Need Some Help - Calling Thailand...

[robertg]

Hi all!

I'll be leaving for Thailand in about 1 month and I need a cheap way for my family to keep in touch with me. Since AT&T is... let's say not that affordable for international calls, I was thinking to get some calling cards. But since there are so many companies out there, and a lot not so reliable or even just scams, I was wondering if you could tell me what would be my best option... Do you know/have you used any good calling cards? I'd prefer to buy them online...

Thanks for the answers.

[loong]

Hi

At the moment you can telephone from UK to Thai landline or mobile for 1 penny per minute.

It is routed thru a company called telesavers.

You dial 08448 615 615

This will connect you to the router, you then dial the number including international code (00 66) miss off the 1st zero of the Thai number, press hash and you get thru after a short wait.

I am using it now, quite clear line and no delay

I have the numbers entered on speed dial to save dialling loads of numbers.

This is supposed to be a limited offer, but I have been using them for 2 months now.

Telestunt are also a good company 4 p per min landline 5 p per min mobile.

You are charged for these calls on your BT phone bill, so no prepayment necessary.

Hope this helps

[loong]

PS

When the router answers and tells you the cost of the call and then asks you to enter the number, you don't have to wait just dial the Thai number and hash.

If for some reason the call fails the voice will come on again and you can re-enter the number. no need to replace handset.

[Serendipitist]

Telesavers - was great many many times until one day, almost four months ago (& no joy since then at all!), a cheery female voice proudly started proclaiming:

"Unfortunately. But due to capacity problems, it is currently not possible to make use of this service..." Grrrrrr!!!

Have tried calling from two different fixed line numbers, so it's not just my number that's gone FUBAR :-(

But it's very surprising, nonetheless, to see that someone can still call using - them...

Telestunt - agreed, they're the next best thing if the above applies to you too. Albeit, I'm a skyper normally :-)

[lukamar]

We have used Yak Communications for years.

http://www.yak.com/en/

for phone callse Canada to Thailand isn't dirt cheap but very reasonable and you can get through about 99.9% of the time. It also is availabe to the US. No hidden charges comes on your phone bill and no surcharge to a mobile phoine either.

[KhunPadThai]

Ok..so probably the best deal that you can find is with a prepaid calling card.I researched for several months the best option available since due to my activity I need to call A LOT outside US (especially in Asia).The cards have low rates and you don't need the hassle involved with a regular phone company (bills,papers, etc...)

I like them  since are so easy to use and I can order them from anywhere. The best website that I found until now is http://www.callingcardshome.com

There are also other options but...since I'm in a hurry...Send me a private message

Take care ...bye

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[KhunPadThai]

I use onesuite.com. From the US they are 10.5 cents per minute to Thailand, prepaid. Quality is mostly ok, but sometimes you can call and some calls get dropped. Packete8, the voip service, gets 8 cents per minute to Thailand after the USD 19.95 per month for basic service. I am tempted to try them, but I wonder about the latency issue.

Khun Pad Thai

[robertg]

Hi all and thanks for the answers...

I've looked up all the websites you recommended and indeed there are some good options out there. I have decided to get a calling card from www.callingcardshome.com (the one that digitalwolf recommended - Thanks!) as it seemed very easy to use and the website was very self explanatory so you didn't have to spend a lot of time to decide and to search for details... I'll try also a card to call long distance within US as I have to make some calls for the holiday season before I leave...

I'll post a review as soon as I use it.

Thanks again!

[loong]

RobertQ

When posting a question it is always a good idea to give your location. Obviously if you are in USA, UK telephone companies are no use to you, so you will get a lot of replies that are not relevant to you

[Ken]

RobertQ

When posting a question it is always a good idea to give your location. Obviously if you are in USA, UK telephone companies are no use to you, so you will get a lot of replies that are not relevant to you

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You got that right. And there is another topic in the "Internet, Computers, Communication...." area of the forum which had quite a few good thoughts specifically on calls from the US to Thailand. Here is the link to that thread.

Calls from US to Thailand

[robertg]

Thanks for the tip! And I just updated my profile...