Holiday in USA, how to call home
 

Hi,

In the summer I am going on a holiday to the USA. I like to know what the cheapest way is to call home.

Do I need to buy a prepaid card in the USA? Or is there something like a calling card.

Thanks for your advice,

Gert

There are several cheap calling cards available. Have a look at www.cheapphonecards.com -- I have used both the Mega Clean Pinless and the Voyager Pinless, and both were cheap to Europe and easy to use. You could combine these with a T-Mobile To Go prepaid SIM (calling Europe from TMO otherwise costs $1.50 a minute). AT&T Go Phone is overall, not as good as TMO, but its international calls are cheaper (I think 36 cents/min to Europe) -- but still too expensive for other than occasional use.

Be aware that many phone cards charge extra for calling from a payphone, and that some phone companies charge astronomical international rates from landlines unless the user has ordered an "international package." So be sure to ask first before placing international calls from a friend's house. OTOH, the two calling cards I mentioned have a toll-free number, so you can call from someone's home phone without worrying that they'd be charged.

There are calling cards you can buy in Europe that will also work in the states. These card have US access numbers. I think that would be my first stop, especially if you have a need @ home for such a calling card.

If you are staying in hotels, BE SURE TO CHECK THE TELEPHONE POLICY. Many finer hotels charge hefty fees even for toll-free outbound calling. Each hotel is different. You will find, however, that most US hotels will have FREE internet access, either wireless or ethernet. Go figure!

As Motel75 wrote, it is best if you can call from a friend's or relative's home or office phone. Payphone fees can also be high as he described. It is a bit of an inconvenience to dial extra digits; some cell phones allow you to program those digits and the pin.

Stan

If the person(s) you want to call have a voip phone you could also consider getting a free usa number from http://www.ipkall.com and forward that number to their voip phone. Then you will only pay for a local call to the USA. Or if you have a more advanced voip router (like the Fritzbox) you can activate call through on it and make your calls that way. Maybe not the most simpel option, but it is the most flexibel one, I think

Ties

These days I always travel with my laptop or a WiFi device. This allows me to use hotel Internet or WiFi hotspots to make Internet calls. I now find I make very few roaming calls. I just wait until I get to a hotspot then make my calls for almost nothing. I have Boingo Mobile on my Nokia e61. Boingo Mobile now works at probably over 1/2 of the McDonald's restaurants and maybe 1/2 of the AT&T Hotspots in the US.

The best and free option is skype. If you don,t have access to internet, you can use prepaid cards. There are many companies providing different packages. You can surf it on google and select one with offering cheapest price for your destination.

VoIP calls are great when you have access to internet. Nowadays you may use calling cards with PIN less dial and cost of international calls to France is about 1c/min. You may see number of calling cards option for calls to France at:http://www.ontariophonecards.ca/france.calling-cards