what apps do you recommend for calling overseas from Thailand.

[worrab]

15 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

So I assume you must have researched this and come to this conclusion? I was going to look into switching over to teams but if it's business only then it's nearly useless. That would be very typical of Microsoft.

My brother in law uses it at work, Brinks. He says that it can only be used if the recipient is signed up to Teams as well. 
Nothing to say that you cannot use it for personal, as long as your friends will sign up to it as well.

Bloody inconsiderate of Microsoft as Skype was my go to in order to chat with my mother, now sadly deceased, on her landline. Also using it for calling pension companies in UK as well as HMRC. Will look in My Tello as recommended by other posters.

[garzhe]

Ive just switched to Yolla. Its slightly more expensive than skype but works well calling European landlines.

[DiDiChok]

Yes, Yolla is the best & is what I've swapped to now Skype is dying.

[Cat Boy]

22 hours ago, HighPriority said:

Is Viber still a thing ?

Yes, it is. 

 

I South Korea it is the #1 chat app, just as Line is in Thailand. 

 

But, more to the point, Line is the correct answer to the OPs query, whilst the central issue with Skype's demise is the ability to call land-line phones. 

 

(other chat apps like FB Messenger, WhatsApp, etc, connect well for mobile to mobile calls, be it voice or video, but do not connect to land-line phones, such as are still used by banks, credit card companies and government) 

 

Viper provides this capability and like Skype offers pre-paid credits either globally or for specific countries or, alter, an ongoing subscription service for those who make more frequent calls. 

[WDSmart]

I use Yolla... Cheap International Calls with Yolla Calling App 

[statman78]

2 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

That is simply not a helpful reply for the question the OP had. It is very difficult to get through to Wells Fargo customer service using Whatsapp. 

 

I use Fanytel. Their prices are reasonable for incoming and outgoing calls internationally, and they also have incoming and outgoing SMS which can be very convenient. Plus you're able to get a dedicated phone number. 

Spidermike,

 

it sounds like Fanytel is something that may work for me.  I need a US phone number at times to receive a verification code for purchases with my US credit card.  I also receive a SMS when I log in to my Us Social Security account.  At times I need to call my financial adviser or I need to pay bills via a phone call to the US.  In all cases I need a consistent US phone number.  Will Fanytel work?

[PB172111]

On 4/7/2025 at 3:41 PM, lamyai3 said:

I've had success with Mytello for landline calls with family - not tried it with banks or govt organisations etc yet. 

I agree that Mytello is a good app. I rang the UK Pension from Thailand. Waiting over an hour for them to answer then another 35 mins of chatting. 1 hour 35 mins all up…cost 35baht with no buffering. Plenty of other callls to OZ and UK…can definitely recommend

[Antifreeze]

4 hours ago, theoldgit said:

  
I’ve used for both and it worked fine.

Does Mytello support free 1-800 xxx-xxxx to the US & Canada as Skype did?

I use to contact banks or government. Sometimes you wait in queue for a long time. 

[PomPolo]

17 hours ago, worrab said:

Correct me if I am wrong, but info I have says that the person you are calling must be on Teams as well. This is why I am not bothering with it.

Teams is set up for businesses not for personal calls as was Skype. I consider it a really bad move on behalf of Microsoft to alienate personal calls.

The OP said :

On 4/7/2025 at 3:31 PM, stupidfarang said:

With SKYPE being closed down, what apps do you recommend for calling overseas from Thailand. I need to call banks, Goverment etc

 

[phetphet]

Not an app, but if you have a Thai phone number, you should be able to buy a discount package for cheap calls.

 

I am on AIS and when I need to call the UK  bannks, I buy one of their 003 packages. THB159 for 40mins to UK. Cheaper for some other countries. DTAC and others offer similar.

 

To dial UK you just put 003  in front of the international code.

So 00344(0) 123 456  7890 you drop the (0), becomes 00344 123 456 7890

 

https://www.ais.th/en/consumers/package/international/international-call/003

[mrmicbkktxl]

On 4/7/2025 at 1:07 PM, PomPolo said:

Your Skype credit will transfer to Teams with the same Microsoft ID and you can make calls and (I think) send SMS's from there - the main issue teams have is you can't have a Skype Number so someone can call or SMS you which is the main reason I am looking for something else, I will use Teams until I burn up my remaining Skype credit got about 20$ on there that should last me a year or two the amount of landlines I call

I have subscription  with Skype,they deduct every months 3Euros and I get unlimited calls to landlines to a specific county in Europe,and i still have 25euros call credit to call the rest of the world including mobile phones.

Will I get the same with Teams or do I have to look for another provider?important for me is calling landlines and mobile phone numbers in one specific country.

[stupidfarang]

18 hours ago, alanrchase said:

How often do you call? I call my bank three or four times a year and just use the 003 prefix with AIS. For relatives we all have WhatsApp. 

 

 

[JackGats]

Call.com ?

[stupidfarang]

I went with Viber, as I was calling a bank in the UK I need something to replace Skype. Viber was excellent, good connection from my mobile. I took the Euro 1.97 package for 100minutes, only thing is the 1.97 is a monthly charge which is cheap but I only call landlines (banks, Goverment Tax office etc) around 3 or 4 times a year. You can pause the subscription plan for 3 months and can do that 3 times in a year. 

 

I will check out MyTel and also the 003 Asis number but I think it may be a higher price compared to the other apps.

Thank you to everyone for their input on the subject, very helpful

[spidermike007]

16 hours ago, statman78 said:

Spidermike,

 

it sounds like Fanytel is something that may work for me.  I need a US phone number at times to receive a verification code for purchases with my US credit card.  I also receive a SMS when I log in to my Us Social Security account.  At times I need to call my financial adviser or I need to pay bills via a phone call to the US.  In all cases I need a consistent US phone number.  Will Fanytel work?

It works for me with a lot of various companies, some have a system that seem to detect that it's not a real cell phone number, so it doesn't work 100% of the time, but I have found it to be quite effective and it works great for calling and sending SMS messages back and forth. 

[statman78]

1 minute ago, spidermike007 said:

It works for me with a lot of various companies, some have a system that seem to detect that it's not a real cell phone number, so it doesn't work 100% of the time, but I have found it to be quite effective and it works great for calling and sending SMS messages back and forth. 

Thanks for the info!  I think I’ll give it a try 

[PomPolo]

1 hour ago, mrmicbkktxl said:

I have subscription  with Skype,they deduct every months 3Euros and I get unlimited calls to landlines to a specific county in Europe,and i still have 25euros call credit to call the rest of the world including mobile phones.

Will I get the same with Teams or do I have to look for another provider?important for me is calling landlines and mobile phone numbers in one specific country.

I stand corrected on this team just done a web search and can't see anything about existing Skype credit being transferred to teams, but there have been a few other AN topics on the go about Skype and fairly sure someone has said that previously it would which I think is where I got that idea from.

[Hamus Yaigh]

18 hours ago, DiDiChok said:

Yes, Yolla is the best

How do you know its the best? Have you made comparisons? The call rates on MyTello for example are much cheaper than Yolla? Is MyTello not any good? I haven't tried either yet as still got plenty of Skype credit to use up that will be transferred to Teams until it expires, in a few years?

[scorecard]

19 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

That is simply not a helpful reply for the question the OP had. It is very difficult to get through to Wells Fargo customer service using Whatsapp. 

 

I use Fanytel. Their prices are reasonable for incoming and outgoing calls internationally, and they also have incoming and outgoing SMS which can be very convenient. Plus you're able to get a dedicated phone number. 

Using Fanytel can I call any landline number in Australia without prior set up with that landline number?

[worrab]

3 hours ago, PomPolo said:

The OP said :

 

And your point is??

This was with reference to the app Teams! And answering about using Teams and the drawbacks! 

[spidermike007]

1 hour ago, scorecard said:

Using Fanytel can I call any landline number in Australia without prior set up with that landline number?

Yeah that's the thing that differentiates Fanytel apart from so many of these other systems, it's an independent standalone number just like Skype, and you can call any number anywhere in the world and you pay per minute, and the rates are fairly low, same applies to incoming calls and outgoing and incoming text messages. 

[Digitalbanana]

1 hour ago, PomPolo said:

I stand corrected on this team just done a web search and can't see anything about existing Skype credit being transferred to teams,

If you ask Co-Pilot it says a transition for Dial Pads with existing credit is planned for 5-May but with a potential roll out delay! If even mentions searching for alternative VoIP dial pad apps if you end up with a gap of no Dial pad service in Teams and Skype is closed. Go figure!

[bunnydrops]

This month I am trying textPlus to call the US as I want to have a dedicated US local phone number. I have used it calling the US, seems to work fine but it is a bit slow making the connection. I think you need to have your VPN set to a US server. It is about $5 a month if you pay monthly, but a whole lot cheaper if you pay for 6 or 12 months which also locks in your phone number. It may work for other countries too-- I didn't check.

 

I want to add that I haven't had anyone call me with this number yet---- maybe this evening.

Also it is an Android app

[isaanistical]

21 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

I loved Skype. I had a dedicated number for incoming and outgoing calls and I was able to call the US unlimited for $60 a year which was great. The only thing that's always been missing from Skype was voicemail. 

Skype was fine - that's why Msoft mess with it, it's in their DNA. Best of all was the number rental worldwide. I quite like the "fanytel" option cos of the name, but turns out it's only US/Canada and England numbers, which is no use  if you run business in places like Europe.

In my case I'm talking only a couple of calls a year, likewise calling from Skype is used only for emergencies, but that's just when you don't want to be fa*ting around trying to buy credits.

Seems like Mytello is the way to go for landlines (inc banks) but over several threads on AN, no-one seems to have solved the imponderable of renting a number in most countries. Would love to hear I am wrong!

[isaanistical]

Just looked at CALILO, apparently VOIP and virtual numbers. Got as far as pricing when I read:

 

"You are agreeing to receive marketing and sales communications, like promotional emails, messages, and calls, from Calilio. Call rates may apply."

 

Makes Msoft look almost moral................

[xylophone]

22 minutes ago, isaanistical said:

Seems like Mytello is the way to go for landlines (inc banks)

Thanks for the info and I am going to look at that shortly.

[impulse]

21 hours ago, worrab said:

My brother in law uses it at work, Brinks. He says that it can only be used if the recipient is signed up to Teams as well. 
Nothing to say that you cannot use it for personal, as long as your friends will sign up to it as well.

 

A lot of times, that kind of limitation is specific to company policy as opposed to Microsoft dictates.   My employers have often limited what I can do on company assets and through the company network.  It's probably programmable by the network administrator.

 

I got "the email" from Microsoft this past weekend and try to will move over to Teams as soon as I get to a location where the link isn't blocked like it is here in China.   I'll be in Thailand next week and give it a whirl (assuming I can do it from Thailand and not the USA where my MS account is billed)

 

The Skype features I rely on are caller ID set to my US cell number, and a per minute charge as opposed to a spendy subscription for a lot of features I don't need.  I'm still waiting to hear from someone who has actually made the switch on a personal account (as opposed to a business account)

[isaanistical]

15 minutes ago, impulse said:

The Skype features I rely on are caller ID set to my US cell number, and a per minute charge as opposed to a spendy subscription for a lot of features I don't need.  I'm still waiting to hear from someone who has actually made the switch on a personal account (as opposed to a business account)

I have just done it and got into "Teams"  - I am currently in BKK. Did a test call and that worked, but there is no mention visible of where my Skype credit (approxEUR26) has gone, how much they have already stolen or how I can use it. Why am I not surprised........

[rgrdns]

Hi...I'm using this app for many years 

VoipStunt | Incredibly low calling rates

[worrab]

1 hour ago, impulse said:

 

A lot of times, that kind of limitation is specific to company policy as opposed to Microsoft dictates.   My employers have often limited what I can do on company assets and through the company network.  It's probably programmable by the network administrator.

 

I got "the email" from Microsoft this past weekend and try to will move over to Teams as soon as I get to a location where the link isn't blocked like it is here in China.   I'll be in Thailand next week and give it a whirl (assuming I can do it from Thailand and not the USA where my MS account is billed)

 

The Skype features I rely on are caller ID set to my US cell number, and a per minute charge as opposed to a spendy subscription for a lot of features I don't need.  I'm still waiting to hear from someone who has actually made the switch on a personal account (as opposed to a business account)

I think you will find that it is not dictated by company policy. It is a case of ensuring the recipient of the call has also signed up to Teams as this is aimed more for the business user than personal. But it is still the case.

Seems a real mess to me having had Skype for many years and being so much easier. Just dial a landline number anywhere in the world and you were connected with no problems. 120 minutes a month for £9.67 a year under “grandfather rights”!