[NannyOgg]

Hi Gang

Moving into our new place in 4 weeks time. Was just about to sign up with telecom and then saw the I-Hug offers. $40 unlimited UK calls (yes I have skype and voip but sometime si juts want to pick up the phone!). However, they tie you in to 18 month contract.

Anyone else recommend any suppliers with good deals?

Thanks Nanny x

[K&CS]

For my phone calls to the UK, I buy one of those pre paid gotalk calls. You have to key in your pin no (but you can put this in to a speed dial button if you prefer), and it costs 2.9c a minute to the UK (and US and a few other countries). I've got a $20 card, which has lasted me for ages - I can't use it up. There's a 3 month expiry on it, but you can phone to extend it. I never think twice about calling the UK. I can chat for about an hour and still have about 700 minutes on it - it never seems to go down!!

Kate

[NannyOgg]

Kate

Where do you biy one of those?

How many cents per minute is iot to call a UK mobile? Or can't you?

Nanny x

[Smiler]

Nanny Ogg

Have you looked at webcall direct http://www.webcalldirect.com/en/index_splash.html.

I think it was NeilUk who posted a link a week or so ago. You can call loads of places and some mobiles free and you're not tied to the pc to talk as you do it thru the home phone.

Ours is cordless and I prefer it to the expense of buying a skype handset. If you sign up with credit you get about 300 mins free before they start on your credit. Hope that makes sense.

[diforsyth]

Telecom's Anytime is very good - up to 2 hours to UK, Europe & US capped at $5 and 2 hours to Oz capped at $2.50

This works for me because I have friends and family round the world and I'm not into daily phone calls, they're all pretty much longer fortnightly chats to get up to date with news etc..

[NannyOgg]

Smiler,

We hav edownloaed web call direct and magaed to get about 2 hours worth of calls. Then it wouldn't let us call anymore.

Do you have to credit on the account to allow you to get those calls? Even if you will only ever use the free calls? And how often must you top up? It all sems so confusing!

Think we might go for I hug over telecom as for $40 a month (on top of libe rental - which is $5 more) we can call national and some international (inc UK) as often as we like at no xtra cost for up to 1 hour - then hnag up and re dial.

Would like to get to the bottom of voip though.

Nanny x

[markynz]

Don't know if you already know this, but at British Expats :

http://britishexpats.com/

when you register for the website you can sign up to a free deal with firefly telecom.
Basically they assign you a new ' british ' number which routes through to your NZ landline. So people can call you for 3p a minute anytime - yes anytime when they dial the new number. It works too !

hope this helps,

cheers

Mark

[Smiler]

Yep I'm finding it confusing too, it ran out on OH last night so I've topped it up with 10 quid and we'll see what happens when I make some more calls. I liked being able to move away from the pc with the cordless though and Skype handsets seem expensive when we've already got cordless phones etc.

Make sure you are signed in as that might make a difference, rather than just press the dial pad. If that makes sense. :confused: Sorry I can't explain it any clearer either. Jonse and Neil did reply on the other thread if that helps some.

Good luck, let me know what happens next.

D x

[NannyOgg]

Markynz

I have just checked out that expats website you gave and have not even had to sign up for the website, just clicke don the calls service info box and went through that.

Is it really as good as it sounds? Have you used it regularly? It seems sucha good deal for the olds that are not connected to the internet. Is it REALLY 3p per minute from UK landline to NZ landline anyitme as opposed to BT's 22 - 30p per minute depending on the time of day you call?

What about from UK to mobiles? Or can you set it up to call an NZ mobile and is that more expensive per minute? Sorry to ask so many question but I'm quite excited by this! :nice1

Nanny x

[KerryS]

Nanny - my grandparents don't have the internet, but I found a supplier where they just enter a code to get calls to NZ and Oz for only 1p a minute.
I can't for the life of me remember who it is with though?
I shall be calling them at the weekend, so will ask.

(They have even preprogrammed the access code into their phone so they no longer have to dial it.)

But, that would mean all your friends and family having to sign up to this, rather than just you signing up to the other system for 3p a minute.

[markynz]

Nanny - I'm not sure !
I only joined it the other day and got some family to test it. It worked fine, but they've yet to get their bills.

Lol - knowing my luck it won't be as good as it says, but the email they send you after you've done it says this :

" This number can be dialed from any UK landline. Calls made to this number are charged at a rate of per minute whenever you call. That's all weekend, evenings and at peak times too!

You are not charged for receiving an inbound call when using this service.

If you are dialing from a mobile you may be charged more then the rate specified, if in doubt check with your mobile service provider. If you're having difficulty dialing from your mobile please contact your mobile provider and ask them to allow you access to dial this number from your phone. Don't forget, you can also use this service to dial cheaply abroad. Go to the main web site for details.

We would suggest that you now do the following;


Advise the relevant members of your friends and family of this new number (they can use it too).
Advise the person/people whose number it is, that this number can be used to contact them from the UK far cheaper than any other (their circle of friends can also use it to call them).
Advise everybody about britishexpat

You cannot get a cheaper call rate than britishexpat"

So, we'll see ! :)