ET phone home?

[sidestep]

Hey

 

Just noticed Virgin Mobile have a sim card deal that seems to be made for ex-pats. Link here. $0.10c per min, no flagfall. Seems good but I haven't read all the small print as I don't call the UK anymore. Might be useful though.

[xzibit]

Not sure if it's cheaper than Lebara or not.

 

My Lebara payg sim costs 5c a min to UK landline, 19c a min to UK mobiles, and 15c SMS.

[kizzy]

Hey

 

Just noticed Virgin Mobile have a sim card deal that seems to be made for ex-pats. Link here. $0.10c per min, no flagfall. Seems good but I haven't read all the small print as I don't call the UK anymore. Might be useful though.

 

We've been using this for months now - my parents don't have a landline & our daughter calls her mates' mobiles in UK. Costs 40c min + 40c connection for Oz calls but international very cheap & runs out withing 28 days.

 

Tracey

[Sallyh]

CAn't really get a mobile for that purpose cos I use mine too much in Oz but was going to ask what people do about calling UK? Isn't it annoying that friends and family can get landline deals where they can ring us for an hour for free on sky etc. Is there anything similar here at all?

 

currently I put money on a phonecard I got from the post office but I am sure it's not that cheap (tho the money doesn't run out and i use it occasionally cos I skype my parents more than anything else. But I;d like to ring friends more. Didn't like using skype to call landlines.

 

Be interested to see what others are doing...

[Diane]

I use an Aussiephonecard Australia Phone Cards- Find the Cheapest Phonecards in Australia

 

Last time I checked it was 0.5c per minute to a UK landline - you get a code you need to put in before dialling the number, but if you call most often from one landline here, you can link the landline number to your phone card, and the code is stored so you don't need to enter it each time. DOes that make sense? Sorry, really tired and not thinking clearly!

 

Anyway, it's months since I charged it up (with $20 or $30 I think) and we still have hundreds of minutes left on it so it's really good.

 

I don't know if I'm doing something wrong on Skype, but I find that really hard and frustrating to use - perhaps it's because we as a family tend to all talk over each other when we get together, and you just can't do that on Skype, so we end up starting a sentence, stopping half way,missing what the other person is saying.... I hate it!

[Guest westie1972]

Can you use these phone cards if you have a mobile as we haven't got a land line yet?

[Sallyh]

Thanks Diane I will look at your phonecard.

 

We've had problems like you say with skype before - sometimes it's literally just numbers online, but we've found that it has improved with better internet connections / faster computers. Improved noticeably since my parents got a better internet provider. But yes the talking over thing is hard - its more like trying to talk loudspeaker on the phone where if you overlap you lose their sound - and my parents have been notorious for that. Frustrates me most when they are talking to the children. It's got much better with practice but I agree - for certain things phone much better.

 

And skype much better when for example wanting to announce news and wanting everyone to see everyone and hear it at the same time.

[romana03]

Skype's really not bad for calling landlines but it's a bit steep for mobiles. I mostly ring up and get my parents to come online - Skype's a lot clearer than trying to talk to them on their phone, but ymmv

[Sallyh]

Yes I did quite like skype calling landlines but about the same time we had a fraud on our credit card (though I think that was when KMart got hacked) and it was used on internet stuff... so I decided not to put any more money on skype when it ran out.

 

I also like to be free of the computer, hence liking to be able to use a normal 'phone' to call people.

[snifter]

Shame some of you have not had a great time with Skype. We use it loads and usually video chat but sometimes just use voice or type (if weather or internet connection at the other end isn't great) and don't bother at all with using our landline phone anymore to chat to family on Oz.

 

It'll be even better when the beta of the group video chat is more available. Means we can chat to someone in Oz and Thailand at the same time and they can both chat to each other aswell

 

If the quality of the image is poor or slow sometimes when we Skype we don't mind that so much. It usually ranges from decent to good so can't complain.