Calling Philippines from the U.S.

[hotmom17 3]

I use skype for calling st lukes landline and my moms cellphone. Its $10 for 1 hour. I always buy $25 load for my skype and it doesnt expired.

[j&ana 380]

$10 for an hour is expensive that is about 16.66 cent per minutes. I have use calling cards before, that was way less then that. And as a lot other members mention on here there is way better options then that

[VOL 425]

I tripped over the OBI after I had bought two of the new Magicjack II and they wouldn't work for carp , I had been searching all over the net for a reliable VOIP that I could bring a unit to the Phils and leave for making call back and forth very cheap... and free is for sure very cheap. When I was in the Phils the last time I was there for two months, called the neighbor to check on the house and he was amazed at the clarity of the call, he thought I had flown back home already and was calling from the house, and this was over DSL doing maybe 1.5MB most of the time. The OBI is the cat's meow in my book.

Is this without Internet?

Or do you need a internet?

[VOL 425]

I have also used the pocket wifi (900 peso per month, unlimted).

This works pretty good for being able to get internet if you can find a signal.

Like connect my smart fone and then use Viber or Skype........

Edited March 1, 2015 by VOL

[Hank_ 9,174]

Is this without Internet?

Or do you need a internet?

It needs internet, it is VOIP, but it doesn't need speed to work very well.

[hotmom17 3]

$10 for an hour is expensive that is about 16.66 cent per minutes. I have use calling cards before, that was way less then that. And as a lot other members mention on here there is way better options then that

for me its cheaper than those useless cards I've used before. the convenient of using your own phone and number and just dialing the numbers you want to call without going outside to buy cards coz you can get the Skype credit online. besides my husband use our phone to call without using Skype and for 15 minutes he was charged $60.

[j&ana 380]

for me its cheaper than those useless cards I've used before. the convenient of using your own phone and number and just dialing the numbers you want to call without going outside to buy cards coz you can get the Skype credit online. besides my husband use our phone to call without using Skype and for 15 minutes he was charged $60.

if it works for you then that is good, but there a lot of better options. Any card you can do online. or the different internet calling. As I posted earlier I do not call that often as me and my wife communicates quite a bit other ways

[Hank_ 9,174]

Calling from any phone to any phone in the Phils with Google Voice International calling: 11c to mobile phone, 15c to landline

[hotmom17 3]

Calling from any phone to any phone in the Phils with Google Voice International calling: 11c to mobile phone, 15c to landline

how is the payment in Google voice?

[hotmom17 3]

by the way i was wrong about the rate calling to the Philippines usng skypre credit. it's 12c per minute for pay as you go and 11c for subscription

[Hank_ 9,174]

how is the payment in Google voice?

I have it setup to charge to my credit card, I keep a running balance on there.

[JoRu16 7]

As someone already mentioned, go check out Globe DUO US. We have been using it for about 2 years now. I call my wife every single day so it works for us.

Have your wife/husband in the Philippines to subscribe using his/her mobile phone, prepaid or postpaid, it costs 999 pesos for 30days. They can load up using prepaid cards and for spouses who are in the US you can subscribe for her online.

[RWD 2]

Another option if your wife doesn't have internet is to get a Smart or Globe SIM from the Philippines. Activate roaming on it (you need to add at least 100 pesos on it to activate roaming) and bring it to the United States or have your wife send it to you. It's free to receive text messages on the roaming number. For a person sending SMS messages from the Philippines, it is a local number so they are charged at the domestic rates. You just need to add load (money) from time to time to keep the line active.

I have both Smart and Globe SIMs roaming here in the United States as a backup for communication because my wife has power outages often in Mindanao and she can't use the internet if there's no power. The Smart and Globe towers have backup power, so they usually work unless it's an extended outage that lasts several hours. I just add 500 pesos (11 US dollars) every 100-110 days to keep the accounts active. 500 pesos load has an expiry of 120 days, but if you add more money before it expires, you keep the remaining balance.

As for sending SMS from the United States to the Philippines, I know that T-Mobile and at&t now include international SMS to the Philippines with no additional charge. It's included in whatever amount of messages you have in your plan. I'm not sure about other carriers.