Betamax Number from Hungary or Other Way to Call Cheap?
 

My stepdaughter is about to spend 5 months in Hungary. I'm looking at ways she can call the US cheap via prepaid.

Looks like one option is to call the local Betamax access number. Anyone know if mobiles can dial this number? There is documentation on these forums that some of the German operators block access, which is why I am asking. Can one make the Betamax number one's "favourite number" on Pannon?

Any other suggestions?

I would advice you to have a look at Rebtel. It's not an ordinary operator. They provide you with cheap international calls. We use them for most of our international calls.

We use local prepaid cards and register them on Rebtel's home page.

I was thinking of doing that with localphone.com, which seems less expensive than rebeltel.

However, with either localphone or rebeltel you call multiple local numbers, meaning that you can't use the "favourite number" option on Pannon, which gives you one number for half price.

Well, I think you can with Rebtel. Instead of using the local personalized numbers, you can use the local standard dial-in number for all your international calls. We use this number when calling non-registered contacts.

I'm not 100% sure, but it ought to work, for your purposes, too.

I have used Rebtel for long time, now have Localphone.com too. Would say Localphone.com is better for my needs. I believe you can use both for "favourite number" option on Pannon if you are willing to pay extra for calls to US(about 1-2 cents a minute).

Hi,

Betamax access number in Hungary is a normal (Budapest) landline number, and thus can be dialled. The only problem is the advertised number is NOT correct as Hungarian dialplans are a bit off the standard :) Instead of 01xxxxxxx you need to dial 061xxxxxxx.

With Pannon Prepaid you can add this number as "ParatlanSzam" which gives your stepdaughter 50% discount on calls made during peak hours. This opton has a monthly 290 HUF charge.
You have to be careful with selecting the right rates package though to be able to maximize your savings.