Cell phones, providers, and costs to call back home

[EminTX 131]

I plan to hopefully greet my fiance at the airport with his new cell phone but would like some input from everyone as to what they use and the costs involved along with the various experiences: good, bad, and ugly.

Tell me what you use, what you pay, what extras you have, and what else will help. (Once we decide, I'll update this for others to have as a reference.)

Thanks, everybody.

~~~~~~~~~

Tengo la intención de saludar a mi novio en el aeropuerto con su nuevo teléfono celular, pero quisiera algunas aportaciones de todo el mundo en cuanto a lo que utilizan y los costos involucrados, junto con las diversas experiencias: bueno, malo y lo feo.

Dígame lo que usted utiliza, lo que usted paga, ¿qué extras que tiene, y lo que más lo ayuda. (Una vez que decidamos, voy a actualizar este para que otros puedan tener como referencia.)

Gracias a todos.

(Gracias, Google Translate)

[Adnan&Liane 8]

Hi EminTX,

My husband and I both have iphones. I have AT&T and have an added long distance feature that lets me call and text internationally at a reduced rate. I rarely call him this way. We have apps that we use to call and text each other for free - they usually work pretty well as long as we both are near a decent internet connection. We both live in cities so this usually is not a problem. I use viber, kakao talk, fring, oovoo, and skype. I'm sure there are many others too. With kakao talk we can even send picture and video(short 1 or 2 min clips) texts... Hope that helps

[meadowzephyr 26]

Hi EminTX,

My husband and I both have iphones. I have AT&T and have an added long distance feature that lets me call and text internationally at a reduced rate. I rarely call him this way. We have apps that we use to call and text each other for free - they usually work pretty well as long as we both are near a decent internet connection. We both live in cities so this usually is not a problem. I use viber, kakao talk, fring, oovoo, and skype. I'm sure there are many others too. With kakao talk we can even send picture and video(short 1 or 2 min clips) texts... Hope that helps

Skype has a feature called "Skype to Go." When you buy a subscription service with Skype, you can assign three international numbers as local US numbers and call them at the low Skype rate, without them being counted as international long distance on your cellphone.

http://www.skype.com/intl/en-us/features/allfeatures/skype-to-go-number/

I hope this answers your question. Maybe you were just asking about general cellphone rates.

Edited March 13, 2012 by meadowzephyr

[zapatosfeos 17]

I have 2 cell phones, my work cell is a Blackberry with AT&T and my personal cell phone is an HTC Sensation (Android-whatever that means, lol) with Tmobile...anyways I use both to communicate with my Fiance, so if I had to choose one I dont know what I would do ??!!! My Blackberry is awesome, because he also has a blackberry and through BBM messaging, we message each other ALL day long, with no extra cost - I dont know what my plan is, or how much though cause my company pays for it. My own phone is through TMobile..I pay about 70, for unlimited EVERYTHING, and I added for an extra $5, unlimited text messages international. Also this phone has Skype, so sometimes when I am on the road and I feel like calling him, i can, and its not alot of money, to his cell its .30/min, to a landline its .03/min or if its to his own skype its free ! I use both of them ALOT, to talk to him. But whatever you get, consider having the same carrier between the two of you, cause that will also save you some money. Tmobile has a good family plan, its $50 a person for unlilmited everything ! and you can just add the $5 for international texting !

Hope this helps !

BTW...not sure if you know this..but LAN has a special running til tomorrow..plane tickets LIM-MIA-LIM are $700, usable before Mid June, i think.

[KLS2010 30]

I'm not up on all the new technology involved with phones these days lol...but I have Skype on my laptop and it is free or quite cheap to call (if you buy a subscription), so if you have a phone that is capable of doing that then that would probably be a pretty cheap way of going about it.

If on the other hand you are old-school like me lol - I have a very basic Samsung phone from Cricket. We pay $55/mth (+tax) - this is a $45 unlimited talk text and data plan, plus we added a $10/mth international plan which gives me unlimited calls to landlines (ie not cell phones). I believe you can add funds in order to be able to call international cell phones - but I've never done this. The base plan also includes unlimited international text msgs.

There are pros and cons with Cricket - cheaper than most of the major companies (ie Verizon), and mine is on a month to month plan so there are no cancellation fees. On the other hand, Cricket's coverage area isn't great compared to the major companies - so you would need to check out the coverage in your area - if you are in a major city/town you shouldn't have much trouble (I'm in Houston TX and never had a problem with coverage here).

My husband has a Verizon phone....and while the coverage is probably the best of any company - you will pay for it. He added an international plan which I think is around $3.99/mth but the call costs still add up quickly if you call a lot (eg....it was 23c/min to call my Australian cell phone).

[yachachiq12 43]

I used to have the feature for Peru calling added to my Verizon phone. It was $3.99 a month for the privilege of having access to a rate of $0.32 per minute to call Peruvian phones. As others have mentioned, I'd check out the latest innovations in Skype connectability.

Nowadays, we exclusively use Skype on a laptop for calling Peru.

[EminTX 131]

Thanks everyone, I want to clarify. I am not asking about TEXTING at all. There will be zero texting between my beloved and his 96 year old grandparents. There will be zero Skyping between his 70+ year old parents and us once he is here since he is the one who turns on the computer.

I would guess that for most of us, calling older relatives in foreign countries doesn't involve any of them thar new-fangled do-hickies.

This thread is about calling old-timey rotary phones in Perú.

I appreciate the Skype info. I will look into that. I don't have a fancy phone--it does some basic stuff. I'm in Houston and have Boost and apparently for 10$/month more, we can call landlines in Perú just like calling here. I am hoping someone on here has used this and can tell us about its practicality.

Incidently, we HAD T-mobile. We got jerked around too many times over the years, the location coverage got suckier and suckier, and the costs were the most I have ever paid. It was at 187/month for 2 phone with unlimited minutes with texting available on only one of them. THAT was the the family plan. Boost is an even 55/month for unlimited minutes and international texting with the bill dropping by 5$/month every 6 months down to 35$. Coverage has been great driving throughout Texas.

I've used calling cards to get the house in Lima, but would like to avoid that.

[Al and Patricia 23]

My fiancee is still in Peru and I use a calling card from Uniontel( the name of the card is (USA Cuauhtemina)

here is the link http://www.uniontelecard.com/ and for $10 I can talk for about 7 hours. Calling cell phones are a lot more expensive then land lines. They have a lot of local access numbers. I hope this helps you

[Dante & Geor 36]

Thanks everyone, I want to clarify. I am not asking about TEXTING at all. There will be zero texting between my beloved and his 96 year old grandparents. There will be zero Skyping between his 70+ year old parents and us once he is here since he is the one who turns on the computer.

I would guess that for most of us, calling older relatives in foreign countries doesn't involve any of them thar new-fangled do-hickies.

This thread is about calling old-timey rotary phones in Perú.

I appreciate the Skype info. I will look into that. I don't have a fancy phone--it does some basic stuff. I'm in Houston and have Boost and apparently for 10$/month more, we can call landlines in Perú just like calling here. I am hoping someone on here has used this and can tell us about its practicality.

Incidently, we HAD T-mobile. We got jerked around too many times over the years, the location coverage got suckier and suckier, and the costs were the most I have ever paid. It was at 187/month for 2 phone with unlimited minutes with texting available on only one of them. THAT was the the family plan. Boost is an even 55/month for unlimited minutes and international texting with the bill dropping by 5$/month every 6 months down to 35$. Coverage has been great driving throughout Texas.

I've used calling cards to get the house in Lima, but would like to avoid that.

My fiance uses this to call me at any time, and is always $10. It works great

[Conchale Vale 5]

I use Vonage. They have 2 international plans..if Peru is on the cehaper one its 9 dollars per month unlimited. $29 covers unlimited calling to landlines and 1000 minutes (used to be unlimited) to cell phones in Peru I would assume..I call Venezuela. You can also designate another number to call from like a cell phone for the same price. You call a us number enter a pin and call unlimited free except for your minute use on cell. Also you might consider a phone with blackberry plan that also easy free texting to other blackberry accounts