Cheap calls to Canada and USA

[joe_robin66 6]

Hi all,

I came across an ad in a magazine the other day for something called Penny Talk, 1 cent calling for Canada and the States. I went on the website and it looks pretty good. You dial their 800 number from any phone including cell phones, type in your account number and pin, then the phone number you want to call and they connect the call. They do charge 49 cents for each call, and a monthly service fee of 99 cents and the account is prepaid. The company is call IDT, not sure if anyone has heard of it or not. Just thought to mention it, visa fees are expensive enough, we don't need to spend extra in long distance

charges too

Robin

www.pennytalk.com

www.pennytalk.ca

[TimandJoyce 1]

That's what Tim used. Before, you couldn't use it out of the US and it cost 2 cents/minute for him to call me, but now it's the same for both countries!! Which is very handy when calling family back home. It works great!

[joe_robin66 6]

That's what Tim used. Before, you couldn't use it out of the US and it cost 2 cents/minute for him to call me, but now it's the same for both countries!! Which is very handy when calling family back home. It works great!

Good to know! It looked pretty good to me and I figured there would be at least one person on here that uses it!

[Udella&Wiz 325]

My wife and I used Vonage and we definitely got our moneys worth. You have to have a broadband connection but I kept a local number for her to call me so she could dial a local number and talk to me.

Wiz

[SapphireDreams 71]

If you both have a computer with a microphone you could also use Skype for free.

I just did an add on on my cell phone, it was $25/month extra for unlimited evenings and weekend to the US. My total cell phone bill was around $80 with the add on (and unlmiited text messages and voicemail and all that.) It was that bad.

Now we have a Time Warner phone since it's connected through our Internet connection its free to Canada!

[CDAgirlMI 51]

When I lived in Canada, I used the calling card "cici". $20 gave you around 600 mins with no service/maintenance fees.

Here in the US, we have our phone with AT&T...$30/month unlimited calling to Canada/US. Which is great, since I'm not working, I spend quite a bit of time calling Canada

[JlovesA 109]

Great post, thanks! My boyfriend uses Skype to phone my telephone (it's $3/month unlimited) but I don't have any cheap way of calling him. I'm going to bookmark that website!

[Leafgal 3]

We used to talk on yahoo, just need to have microphones. And you can use webcams too, of course that was in 2006 so not sure if you still have that option, but worth checking it out.

[Pauley 2]

Google Voice, if you can get an invite, has a setup where you log on to the website to place a call. Google calls you actual phone, then connects the call to your party. Your call is then (within the US and Canada) free, outside of whatever you pay to receive phone calls (probably just use of minutes on a cell phone, and often free on landlines).

The trick is getting to the front of the line for an invite.

Edited March 18, 2010 by Pauley

[Frequent_Flyer 0]

Google Voice, if you can get an invite, has a setup where you log on to the website to place a call. Google calls you actual phone, then connects the call to your party. Your call is then (within the US and Canada) free, outside of whatever you pay to receive phone calls (probably just use of minutes on a cell phone, and often free on landlines).

The trick is getting to the front of the line for an invite.

I'm with Pauley. Google Voice has been miraculous for my wife and I. I'm able to have a San Francisco phone number and my wife calls me for free. The added benefit was that I was able to put it on a resume too while job hunting and it really helped get past the initial stage for those companies who were not looking for someone relocating. The key is indeed the invite as Pauley mentioned.

Otherwise, my wife and I use Google Talk and video chat that way. I find it's a little more stable than Skype but that's just my 2 cents.

FF

Edited March 18, 2010 by Frequent_Flyer

[kizza 1]

Google Voice, if you can get an invite, has a setup where you log on to the website to place a call. Google calls you actual phone, then connects the call to your party. Your call is then (within the US and Canada) free, outside of whatever you pay to receive phone calls (probably just use of minutes on a cell phone, and often free on landlines).

The trick is getting to the front of the line for an invite.

I got my fiancé an invite to Google Voice and he deleted it because he doesnt listen to what I say!

I buy my phonecards from speedypin.com

They have a lot of choice. From the US to Canada, I believe we use the Sapphire, and from Canada to the U.S., Globetrotter.

Rates are really low (2c a minute I think) and if you pick your card right, there are no connection or maintenance fees.

Only drawback is I cant get a call log... although they keep promising it to me.

[kizza 1]

I got my fiancé an invite to Google Voice and he deleted it because he doesnt listen to what I say!

I buy my phonecards from speedypin.com

They have a lot of choice. From the US to Canada, I believe we use the Sapphire, and from Canada to the U.S., Globetrotter.

Rates are really low (2c a minute I think) and if you pick your card right, there are no connection or maintenance fees.

Only drawback is I cant get a call log... although they keep promising it to me.

Also... from the U.S., Matt uses something called Magic Jack to call me. I think it is $40/year for unlimited calls, and this might work for calls around the world, because the friends who recommended it have a lot of friends & family in Brazil.

It works through your computer.

So if he is home I'll call him with my phonecard and he calls right back with Magic Jack.

[Hugglebuggles 60]

Its nice to hear some feedback about penny talk. I was always pretty skeptical of what they were offering and assumed it was a scam or there was a bunch of undisclosed hidden charges. But it sounds like a legitimate way to call the US for cheap! I guess I was wrong.

I use the digital voice system as well. We have a cable, internet, phone bundle with comcast that allows me to call anywhere in the US and Canada for no additional charge and unlimited minutes. My parents have a similar system up in Canada with cogeco. Its not any more than a traditional land line and you get so much more from it!

I have a North American calling plan on my cell phone as well through Verizon. Its not too expensive, but its also not exactly cheap. I'm thinking about downgrading my plan now that we have the home phone.

[joe_robin66 6]

Its nice to hear some feedback about penny talk. I was always pretty skeptical of what they were offering and assumed it was a scam or there was a bunch of undisclosed hidden charges. But it sounds like a legitimate way to call the US for cheap! I guess I was wrong.

I use the digital voice system as well. We have a cable, internet, phone bundle with comcast that allows me to call anywhere in the US and Canada for no additional charge and unlimited minutes. My parents have a similar system up in Canada with cogeco. Its not any more than a traditional land line and you get so much more from it!

I have a North American calling plan on my cell phone as well through Verizon. Its not too expensive, but its also not exactly cheap. I'm thinking about downgrading my plan now that we have the home phone.

I'm with Verizon too for my cell, unlimited everything. Like you said not cheap but not expensive either. Its worth it for what I get I suppose. The unlimited stuff comes in handy because I'm out of town alot for work and Joe calls my cell with his shaw free calls to the US.

I am looking forward to downgrading when he is officially here, the phone companies will probably think something happened since we won't be using the phones that much!

[Udella&Wiz 325]

My wife and I used Vonage and we definitely got our moneys worth. You have to have a broadband connection but I kept a local number for her to call me so she could dial a local number and talk to me.

Wiz

Yep - it was the best considering we spoke from about 6 pm til midnight most evenings (we both like to talk!). Vonage rates beat Bell any day of the week even in Canada...can't lose if you already have the internet. We still keep the local number option is great for my family back home too ($5 extra / month on our vonage bill)