a week but the teachers are Kiwi's and Aussies... A tad bit different than the english we use here... as well as the pronunciation that the CO will use.. We talk as much as we can so she is comfortable with English as it is spoken in the US

[fred n Dao Honey 0]

ok, so i am back in USA va nho phi rat nhieu (and miss Phi very much) now that the interview part is over and now we are just waiting for her TB test results, and maybe waiting treatment for TB. I was wondering about calling cards. We dont need evidence anymore. my cellphone bill this month was soooooo high. it almost made me sick(400+USD). we talked alot and we sent MANY MANY SMS to eachother.

Anyone know of a good calling card, and maybe a program other than Skype for SMS? I sometimes use yahoo to send her SMS. that is free for me and costs her less. but she needs to be signed on yahoo on her yahoo account for her phone for her to get my SMS.

My Phone contract is up, so I can also look for a new company if it has better SMS rates. I am with Verizon Wireless.

SMS send =$.25 USD

SMS Rcv'd =$.20 USD

International Long Distance - Mobil = $0.56 / min

TXT Messaging-Int'l Sent messages -- 301 301 75.25

TXT Messaging-Int'l Rcv'd messages -- 235 235 47.00

International Long Distance - Mobil 165.76

I took Majic jack http://www.magicjack.com/7/index.asp to VN using a local area code. It is very easy to use. Quality is ok cost is cheap. The only hard part is getting the little box to Vietnam.

Good luck

[hniHnitsuJ 8]

ok, so i am back in USA va nho phi rat nhieu (and miss Phi very much) now that the interview part is over and now we are just waiting for her TB test results, and maybe waiting treatment for TB. I was wondering about calling cards. We dont need evidence anymore. my cellphone bill this month was soooooo high. it almost made me sick(400+USD). we talked alot and we sent MANY MANY SMS to eachother.

Anyone know of a good calling card, and maybe a program other than Skype for SMS? I sometimes use yahoo to send her SMS. that is free for me and costs her less. but she needs to be signed on yahoo on her yahoo account for her phone for her to get my SMS.

My Phone contract is up, so I can also look for a new company if it has better SMS rates. I am with Verizon Wireless.

SMS send =$.25 USD

SMS Rcv'd =$.20 USD

International Long Distance - Mobil = $0.56 / min

TXT Messaging-Int'l Sent messages -- 301 301 75.25

TXT Messaging-Int'l Rcv'd messages -- 235 235 47.00

International Long Distance - Mobil 165.76

If she can you wifi in VN with her cellular phone. A friend of mine using skype, create a US number and give to her, only $5.00 a month. You can call her like a local number, and anytime for free.

[Dau Que 6]

If you no longer need phone call logs for evidence, then the solution is quite simple. Tell her your job recently reduced the hours due to the economy, and affects your income. Your love for her is real, but has to be practical as well. You need to cut down on the unnecessary expense and can only spend up to the maximum $30/month for phone calls.

Last but not least, those money saved would be very useful later when she's here in the States. The fund will be used to file for her AOS and other unexpected event (like a baby).

[What's next 1]

For long distance, i saw in a vietnamese magazine that you get unlimited calling for a dollar a day. you pay 30 bucks, you can call for 30 days. i don't have the details but i'll post when i get the ad from the mag.