Cheap ways to call latin america?

[jjjdddlll 4]

Have any of you found cheap ways to call?

[Ken y Leidys 20]

Have any of you found cheap ways to call?

My wife needs to call her family on their cell phones. We purchase $2 calling cards and average $.025 per minute. Vonage is also a great option, as is Metro PCS. Magic Jack also works, but I only have experience in purchasing calling cards - which I was able to take with me to the US Embassy in Bogota as proof of an ongoing relationship.

-Ken

[Ban Hammer 13,517]

we use http://www.mobilecaller.com/ to call brazil. i just checked the rates for el salvador (the flag on your profile) and it listed:

plan - 1 minute rounding, no monthly fee

El Salvador: 20.7¢

El Salvador - Cell: 22¢

plan - 3 minute rounding, no monthly fee

El Salvador: 17.1¢

El Salvador - Cell: 18.1¢

there are 2 other plans available, 1 with a monthly fee and the other with 1 second rounding, but i avoid those as they are a bit more expensive.

[Arlington 5]

Nobelcom.com (to call landline phones) and its affiliate, enjoyprepaid (to call cell phones), are our choice to call Ecuador. Ecuador is one of the more expensive LatAm countries to call.

[Ken y Leidys 20]

Nobelcom.com (to call landline phones) and its affiliate, enjoyprepaid (to call cell phones), are our choice to call Ecuador. Ecuador is one of the more expensive LatAm countries to call.

I didn't mention this, but if we paid $20 up front, it would all be gone w/in 2 or 3 days. Buying $2 calling cards also helps keep the calls to a minimum.

[Ban Hammer 13,517]

I didn't mention this, but if we paid $20 up front, it would all be gone w/in 2 or 3 days. Buying $2 calling cards also helps keep the calls to a minimum.

for that reason, i usually charge just $20 at a time for that phone service. $20 lasts nessa about 3 months.

[mike101 8]

Im not sure if you have a google voice account but they have decent rates for international calls.

My wife's family live's in Colombia and we have been using a service from www.orbitel.com. We pay $35.00 a month for her to have a virtual land line in Colombia and the calls are forwarded to her cell phone in the USA. Her family is charged as if it were a local call and they are happy knowing they can easily contact her. You get unlimited incomming calls and $25.00 credit each month for outbound calls.

[ryna 132]

Im not sure if you have a google voice account but they have decent rates for international calls.

My wife's family live's in Colombia and we have been using a service from www.orbitel.com. We pay $35.00 a month for her to have a virtual land line in Colombia and the calls are forwarded to her cell phone in the USA. Her family is charged as if it were a local call and they are happy knowing they can easily contact her. You get unlimited incomming calls and $25.00 credit each month for outbound calls.

I've seen that plan but don't know the details. How much does it cost to forward the calls to a USA #, if at all?

I have an Orbitel virtual PIN that we share now and that she uses to call me sometimes (from the office or other people's houses/phones) and I was thinking of just giving that PIN number to her parents/siblings once she's here so they can call her. She'll be able to call them back if they're at home from our Vonage phone for free so I don't think her entire family would use more than $20/mo (because they only have to initiate the call) but this plan could be an option too.

Also - the Vonage rates for El Salvador are $0.12-$0.14/min. If the person has broadband in El Salvador an internet based phone with a US number is the way to go.

Edited September 27, 2010 by ryna

[MIKE AND FEY 0]

Hey! I have been using Vonage for the past year and the service it's great. We pay $35 a month with unlimited calls for land lines and unlimited calls within the US on any lines (cell or land) I highly recommended

I have heard Magic Jack is really cheap and your family overseas can have a device too so that the calls would be basically national. Althought I don't have experience with it.

Best wishes,

Fey

[Mononoke28 135]

Hey! I have been using Vonage for the past year and the service it's great. We pay $35 a month with unlimited calls for land lines and unlimited calls within the US on any lines (cell or land) I highly recommended

I have heard Magic Jack is really cheap and your family overseas can have a device too so that the calls would be basically national. Althought I don't have experience with it.

Best wishes,

Fey

I'm also looking for new service to call Colombia. We currently have Vonage and it was ok at the beginning but now we can't stand it. There have been way too many times when we get the "all circuits are busy" message or if they answer the call in Colombia they can't hear anything we say, we can hear them, but they can't hear us. And don't get me started on the echo problem, it sucks!

Diana

[ryna 132]

I'm also looking for new service to call Colombia. We currently have Vonage and it was ok at the beginning but now we can't stand it. There have been way too many times when we get the "all circuits are busy" message or if they answer the call in Colombia they can't hear anything we say, we can hear them, but they can't hear us. And don't get me started on the echo problem, it sucks!

Diana

Glad it doesn't only happen to me! But, since it is unlimited, I can put up with it (with a few re-dials) for now.

I can say this, and granted it was only a small percentage of my overall calls, but when I had my Vonage device in Colombia and used it to make calls to U.S. numbers, the quality was just like making any other domestic call - with none of the international issues mentioned. I think most the problems lie in the internet to Colombian-circuits crossover. (Most of my busy/error messages seem to be in Spanish so I'm assuming they aren't on the U.S. end.)

If the person in Colombia has broadband and a Vonage phone, it can still be worth it but I too am open to new alternatives.

[MIKE AND FEY 0]

Well I haven't had any of those problems so far with Vonage. I went ahead and did my research. This is what I found. It is on you to do your judgment http://tech.spotcoolstuff.com/internet-telephone/magicjack-skype-vonage

Fey

[mike101 8]

I've seen that plan but don't know the details. How much does it cost to forward the calls to a USA #, if at all?

I have an Orbitel virtual PIN that we share now and that she uses to call me sometimes (from the office or other people's houses/phones) and I was thinking of just giving that PIN number to her parents/siblings once she's here so they can call her. She'll be able to call them back if they're at home from our Vonage phone for free so I don't think her entire family would use more than $20/mo (because they only have to initiate the call) but this plan could be an option too.

Also - the Vonage rates for El Salvador are $0.12-$0.14/min. If the person has broadband in El Salvador an internet based phone with a US number is the way to go.

They dont charge you for forwarding the call to your phone in the USA but if you're forwarding to a cell phone you will use your air time.

The only problem we have had is with the service dropping outbound calls at random times. The inbound service seems to be solid.

[Maliajannah 0]

Google voice is great. It's free to sign up, you use your cell phone or landline to make the call and you can receive calls, send and receive texts, and voice mail online and on your cell phone. All of that is free, and their international calling rates are very competitive. I call an Ecuador landline mostly which is $.11 a minute verses Skype which is .17 a minute. To call an Ecuadorian cell on Google voice is .22 a minute but on Skype is .29 so it's still a better deal. Other countries have better rates than Ecuador as well- Brazil and Argentina are only .02 per min, Peru .06, Colombia .05 (for landlines) (review the rates here: https://www.google.com/voice/rates)

The calls are almost always very clear (compared with Skype which is hit or miss) and you have the freedom to use a cell phone or landline to make the calls.

Obviously, this is calling a cell or landline number- If you and your partner have access to a computer (mine doesn't) than Skype to Skype calls are the best because they are FREE!

[Melissa Garcia 0]

If your family member from another country has computer and internet access, get magic jack! It has helped my husband and I a whole lot! It's unlimited for 20 bucks a month, and you can hook up a home phone to that thing too