How are toll free calls (00800) charged in Germany

[ajd_sjc]

I'm working for a couple months in Germany, but I will often need to do conference calls back to the US in the evenings from my apartment. I have several different ways to access the calls, one is via USA 800 number, one is via German 0800 number, and for some calls, I can have the service call me. I have good internet in my apartment but no land line.

I'd like to minimize my costs, but I need good call quality. I thought I'd use Skype, but based on my experience today, quality is variable, at least when I tried the US based number.

For the times I can have the service call me, I think using a cell phone is straight forward and free to me.

If I dial the German 0800 number from a cell phone, how is that charged? Is it free or as a landline call? I'm in suburban Munich, so I'd expect to have good cell coverage. Any differences in carriers?

Any other ideas?

Thanks,

Aaron

[dg7feq]

Originally Posted by ajd_sjc

If I dial the German 0800 number from a cell phone, how is that charged? Is it free or as a landline call? I'm in suburban Munich, so I'd expect to have good cell coverage. Any differences in carriers?

Any other ideas?

Thanks,

Aaron

normal freecall numbers (0800) are always free of charge in germany.
Some can not connect from payphones or cellphones (you will get an announcement).
00800 international free calls are sometimes charged from cellphones (e.g. e-plus) but not from landlines or payphones.

Chris

[petkow]

You are not only limited to using Skype for calling 800 numbers. Many SIP services will allow you to call 800 numbers for free. You can just download any freebie softphone, or use a service like Gizmo or similar.

It's been a while since I did this but I used to use Google Talk (Google Chat - Chat with family and friends) together with a gateway Voice-over-IP gateway for Google Talk, MSN and Yahoo Users to make free 0800 calls in several countries. Call quality was always very good.

[inquisitor]

I would recommend poivy.com, who connect free of charge to German and American (0)800 numbers beyond free calls to German and American landlines (in which you may also be interested) and provide great call quality. Poivy.com offer a free softphone for Windows, but as they use SIP (the standard VoIP protocol), you can use their service with any other SIP-device and software. Especially recent Nokia phones of the N- and E-series give great SIP calls.

[ajd_sjc]

Thanks everyone for your help ...

My wife ended up buying us Lebara phone cards (which I didn't see rated on this site, but for us, mostly calling each other, it's a pretty good deal).

The bad news is the 0800 number I need to reach (08006647483) isn't available. Is it possible other company's SIM cards would work?

I'll look into the poivy SIP. I do have a Nokia E51, which has Wifi and can directly support SIP.

Again thanks,

Aaron

[inquisitor]

Lebara isn't that attractive due to their connection fee of € 0,15 per call. A Fonic SIM would probably have been cheaper for voice calls and it would have provided fair data tariffs.

If that 0800 number is unavailable through Lebara, it won't be reachable from any other mobile operator.

A Nokia E51 is great to use with poivy.

Here's how to set it up after creating an account with poivy:

1. Create a new access profile for your WiFi network as described here
   
   
2. Go to Tools / Settings / Connection / SIP settings. Create the following profile:
   Profile Name: Poivy
   Profile: IETF Default
   Access point: (your WiFi access point created in step 1)
   Public user name: your-poivy-username@sip.poivy.com
   Use Compression: No
   Registration: on demand
   Use Security: No
   
   
3. Leave Proxy Server Settings as they are.
   
   
4. Enter the following for Registrar Server settings:
   Registrar Server: sip.poivy.com
   Realm: sip.poivy.com
   User Name: your-poivy-username
   Password: your-poivy-password
   Transport Type: Auto
   Port: 5060
   
   
5. Go back to the main menu and then to connection / Internet Tel. Settings:
   Create a new profile for "poivy", name it "poivy" again
   In Connectivity / Internet tel. / Preferred profile
   Choose "poivy"
   
   
6. Now after dialing a number don't pick up, but chose "Options" and hit "Internet Call". A small icon (cross with a padlock) should indicate the WiFi connection is established and another icon (globe with an earpiece) should show that the call is placed over VoIP.

You can also have poivy to show any of one of your existing numbers as callerID (no matter if your German Lebara number or your US mobile number). Therefore you need install the PoivY software on your PC, go to "Tools / Options / General" and click "edit my PoivY profile". Under "Phonenumbers" enter your phone number(s) in international format (starting with +1 for US numbers or +49 for German numbers) and hit "Verify now!" in order to perform the verification process (a verification code will show up on your computer screen followed by a phone call to the number subject to verification, which you need to answer in order to enter the verification code). After the verification succeeded repeat step 2 (above) and change the "Public user name" to: phone-number-in-internation-format-with leading-double-zero@sip.poivy.com,
e.g. if your US number is 212-1234567 you need to enter 0012121234567@sip.poivy.com
or if your German number is 0157712345678 you need to enter 0049157712345678@sip.poivy.com
After this poivy will show the verfied and configured number as callerID when you place outgoing calls.

[christophermikels]

Originally Posted by ajd_sjc

I'm working for a couple months in Germany, but I will often need to do conference calls back to the US in the evenings from my apartment. I have several different ways to access the calls, one is via USA 800 number, one is via German 0800 number, and for some calls, I can have the service call me. I have good internet in my apartment but no land line.

I'd like to minimize my costs, but I need good call quality. I thought I'd use Skype, but based on my experience today, quality is variable, at least when I tried the US based number.

For the times I can have the service call me, I think using a cell phone is straight forward and free to me.

If I dial the German 0800 number from a cell phone, how is that charged? Is it free or as a landline call? I'm in suburban Munich, so I'd expect to have good cell coverage. Any differences in carriers?

Any other ideas?

Thanks,

Aaron

You don't need phone service in Germany. What you need are free online call conferencing.