International Phone Calls From Cr To Landline Europe

[YoungerBrother]

Hi there,

I infrequently have to make phone calls to Europe which are landline numbers. Those are non-Skype numbers like government offices, hospitals, etc.

I think I have several options for calling landlines into Europe.

1) Buy an international calling card :

Where in CR is a good place to buy such a card and what brand/card is good value afterall ? Since I do not need to call often the card should have no expiration date. Someone on this forum spoke highly of a CAT pre-paid card, but did not mention the initial purchase price or where he got it.

2) Find a shop that offers world-wide landline calls :

Know any good places with good voice quality and not expensive ?

3) Find out how to make VoIP calls to landlines into Europe :

I know there a companies offering this on a pre-paid basis, but my internet connection is like a box of chocolate ...

VoIP would stress luck too much I guess.

Happy to take your advice.

Many thanks,

YB

[Jahil]

try www.voipbuster.com

With a minimum amount deposit, calls to landlines in a lot of countries are free of charge.

And it works great

Hi there,

I infrequently have to make phone calls to Europe which are landline numbers. Those are non-Skype numbers like government offices, hospitals, etc.

I think I have several options for calling landlines into Europe.

1) Buy an international calling card :

Where in CR is a good place to buy such a card and what brand/card is good value afterall ? Since I do not need to call often the card should have no expiration date. Someone on this forum spoke highly of a CAT pre-paid card, but did not mention the initial purchase price or where he got it.

2) Find a shop that offers world-wide landline calls :

Know any good places with good voice quality and not expensive ?

3) Find out how to make VoIP calls to landlines into Europe :

I know there a companies offering this on a pre-paid basis, but my internet connection is like a box of chocolate ...

VoIP would stress luck too much I guess.

Happy to take your advice.

Many thanks,

YB

[naamjai]

i am using skype for phone calls to Europe.

http://www.skype.com/intl/en/allfeatures/subscriptions/

for 3.95 euro per month (select your country):

" Calls to phones and mobiles and Skype To Go* calls are included in your subscription subject to a fair usage limit of 10,000 minutes per user

per month, with a maximum of 6 hours per day. Also, no more than 50 different numbers in total can be called per day. If your subscription includes

more than one country, then this is the total amount of minutes allowed per month on your account, and is not a separate limit for each country."

i am happy with skype!

[schlomo]

best choice for you would be:

http://www.deedial.com/web2/en/home.php

Brgds

[soap]

i buy the C.A.T international phone card from their office not far from overbrook hospital.

it works out at less than 2 baht per minute to phone the UK landline to landline,the cards cost 300 or 500 baht

and are valid for one year,the voice quality is excellent.

BTW

their fax cards are also excellent value,i bought a 100 baht fax card from them,they sent the one page fax for me

when i checked the balance left on the card it was 87baht valid for one year

[wileycoyote]

I agree with soap,the cards work well and are good value.

[brianmarinus]

Hello!

I cant tell you about cards but I just dial+008 and then the country code and the number+and it is around 4 baht to Denmark pr.min.

Brian

[mcgriffith]

I'll vote for the CAT card.

It is a Thai gov't agency that has a monopoly on IDD (international direct dial). Other cards either route through CAT, or use a VoIP connect.

Buy them at Tops, Seven, wherever.

I pay 1 B/minute to the US, it's perhaps a different rate to UK, EU, etc.

When I first came, I used Skype, but due to dodgy internet connect, I quickly found the CAT card to be a way better option, with no drop offs, echo, etc.

As they say- your mileage may vary.

If you have a mobile, you dial 1544. It uses up no airtime on the mobile.

Then you dial your PIN, and the number you're calling (009, country code, etc).

Clear as a bell, 1 B/min. Check it out.

[crev]

If you can use a VoIP, try Onesuite VoIP, around 2 cents ($) to call European countries and 2.5 cents to US. That's 0.65 Baht and 0.80 Baht per minute respectively.

It can be use with or without a computer and its prepaid which means no monthly plans and you can quit anytime.

[dindong]

Using google translator you can just about make your way around this website.

http://www.contactcenter.cattelecom.com/th...nfo.asp#anchor6

[kandahar]

I'll vote for the CAT card.

It is a Thai gov't agency that has a monopoly on IDD (international direct dial). Other cards either route through CAT, or use a VoIP connect.

Buy them at Tops, Seven, wherever.

I pay 1 B/minute to the US, it's perhaps a different rate to UK, EU, etc.

When I first came, I used Skype, but due to dodgy internet connect, I quickly found the CAT card to be a way better option, with no drop offs, echo, etc.

As they say- your mileage may vary.

If you have a mobile, you dial 1544. It uses up no airtime on the mobile.

Then you dial your PIN, and the number you're calling (009, country code, etc).

Clear as a bell, 1 B/min. Check it out.

Looks like you finally pulled one over on me.

I tried the CAT International Calling Card, from 7 Eleven. 200 baht. 20 minutes and 47 seconds of calling time.

Edit- Maybe there are different CAT International cards and I bought the wrong one.

I'll keep searching for a better deal.

Edited April 13, 2010 by kandahar

[soap]

I'll vote for the CAT card.

It is a Thai gov't agency that has a monopoly on IDD (international direct dial). Other cards either route through CAT, or use a VoIP connect.

Buy them at Tops, Seven, wherever.

I pay 1 B/minute to the US, it's perhaps a different rate to UK, EU, etc.

When I first came, I used Skype, but due to dodgy internet connect, I quickly found the CAT card to be a way better option, with no drop offs, echo, etc.

As they say- your mileage may vary.

If you have a mobile, you dial 1544. It uses up no airtime on the mobile.

Then you dial your PIN, and the number you're calling (009, country code, etc).

Clear as a bell, 1 B/min. Check it out.

Looks like you finally pulled one over on me.

I tried the CAT International Calling Card, from 7 Eleven. 200 baht. 20 minutes and 47 seconds of calling time.

Edit- Maybe there are different CAT International cards and I bought the wrong one.

I'll keep searching for a better deal.

You should go to the MAIN C.A.T office (not far from Overbrook hospital) you can buy 300 Baht International phone card that you can use

to phone the UK for less than 2 Baht per minute,used them for over 3 years without a problem

[kandahar]

I'll vote for the CAT card.

It is a Thai gov't agency that has a monopoly on IDD (international direct dial). Other cards either route through CAT, or use a VoIP connect.

Buy them at Tops, Seven, wherever.

I pay 1 B/minute to the US, it's perhaps a different rate to UK, EU, etc.

When I first came, I used Skype, but due to dodgy internet connect, I quickly found the CAT card to be a way better option, with no drop offs, echo, etc.

As they say- your mileage may vary.

If you have a mobile, you dial 1544. It uses up no airtime on the mobile.

Then you dial your PIN, and the number you're calling (009, country code, etc).

Clear as a bell, 1 B/min. Check it out.

Looks like you finally pulled one over on me.

I tried the CAT International Calling Card, from 7 Eleven. 200 baht. 20 minutes and 47 seconds of calling time.

Edit- Maybe there are different CAT International cards and I bought the wrong one.

I'll keep searching for a better deal.

You should go to the MAIN C.A.T office (not far from Overbrook hospital) you can buy 300 Baht International phone card that you can use

to phone the UK for less than 2 Baht per minute,used them for over 3 years without a problem

Okay. I'll give it a try. Thanks.

[mcgriffith]

It seems there are CAT calling cards that are country or region specific.

I took another look at my card; it said in the 2nd dark grey bar on the back side, down towards the bottom: "Calls from USA to Thailand".

Voila. There are multiple CAT cards. BTW, do not buy the ones intended for use in public phones.

I went to Tops customer service counter in CM, said: "CAT card for calling USA".

They sold it to me (300 B card, 1 B minute to US) many months ago. I still have about 1/2 of the time left, and I have done calculations after calls to be sure I'm getting the rate stated above.

BTW, be sure to dial 009 after the PIN to get the rate I'm talking about.

If you dial the other access port (00 I-don't-know-what), you are on the CAT gateway for both voice and data generally used by businesses/corporations. Very high quality connect, but super overkill for a simple phone call.

Good luck, and hope you find the right card, kandahar!

[kandahar]

It seems there are CAT calling cards that are country or region specific.

I took another look at my card; it said in the 2nd dark grey bar on the back side, down towards the bottom: "Calls from USA to Thailand".

Voila. There are multiple CAT cards. BTW, do not buy the ones intended for use in public phones.

I went to Tops customer service counter in CM, said: "CAT card for calling USA".

They sold it to me (300 B card, 1 B minute to US) many months ago. I still have about 1/2 of the time left, and I have done calculations after calls to be sure I'm getting the rate stated above.

BTW, be sure to dial 009 after the PIN to get the rate I'm talking about.

If you dial the other access port (00 I-don't-know-what), you are on the CAT gateway for both voice and data generally used by businesses/corporations. Very high quality connect, but super overkill for a simple phone call.

Good luck, and hope you find the right card, kandahar!

I'll check it out.

The card I bought says in the second grey bar on the back of the card: "Call from Abroad to Thailand". It doesn't say "USA" anywhere on it.

I asked only for their "International Calling Card" and it does say "International Calling Card" on the front of the thing.

The bad news is, a guy can't see what it says on the back of the card without opening the package, which probably requires a purchase first.

I'll be more specific with them next time. Maybe they know the difference at customer service at the large Tops store here in CR. The small Tops at Edison's doesn't carry any CAT international phone cards and I went to three 7 Eleven's before I found this one.

Probably, I'll just check with the CAT main office, as Soap suggested.

Edited April 14, 2010 by kandahar

[hotbullet]

I have a chip that attach to sim card.. very cheap and convenient if you plan to stay long long time in thailand it is worth,, contact me to see how it works.