Need a inexpensive and reliable way to make international calls

[Scott123]

I plan to have a working holiday in Thailand (BKK) for a month, will stay at hotels there.

However, during my holiday in BKK, I will need to attend conference calls to the U.S.

I know most hotels provide internet service (either fee or no fee), and I should be able to make international calls via VOIP.

But I worry that some hotel internet are slow or not reliable, and the VOIP sound quality will not be good.

So I need a backup plan in case the hotel internet service is not acceptable.

The hotel land line is too expensive. I don't mind paying fair price for decent quality phone calls, but not at hotel land line price.

Does anyone know if there are phone cards I can buy at 7-11 for international calls, and how much do they cost?

Edited August 17, 2013 by Scott123

[Jiu-Jitsu]

Why not try a mobile phone?

[DavidMavec]

DTAC and TRUE, Two of the major mobile carriers offer very cheap international calls. Get a Sim card at the airport for your mobile phone and inquire about the dialing codes and so forth. It is very cheap and convenient and quality is decent. You l have to dial 004 or another combination before l the number but they will inform you better at the shop. You can refill your credit at any 7-Eleven or small shop.

[Curt1591]

7/11 sells CAT PhoneNet calling card PIN numbers for 200 baht. You don't get a "card", just the access number and PIN. PhoneNet gives you the US for 1 baht per minute. We have used it for years.

[Qman]

If you have a smart phone just get a SIM card and buy data package so can use Skype or other VOIP as back up to hotel. Can use hotel wifi on the phone or use phone company data service so either way VOIP works. I find the phone data connection can be better than wifi. AIS (1-2 Call) sells 20 hours for 100 baht so great for data services when outside free wifi locations.

[GrantSmith]

So Google decided to help you out with this advertisement...

https://secure.spikko.com/defaultB.aspx?utm_source=google&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=international_content_banners&gclid=CN__98vghLkCFeQ34godRgIAGQ

Might be worth looking further into... Or not...

[geezer2]

have a look at www.call2.com I use it to call uk

[MegaRanter]

In 7-11 ask for tookdee call card. Best rates even to obscure destinations.

[Satcommlee]

You can get reasonable rate by dialing prefix's on local mobile phone sim cards..

There are many 004, 009, 001 etc..

But Skype has never let me down, even on bad connections.

[Theo007]

I buy credit on Skype and use that for calls to international land lines and mobiles.

[stoli]

I can't believe how few people know about this new service. If you are from the U.S., you have seen all of the commercials for "MagicJack phone service for $19.95 a year." I know, the commercials are annoying. But, the good news is, they have come out with an absolutely FREE phone app. No advertising, just free calls from SouthEast Asia to anywhere in the U.S. and Canada. You will need Wi-Fi, but you will find the sound clarity and speed to be better than any Thai telephone company. They will even, for free, provide you a phone number that will allow users in the U.S. to call you here for free. Let your connections know that the number shown on call screening will show it coming from a number in Florida. At first my family did not answer their phone when I called because of this. At least it shows a Florida number when I call them, it might be different for you. They do not ask for credit card info, or anything. Just a great app. I think they call it "MagicJack for Free". Easy download.

[FritsSikkink]

I can't believe how few people know about this new service. If you are from the U.S., you have seen all of the commercials for "MagicJack phone service for $19.95 a year." I know, the commercials are annoying. But, the good news is, they have come out with an absolutely FREE phone app. No advertising, just free calls from SouthEast Asia to anywhere in the U.S. and Canada. You will need Wi-Fi, but you will find the sound clarity and speed to be better than any Thai telephone company. They will even, for free, provide you a phone number that will allow users in the U.S. to call you here for free. Let your connections know that the number shown on call screening will show it coming from a number in Florida. At first my family did not answer their phone when I called because of this. At least it shows a Florida number when I call them, it might be different for you. They do not ask for credit card info, or anything. Just a great app. I think they call it "MagicJack for Free". Easy download.

You will need Wi-Fi, but you will find the sound clarity and speed to be better than any Thai telephone company.

Why would the speed be better if you need Thai Wi-Fi.

[manarak]

VOIP works fine in most hotels.

The bandwidth required for VOIP is low, 54 kbps are more than enough.

Never really had a problem, except once when the hotel's internet connection was very weak. But no problem, just move to another place that offers wifi (restaurant, cafe), and you will be fine!

[chuang]

Go for the True card for local and inter calls...prefix starts with 00600xxxx....just ask the staff....rate can be as low as 1 baht...

[Issangeorge]

I can't believe how few people know about this new service. If you are from the U.S., you have seen all of the commercials for "MagicJack phone service for $19.95 a year." I know, the commercials are annoying. But, the good news is, they have come out with an absolutely FREE phone app. No advertising, just free calls from SouthEast Asia to anywhere in the U.S. and Canada. You will need Wi-Fi, but you will find the sound clarity and speed to be better than any Thai telephone company. They will even, for free, provide you a phone number that will allow users in the U.S. to call you here for free. Let your connections know that the number shown on call screening will show it coming from a number in Florida. At first my family did not answer their phone when I called because of this. At least it shows a Florida number when I call them, it might be different for you. They do not ask for credit  card info, or anything. Just a great app. I think they call it "MagicJack for Free". Easy download.

Stoli, thank you so much for that, just downloaded it and called a regular telephone in Canada and had a very clear connection, it was great. I also got a majicjack #, does this mean my friends in North America can call it and my phone will ring here and we can talk for free?

Sent from my i-mobile IQ 6 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[Issangeorge]

FritsSikkink, I can assure you I have made many calls to Canada using many methods and the free majicjack call I just made was the clearest I have made. The first couple of seconds had that echo I quite often get, and I thought hear (sp intended) we go again, but as fast as I thought that it went away and the call was very clear on both ends.

Sent from my i-mobile IQ 6 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[CPT]

Buy a Thai sim card and use that to call. There are prefixes that you can dial for various long distance services offering different rates, some with lower quality cost as little as one baht per minute,

Don't listen to folks suggesting voip. Relying on voip for important calls in a third world country is just asking for trouble especially if you have no idea what quality internet connection you may have. If you are participating in business related calls you don't have the option to hop over to a coffee shop or internet cafe when your voip connection doesn't work out unless you don't mind coming across as terribly unprofessional.

Edited August 18, 2013 by CPT

[DavidMavec]

I can't believe how few people know about this new service. If you are from the U.S., you have seen all of the commercials for "MagicJack phone service for $19.95 a year." I know, the commercials are annoying. But, the good news is, they have come out with an absolutely FREE phone app. No advertising, just free calls from SouthEast Asia to anywhere in the U.S. and Canada. You will need Wi-Fi, but you will find the sound clarity and speed to be better than any Thai telephone company. They will even, for free, provide you a phone number that will allow users in the U.S. to call you here for free. Let your connections know that the number shown on call screening will show it coming from a number in Florida. At first my family did not answer their phone when I called because of this. At least it shows a Florida number when I call them, it might be different for you. They do not ask for credit card info, or anything. Just a great app. I think they call it "MagicJack for Free". Easy download.

You don't actually need Wi-Fi, MagicJack works quite well over 3G on your phone; it is great for calls to the U.S. and Canada but does not work for anywhere else.

[razorramone]

Try Skype. You do not need a super fast connection to make a call. I call UK landlines at something silly like 4 baht a minute.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

You don't actually need Wi-Fi, MagicJack works quite well over 3G on your phone; it is great for calls to the U.S. and Canada but does not work for anywhere else.

No, that's not correct... The FREE calling that comes as part of the MJ service is just to U.S. and Canada phone numbers...

They also have paid, per minute rates that you can use with MJ to any other country. But, those rates aren't especially competitive compared to Skype minutes, etc.

But really, MJ is a different issue....since it's just one of many data/internet based calling options, including using Google Voice, Skype, NetTalk, etc... They're all relying on either a wifi or mobile data connection.

The alternative to all of those is using one of the Thai mobile network calling services that can have pretty decent regular phone call rates to the U.S. and elsewhere. For business purposes, even though the data/Interner\t-based services work great most of the time, regular phone calling might be more reliable.

Last time I checked, TrueMove was still offering their prepaid InterSIM package that can be purchased at 7/11s with a calling rate to the U.S. of 1 baht+ per minute.

http://truemoveh.truecorp.co.th/international_services/value_added_services/entry/598

But for my personal use, at home in LOS, I use Magic Jack with my home wifi network, which works great pretty much 100% of the time. Likewise GoogleVoice with the Android app GrooveIP Lite works great. So does Skype most of the time. But all of those rely on my home True Cable Internet connection, which is plenty sufficient for voice data communication.

The problem and question raised by the OP is not knowing whether his various hotel wifi setups will be up to the task.

PS - I've also used the MagicJack Android app on my Android smartphones... And while it's calling works fine, the app has a couple of quirks that many users have found undesirable. 1. While running, it seems to suck down an inordinate amount of battery power, causing your phone to die prematurely. 2. The app has no "exit" button or command, meaning you have to force quit to get out of it.

In the smartphone arena, I've found a U,S. Google Voice account combined with the GrooveIP Lite app to be a much better alternative, and one that doesn't drain the battery of your smartphone.

Edited August 22, 2013 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[lomatopo]

A calling card, used on the hotel's telephone, assuming they give free local access, or on a mobile, would do the trick.

Most of the local calling cards offer free local access, from any phone, fixed or mobile. Some offer call-back service.

http://www.thaitelephone.com/EN/calling-card/thailand/catphonenet/index.php

Using VoIP over 3G is silly; you'll pay more for data than if you called direct. VoIP over a shared internet connection, will probably not be reliable. If you have a dedicated broadband line then VoIP would work fine.

You could also ask someone in the U.S., who is part of the call, to conference you in - we do not pay for incoming calls here, or you could ask the bridging service to ring you, and add you.

And you could get an AT&T calling card, with rates from $0.06 to $0.21 per minute (Thailand to the U.S.) and use one of the free local AT&T access numbers (or even call in to the bridging service or a colleague collect). The local, free (no charge, even from a mobile) AT&T numbers here in Thailand are:

1-800-0001-33

001-999-111-11

Edited August 23, 2013 by lomatopo

[FritsSikkink]

FritsSikkink, I can assure you I have made many calls to Canada using many methods and the free majicjack call I just made was the clearest I have made. The first couple of seconds had that echo I quite often get, and I thought hear (sp intended) we go again, but as fast as I thought that it went away and the call was very clear on both ends.

Sent from my i-mobile IQ 6 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

I have a 1 2 call sim card and use 009. No echo at all and very clear.