[lux.sh]

Man international phone bill is going to rip me a new one when my girl goes to korea for couple months.
This happened to me last year. Phone bill came out to be $600+ every month(for 3 mths).
I want to prepare this time.

What is a good, reliable way to make international phone call?

Phone cards? (if yes, brand/name a site that sells. details appreciated)

VoIP(internet calls)? (if yes, brand/web address please)

[Seanross]

Phone Cards are a decent way, but I use a local card. When you say the bill was about $600+ a month last time.. was that landline to landline? No cell phones available?
and yea VOIP should be cheap,
or hell if you both have computers use a IM program and use the call feature. I use them alot along with the Video chat. Decent enough

[NaTuReB0Y]

email is free...........AIM too

[LOLrance]

Skype or most phone cards will work.

[wuufer001]

i buy phone cards to call back to taiwan and south africa from this site
http://www.phonecardsonsale.com/
i normally buy GlobalSpeedDial, but to korea i don't know which brand/name, it just depends on you

[PaulBailey@ltbmw]

Email/AIM is my suggestion.
What cell service do you havE?

[denlin68]

SKype is like 2.1 cent per minute

[742]

I am out of the country 2 weeks each month. I have found that the three best methods are:

1. Skype. 2. Skype. 3 Skype.

[DFW_M]

If you don't want IP Phone, then I would suggest 10-10-719 (Startec.com). It is 4.9 cents/min with Korea.

[LOLrance]

Originally Posted by denlin68

SKype is like 2.1 cent per minute

If you make a call with skype its 2.1cents a minute, but if you just "video chat" with the other end its only free99.

[anderson007]

I have been using cellular LD for about 3 years to call England and Brazil. Although I am going to which over to pingo caus it is a little cheaper. What I like about it is that you call a local access number so I can call from Work or home or my cell

[lux.sh]

I use T-mobile cell phone to call her cell phone in korea.


How is the call quality of VoIP service like (Skype or Vonage)?
Quality and reception is way more important than how much it costs.
Im willing to pay a little more for quality, but not as much as calling cards or regular cell phone bill. haha
I remember I used around $300+ worth of calling card a month. Thats WITH $600 t-mobile bill.

and some of the phone cards are so bad in terms of voice quality, and I had to dial like 50 digit numbers like 10 times to get it through.

[Dwn2earth610]

Skype... free and you can see each other

[lux.sh]

Originally Posted by Dwn2earth610

Skype... free and you can see each other

how is the voice quality on Skype? is there any "lag" between comments?

I tried VoIP like 5 years ago(when it started booming), but voice quality was really shitty and lag was too much.
I hope it got better between past 5 years...

[Kalin]

Of course VoIP relies on your internet connection, which will dictate to a point the voice and video quality. Between US and Korea it should be very good.

I've started using Google Talk here in Ethiopia because it uses less bandwidth than Skype, and I think the voice quality is better. However, with Google Talk you can't call to a landline like you can with Skype.

[clark192]

dude, use a VoIP system. I use Vonage at home, and as long as you have a Broadband connection you are set. Voice quality is good as long as there is enough bandwith to use. If you are dling, gaming, and surfing the internet while talking on the phone, of course it will cut out. I like 6,000 miles away from the US and use the Vonage here to call back to the states whenever I need to, and its like I am still in Virginia. It starts at $24.99 a month, plus $75 (I think?) for the setup stuff, router and the like. And you can check if they have any special deals for calling Korea, some places are 20c, some are 8c, etc.

What you should do is give the Vonage to your GF and have her take it to Korea. Buy it and set it up in the states, so its working, then have her take the router to Korea and plug it in there. Vonage thinks you are making a local call, and for only 24.99 a month you can call her day and night for no extra cost. Best way to do it, IMO.

[MCS]

I've used the following phone card (ordered off internet) in the past when traveling to asia/europe and its pretty cheap:

www.nobelcom.com

Gives several calling card options for each country

[inabis]

Originally Posted by clark192

dude, use a VoIP system. I use Vonage at home, and as long as you have a Broadband connection you are set. Voice quality is good as long as there is enough bandwith to use. If you are dling, gaming, and surfing the internet while talking on the phone, of course it will cut out. I like 6,000 miles away from the US and use the Vonage here to call back to the states whenever I need to, and its like I am still in Virginia. It starts at $24.99 a month, plus $75 (I think?) for the setup stuff, router and the like. And you can check if they have any special deals for calling Korea, some places are 20c, some are 8c, etc.

What you should do is give the Vonage to your GF and have her take it to Korea. Buy it and set it up in the states, so its working, then have her take the router to Korea and plug it in there. Vonage thinks you are making a local call, and for only 24.99 a month you can call her day and night for no extra cost. Best way to do it, IMO.

+10000000000 I do the same thing with my parents overseas...just make sure you set it up at your house and check to see if it works. Since Korea has fast internet you'll be straight

[clark192]

if you have any questions on how to go about doing this, just send me a PM :-)

[lux.sh]

Thank you for all the opinions guys. I might give Vonage a try. I was wondering though, I won't need Vonage service for like a year after I use it for one month.
Can I cancel it after a month, keep all the equipments and use it next year? (I know this sounds ridiculous. haha)
I really thought about the Vonage service for a long time, but I don't think its very cost effective if I just need it for a month. AHHHHHH.

Originally Posted by limited_slip

dude....you drive a M3 and you live at home with your parents so why are you complaining about $600 phone bill. You are a baller and ballers dont complain about phone bills.

I recommend you using a CB radio. here is the url: www.radioshack.com

Sorry there fella, I don't drive a M3. Thank you for the compliment however. And I live at home by myself. Have you ever heard of a saying "more money you earn, more greedy you get"? It doesn't matter if my income is a million a year, $600 for a friggin' cell phone bill a month is a ridiculous way to waste money and poor financial managing. No way I'll become rich as I want to if I spend my money like that. Ballers are posers who wants to be rich as hell. REALLY rich people care about how they manage each dollar. thats how they got rich, and becoming even more rich.

[ChineseGuy]

I work for telecommunication companies and some companies that use landlines/phone lines (not Voip) provide unlimited callings to overseas. Their prices range from 40-80 bucks a month. Off the top of my head i can't really tell you which company has those plans, because the one i'm working for doesn't. But if you do compare the quality, i do prefer phone lines over Voip.

You might want to ask a few big companies in your area and see what they can offer, because i'm sure most of them can help you come up with a plan specifically for Korea or some sort, and it will be under 100 bucks for sure.