[Lil]

For any of you lucky enough to live near one of those classy 99p Stores, I noticed that they do an international phonecard - 99p for 99 minutes including calls to New Zealand.

Never one to pass up a bargain - I'll be back to buy a dozen for me mam.

[StevieD]

Classy and 99p in the same sentence???? Wots going on? :P

That sounds a great idea. I will keep my eye open for these, but really 99p for 99 minutes? I take it this is from public telephones.....
great idea though. I've long said that the cost of telephone calls is way too expensive, especially now the fibre optic backbones span the world. (Stop me my techie background is starting..... :no )

Steve

[Lil]

You use from your home phone, its done through an 0800 /0845 number.

I'm forever amazed at just what you can get for £1 in Poundland, but gotta watch the pennies now we have the 99p Store. :laugh

[sarahw]

That's really good! There's another way if you don't live near a 99p shop - a company called www.telediscount.co.uk which offers 2p a minute phonecalls from UK to NZ on your home phone - we've given the details to all our friends - (we've been using it for a year for calls to NZ and USA & it works!).

All you do is dial the number they give you before you dial the number you want & the calls get billed to your BT bill at the cheap rate - brilliant! :nice1

[Terry&Sophie]

Terry's sister has tried the telediscount idea and it seems to work fine... saves a lot of money and the stress of knowing you can't talk for too long! :nice1

On a similar subject... can anybody recommend a cheap way of phoning the UK from NZ? Our Telecom account is costing us 56c per minute up to a maximum of $6 for 2 hours. Sounds good if you can keep talking to one person for 2 hours until you realise that anything over about 12 minutes will cost you $6!

Need a cheaper option before we're bankrupt!

Thanks

Sophie

[richard]

On a similar subject... can anybody recommend a cheap way of phoning the UK from NZ? Our Telecom account is costing us 56c per minute up to a maximum of $6 for 2 hours. Sounds good if you can keep talking to one person for 2 hours until you realise that anything over about 12 minutes will cost you $6!

Need a cheaper option before we're bankrupt!

Thanks

Sophie

We use the Kia Ora calling card. It is 7c per minute to the UK anytime. You can also use the Telecom 0161 service which is 19c per minute anytime.

[veronica]

the other one that is good is the rate saver card. if you go into one of the dairies or garages that sell phone cards and ask them for the best one about at the moment they usually can tell you the cheapest rate. They are fiddley to dial but so much cheaper its worth doing.

[A & M]

We use slingshot, 14c per minute and I think max charge is $4. If you spend $10 per month on phone calls you get your dial up internet for $10. It's all on their website, slingshot.co.nz.

Also use cards, they seem to be the cheapest option. Noticed one advertised in the AA shop the other day but forget how much it was.

Mandy

[sarahw]

Slingshot sounds like its worth a try! We'll have to look into that one!

We use the 0161 service at 19c per minute which is great (you dial 0161 then 44 for UK) - we also use the $6- rate on weekends - its cheaper to use that if you're going to talk for over half an hour - which we generally do!!!

[Timbo]

This has been mentioned before.

http://www.skype.com/

Free software and free skype to skype calls. Calls using skype to phone a normal telephone in NZ cost 0.014 pence per minute including VAT.

[veronica]

there is a little bit of a time lapse on the skype but considering the cost I feel that we can live with it.

[markkellaway]

For those still in the UK it might be worth taking a look at Vonage, Web Site (http://www.vonage.co.uk/)

This is a voice over IP system that allows you to plug a normal telephone into it. You need a broadband connection (it uses about 90KB during calls) but for £10 a month you can make unlimited UK calls. It also has the advantage that you have a UK number that you take with you, so it's cheap for people in the UK to call you. If you sign up here (UK) you can take the device with you to NZ, as long as you have a UK account to pay from.

Also have a US service, as do eGlobalPhone and others.

If anyone wants to know more feel free to pm me. :nice1

Mark. :P

[sanjivgoomer]

Great stuff. Any suggestions for talking cheap from NZ to India.
Warm regards
Sanjiv
PS.. 60 days to go ............. :mrgreen:

[Terry&Sophie]

Thanks everyone for the advice,

I went to the dairy and asked for the cheapest calls to UK and got a $10 kiwicall card (www.cardcall.co.nz). Looks like it's $0.039 per min to the UK... bargain! Looks like you can recharge it by credit card over the phone too, saves another trip out to the dairy!

Will have to try it and see whether the quality is ok.

Sanjiv, it says the cost to India is between $0.119 to $0.235 per minute, depending on where you're calling. Might be worth asking in a dairy to see if a different card is cheaper.

[veronica]

hey mark, once you get here you will have to stop talking pounds and start thinking that cheap £10 is actually $26 + and that is when you are earning NZ money. changes the prospective quite a bit.

[Woz]

A quick word of warning on skype for those that use it. Skype is a P2P application and to make it work some users are configured by the skype network to act as supernodes.

A supernode is a PC in the network that is used to route phone calls. If you machine is made into a supernode you can soon find that all of your bandwidth is used to carry phone calls for other people. This can also have a large impact on your pocket as well in NZ as many internet packages are capped in the amount of bandwidth you can use before you start to pay extra.

Here are the steps you must take to avoid this situation

1) Make sure you run a firewall amd that skype is located behind it, not in the DMZ.

2) When you have finished using skype, close it down.

The skype people do not publish the rules that they use to select supernodes but if you have a fast connection and leave skype running you could be a prime candidate.

Hope that helps

[richard]

Thanks everyone for the advice,

I went to the dairy and asked for the cheapest calls to UK and got a $10 kiwicall card (www.cardcall.co.nz). Looks like it's $0.039 per min to the UK... bargain! Looks like you can recharge it by credit card over the phone too, saves another trip out to the dairy!



Be careful when comparing cards. The rates for the one you have chosen don't include GST and they also claim to charge a 22.2c (+GST?) connection fee per call in the small print. 4 calls to an answerphone and you have wasted over a dollar.

[neilw71]

Woz - good point about the supernode. Just got my parents onto Skype and planning to use it for all contact with them. I have set up MSN Messenger on my Dad's laptop to load up whenever he is on the computer - then plan to leave Skype off (as you mentioned) and messeng (sp?) him when we want to call (and visa vers). They also have voice messages on trial at the minute which is useful.

Now - calls to external numbers - SkypeOut its called. Call to UK from NZ =$0.037/min!!! Gotta be worth a try?

Neil

[markkellaway]

Hi Veronica,

I realise that, but it might be worth it, it doesn't take many $6 to make the $26, and it gives the advantage that our kids will be able to call us for next to nothing as well. :nice1

Haven't decided to do it yet, depends on the job situation before we get there. :hopeso

Mark. :P

[sanjivgoomer]

Thanks Terry&Sophie,
This is quite cheap as I am now paying about 50c / min for calls from India to NZ.

Warm regards
Sanjiv

[Timbo]

Thanks for the warning Woz. :nice1

[sarahw]

Woz - thanks for that - noone has ever mentioned that to us before re. SKYPE - much apprecited!!! :nice1