Your monthly phone bill

[Fandango 1,439]

I have Vonage. It's 4¢/minute to the UK. Right now our international calls probably total $5 (his parents each call him once a week and his sister calls every two weeks, so he mostly only calls his friends). Before that, when G was over there, he had a thing where he could call me on weekdays for 1p/minute, so I probably only spent about $10 a month because I only called him on weekends and we only ever talked on the phone about twice a week. We did IM/webcam every day.

You should check that cos isn't it free to call the UK thru Vonage?

[sereia 0]

I don't understand how you could still have to spend a lot of money on a phone bill in 2007. There are so many available technologies. I spent 25 dollars a month using Skype, but if you both have Skype and want to talk online (or use any other VoIP service) it's free. Even if none of these things are an option, there have to be phone cards that make calls way cheaper. In Brazil I used an internet-based phone card that was .02/min. Sure, a flat call to Brazil was (kind of) expensive, but I just used those to say "hey, call me on Skype" or something.

Rey and I talked at least an hour a day pretty much every day we were apart, and we never spent more than $35 in a month on it.

it all depends which country you're calling. rates are very cheap to countries like brazil, mexico, canada, puerto rico, and the uk (among many others)

but rates are really expensive to morocco. no matter where i've looked, i cannot get a rate lower than around .29/min. my fiance does not have a computer of his own so we don't use skype. i can only call mobile-mobile. but even calling from a landline is only a few cents cheaper a minute.

i easily spend $300+ a month on calling abdou. trying to cut back now though. sometimes we talk 10 minutes a day, sometimes an hour.

[RUKTHUR 0]

I call my fiancee every day. Phone bill about $80-$90 a month....

Call from Thailand to The US... so expensive

Edited June 4, 2007 by RUKTHUR

[doc_cute 0]

mine is not more than 20 $

but my husbands more than 300 dollars when he has to call me when out of internet connection when out of home or at coming back home from hosp etc

rest of the time we r at yahoo all the time online

[Savanphil 3]

I never had service and only used calling cards. Spend about $20 a month on cards since hubby is here...but prior to him coming I don't even want to think about how much I spent on cards a month. But when we both got high speed and started using MSN video conversations, it saved me a lot.

Edited June 4, 2007 by Savanphil

[rika60607 215]

I must be lucky

I spend next to nothing... Why is there no $0-5 in the poll, I could not vote!!!

I have a phone company here in France, which provides free phone calls to anywhere in US (including cell phones) and to many other countries (only land lines). I can talk for hours... But, there is of course a base/flat rate fee of 30 euro/month.

When he calls my home phone, I either call him back right away, or he calls my phone-in service of yahoo messenger (I have same area code as his cell phone). Then the call costs me nothing and costs him his cell phone plan minutes. Anyone in any country can use phone-in of yahoo messenger as long as they have high speed I-net connection... was a good solution for me until I got my home phone...

(He did spend $200 one month, because we forgot I must call back )

Rika

[kisschick1976 0]

I think I've spent about 10.00 in the year and a half that I've known him. We talk on Yahoo every day. when we want to hear eachother's voices there's skype. I think we only use the phone when one of our computers is down. or when he passes out at his desk I call his phone to wake him up and tell him to go to bed!

Edited June 4, 2007 by kisschick1976

[boo boo 1]

I hit the jackpot w/ calling cards when my hubby was in Europe $3 for 300 mins...when calling land line (but spent alot of $$$ prior)...and then we would talk on yahoo all the time thru mic and do the web cam thing I think we talked 6-8 times a day...everyday When he called me...he would do VOIP and it was really cheap also

[LovinLiberia 0]

I don't understand how you could still have to spend a lot of money on a phone bill in 2007. There are so many available technologies. I spent 25 dollars a month using Skype, but if you both have Skype and want to talk online (or use any other VoIP service) it's free. Even if none of these things are an option, there have to be phone cards that make calls way cheaper. In Brazil I used an internet-based phone card that was .02/min. Sure, a flat call to Brazil was (kind of) expensive, but I just used those to say "hey, call me on Skype" or something.

Rey and I talked at least an hour a day pretty much every day we were apart, and we never spent more than $35 in a month on it.

it all depends which country you're calling. rates are very cheap to countries like brazil, mexico, canada, puerto rico, and the uk (among many others)

but rates are really expensive to morocco. no matter where i've looked, i cannot get a rate lower than around .29/min. my fiance does not have a computer of his own so we don't use skype. i can only call mobile-mobile. but even calling from a landline is only a few cents cheaper a minute.

i easily spend $300+ a month on calling abdou. trying to cut back now though. sometimes we talk 10 minutes a day, sometimes an hour.

same here...you just can't find cheap rates when calling Liberia. I've had some phone bills for $1300-$1400 a month. That was when we were talking for hours a day. Now, we talk a lot less and use pingo and I've lowered it to about $100-300 a month...which is still pretty expensive.

[Udella&Wiz 325]

People, people.....location being the only fly in the ointment.... everyone should be using Skype or Vonage. I gasped when I saw some of the bill totals. Wiz pays $25.00 or his Vonage home phone plus a little extra for the virtual number for me. I seldom make a long distance call ever since he fowards it (included in monthly fee) to work and it rings in both locations.

Sure we text and when we first met our main modes of communication were MSN and texting...but that didn't last long! I am not being judgemental, but I am curious how you can keep the relationship going at this stage of things when you only talk a couple times a week for a limited amount of time? We all know this phase of waiting is brutal..lonely and disheartening. I can't imagine not talking to him when I want for how long I want. Guess I'm a big North American glutton

My daughter hasn't been on the phone in months lol We talk from the time we get home from work until bedtime unless we have outside activities like soccer and kidstuff. Yes...that means we carry on a 6 hour conversation every night of the week...some times trivial and silly, some times deep and meaningful.

What can I say, I'm addicted

[Ailema 0]

Wow.. in most cases I think its actually cheaper for whoever is staying outside of the U.S to call, from New Zealand to the U.S with a phonecard was only 4 cents a minute and a very small connection fee. When he called me using a $20 international phonecard, we would use the whole thing up within about 3-4 hours of talking time! Personally I think its best to download a voicechat program like Skype if your time/schedule differences aren't too bad. If you have a comp and a net connection then its practicallly free and computer mics aren't expensive.

[LovinLiberia 0]

Wow.. in most cases I think its actually cheaper for whoever is staying outside of the U.S to call, from New Zealand to the U.S with a phonecard was only 4 cents a minute and a very small connection fee. When he called me using a $20 international phonecard, we would use the whole thing up within about 3-4 hours of talking time! Personally I think its best to download a voicechat program like Skype if your time/schedule differences aren't too bad. If you have a comp and a net connection then its practicallly free and computer mics aren't expensive.

Our schedules and internet access doesn't allow us to use Skype or Vonage. It ain't so easy for us to go the cheapest route and we just have to work around it the best way we can, although it's expensive...it's worth it.

[LovinLiberia 0]

am not being judgemental, but I am curious how you can keep the relationship going at this stage of things when you only talk a couple times a week for a limited amount of time?

It's called detirmination. We still talk for hours a day and even if we can't, talking on the phone isn't the only way of communicating. There are also texts, emails, and chats. You can never imagine doing it that way because you're not in the situation, but if you didn't have it so easy then I'm sure you would work around it to make sure it worked for your lifestyles.

[jundp 191]

am not being judgemental, but I am curious how you can keep the relationship going at this stage of things when you only talk a couple times a week for a limited amount of time?

It's called detirmination. We still talk for hours a day and even if we can't, talking on the phone isn't the only way of communicating. There are also texts, emails, and chats. You can never imagine doing it that way because you're not in the situation, but if you didn't have it so easy then I'm sure you would work around it to make sure it worked for your lifestyles.

I agree with you Princess, but I think Uz is saying that for her, she just can't imagine not talking every day (right?). There are days when P and I only exchange email and get maybe 15 minutes of voice chat and it sucks. In a normal relationship we wouldn't be like this, but we're 9 hours apart, so it's often a challenge. We generally get to talk before he goes to sleep and then again before I do. But we did download Skype and he has a web cam, so it enables us to voice chat for free. During the school year, I have google talk on my computer at work so we can talk during my off periods.

Sometimes it's impossible to voice talk, but when I get discouraged I think that we've made it this far, so we can make it the rest of the way. And I also think that my parents managed when my dad was in Viet Nam for 2 years....so I really shouldn't complain

[Zee Bee 61]

am not being judgemental, but I am curious how you can keep the relationship going at this stage of things when you only talk a couple times a week for a limited amount of time?

It's called detirmination. We still talk for hours a day and even if we can't, talking on the phone isn't the only way of communicating. There are also texts, emails, and chats. You can never imagine doing it that way because you're not in the situation, but if you didn't have it so easy then I'm sure you would work around it to make sure it worked for your lifestyles.

You have to work with what you have got and for a lot of people from Africa we are lucky if we can get through to our SO on the phone let alone chat online. Like Princess said, it is determination.

For the most part, Africa does not have a very sophisticated telecommnunications system. We know what we are dealing with and so we make do with what we have. And, for me, not every phone call is a success. If I happen to call at a time that a thunderstorm is going on I may not get through. And sometimes, for days on end, I may not get through. And sometimes I have to keep dialing for an hour or more until I get through to him. Rare occurrences but they do happen.

Frustrating? Yes.

Worth it? Most definitely

I have no idea what the cost of DSL is in Ghana but I am pretty sure that only a select few can afford it. I don't even know how popular dial up in homes is. But this is the same for other countries in the world, not just in Africa. In Ghana most people go to internet cafes and even then it is dial up.

If I know that I can communicate with my fiance is on the phone then what else do I need? Doesn't matter the cost. It could be worse. What if he didn't have a cell phone? He doesn't have a landline (like most people in Ghana). So I am thankful that I can at least get to talk to him. After all, what more do I need?

If I cannot afford to talk to him 6 times a day then I will settle for 1. If I cannot afford to talk to him everyday I will settle for 2. If I can talk to him for an hour, good. If not, then less is fine too.

Its all about recognizing your situation and making the most of it. After all, it is the love that we have between us that will carry us through this nightmare of immigration, not how many times I happen to call him in a day.

Zee