Skyping to land lines--possible within Thailand?

[hougourou]

I have a massive number of phone calls to make and thought of using Skype to call land lines throughout Thailand. I get as far as paying for the credit on their website, but it stops there, and doesn't charge my Paypal account.

A friend told me Skype to phones is illegal in Thailand--could that be the problem?

Any suggestions greatly appreciated.

[CaptHaddock]

No problem. I have done it from time to time. I pay with a credit card and payment has always gone smoothly. Maybe a problem with your paypal account. Try something else.

[peterjackson]

I use both Skype and Viber Out to call Thai landlines and cell/mobiles, without any issues. I do find the overall call quality much better with Viber Out, compared to Skype.

[CaptHaddock]

I use both Skype and Viber Out to call Thai landlines and cell/mobiles, without any issues. I do find the overall call quality much better with Viber Out, compared to Skype.

That's interesting. Skype quality has deteriorated badly lately, but I have put off trying alternatives, because skype is still so widely used. How is the quality of viber out on computer-to-computer calls? And the video quality? Do you call the US? If so, how is the quality from here to there?

[peterjackson]

From computer to computer, you would use Viber, the calls are free. Viber Out is their service to connect to landlnes and cell/mobiles. Very low cost and no per call connection charges like on Skype. I have called both landlines and cells in the USA, without issue. The receiving party gets the Caller ID of the # you used when setting your Viber account up, regardless of the Sim in your handset at the time of calling. Obviously you can also use Viber Out from your PC too.

WhatsApp calls are also very clear, but you can only call an existing WhatsApp user presently.

[Sparkles]

We use Skype for calls to land lines within Thailand no problem.Load up account by credit card.

Some Skype customers, like us, are having problems with guys shown in military uniform asking to be on their contact list.

Skype seem incapable of stopping them,we get about 6 a day, and the support forum is full of complaints but there is no one at Skype you can actually talk to.

We will switch soon if that is not addressed,call quality remains patchy.

[hougourou]

Thanks for these replies--I tried Viber Out, and the situation was similar Skype-webpages stop loading when you try to buy credit. Strange.

[bangmai]

I use Google Hangouts....it's free to call US numbers (and Canada)....land and mobiles are 2 us cents per minute to Thailand...doesn't matter where you are. People with Eurozone billing addresses have to pay 19% VAT. Oh, and Google gives you a number for free.

[Konini]

We use Skype for calls to land lines within Thailand no problem.Load up account by credit card.

Some Skype customers, like us, are having problems with guys shown in military uniform asking to be on their contact list.

Skype seem incapable of stopping them,we get about 6 a day, and the support forum is full of complaints but there is no one at Skype you can actually talk to.

We will switch soon if that is not addressed,call quality remains patchy.

VoipDiscount is pretty much the same as Skype, but it has free calls to landlines pretty much everywhere in the world and to mobiles in a lot of countries now - Thailand and Malaysia are on the list. Reasonable use limits apply, but it's perfect for personal use.

We keep Skype only as backup for when VoipDiscount isn't working well, but very rarely have to use it.

[hougourou]

We use Skype for calls to land lines within Thailand no problem.Load up account by credit card.

Some Skype customers, like us, are having problems with guys shown in military uniform asking to be on their contact list.

Skype seem incapable of stopping them,we get about 6 a day, and the support forum is full of complaints but there is no one at Skype you can actually talk to.

We will switch soon if that is not addressed,call quality remains patchy.

VoipDiscount is pretty much the same as Skype, but it has free calls to landlines pretty much everywhere in the world and to mobiles in a lot of countries now - Thailand and Malaysia are on the list. Reasonable use limits apply, but it's perfect for personal use.

We keep Skype only as backup for when VoipDiscount isn't working well, but very rarely have to use it.

Eureka, with your help, Konini. After Skype and Viber consistently refused my money VOIP Discount works fine!. Thanks very much to all who responded.

[Konini]

Glad to hear that you've got it sorted, we've been using it several times a week for the last 7 years or so, I even use it to send my SMS as it's far easier to type than hit the correct tiny keypad on the phone. The quality is sometimes really bad - just hang up and redial to get another line. I think mobile calls are free in US and Canada as well.

[bangmai]

Glad to hear that you've got it sorted, we've been using it several times a week for the last 7 years or so, I even use it to send my SMS as it's far easier to type than hit the correct tiny keypad on the phone. The quality is sometimes really bad - just hang up and redial to get another line. I think mobile calls are free in US and Canada as well.

I tried it. It appears you may have to buy credits to make the free calls. I called my mobile here, and that worked, then it wouldn't let me save the number...said it was invalid, even though it was in international format. Then I ried again, and it said your free day has expired....I'm not going to bother with the small print, but if your credits are good for a year, and you only have to buy 10 usd....then it would be OK. Meanwhile, I've never added money to my Google account, and you could often hear a pin drop on the free calls to the US.

[Konini]

Sorry, yes you have to have an account with money in. As soon as you put 5 Euro or so in, you get 120 free days. If you put another 5 in next week you get another 120. If you haven't had to make another payment because you haven't made any calls you have to pay for, when your free days expire you just have to put another 5 Euro into the account to trigger another 120 days. We went through a stage a few months ago where we had to call mobiles in UK a lot - several times a day - and we have more than 900 free days which is about 2.5 years. The credit doesn't expire. We've also gone through a period of over a year when we haven't made many calls to mobiles so almost all of the calls we were making were free. Even though it said it doesn't expire, I was fully expecting them to (this was in our first year of using it) and I checked the balance a month or so after the 365 anniversary of the last payment - free days were still there and there was still almost 2 Euro credit in the account.

The free calls to land lines and mobiles in Thailand are what first grabbed me, even though we didn't live in Thailand at the time and were only here a few months of the year. Then I discovered that the calls to mobiles and sending SMS were cheaper than Skype (I honestly don't know if they still are as I haven't checked it for years, but some countries were borderline and some countries were actually more expensive than on Skype, I don't remember which because they were countries that we never phoned but I think Vietnam was one of them).

We've been happy with them for more years than I like to think about nowadays. I've never tried the free person to person thing through the computer, we just use it as our home phone that we can also use when we're on holiday. If anyone from overseas wants to phone us, they send a text message to our mobile phones and we either phone them back or send a message saying we're not home or in a wifi spot (the Android app works great with free wifi) and we'll get back to the later. I don't know if you can have a number with them that other people can dial - we had one with Skype for years, to be honest it was the only reason we kept the Skype account on, we had a numer in both Australia and UK and our families knew that was our emergency number whilst we were travelling without a base and it was so hard to get them to understand that they could call us whenever they wanted and it would only cost them a local phone call but to look at the time difference if they just wanted a chat and not wake us up in the middle of the night unless it was an emergency that didn't want to change it.

My keyboard is going very strangely - it's either on it's way out or there's a virus bogeyman lurking. Ah well, it was time to reinstall Windows and have a nice clean start anyway.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

I use both Skype and Viber Out to call Thai landlines and cell/mobiles, without any issues. I do find the overall call quality much better with Viber Out, compared to Skype.

Here's ViberOut's current calling rates for Thailand... Not especially good compared to others.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Skype's pay as you go rates (pay by the minute) to Thailand are comparable, but their packaged minutes purchase rates are much lower:

In comparison, I didn't see any calling minute packages offered by ViberOut, only per minute pricing.

Edited September 18, 2015 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Google Voice's calling to Thai numbers would appear to be better than both ViberOut and Skype pay as you go, but not better than Skype's calling packages.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

VoipDiscount is pretty much the same as Skype, but it has free calls to landlines pretty much everywhere in the world and to mobiles in a lot of countries now - Thailand and Malaysia are on the list. Reasonable use limits apply, but it's perfect for personal use.

I'll give VoipDiscount a try... They do have an app that can be downloaded from the Google Play Store. And, afaict, to use any of the more common payment methods, you need to top up at least 10 Euros, which worked out to about $12.40 U.S. right now.

They do advertise "free" calls for the 120 day period to both mobiles and landlines in the U.S. and Thailand, but it seems not entirely clear just what volume of those "free" calls they'll support before they start trying to charge their per minute rates.

[Konini]

I've used them for enough years to know that they are reliable, and you really do get your free days.

5,000 hours a month is not calling family and friends, that's more running a business heavy on phone calls to get to 83 hours a month. I've never tracked our usage, but my mum, his mum, and whatever friends or other family we call would never exceed 3 hours a week, including several short calls to each other on our mobiles, I'd say not even 15 hours a month and I think that we're what you would call fairly average.

Minimum top up fee is neither here nor there really (it used to be 5 Euro, it must have gone up but I don't notice as it is on automatic recharge), you will use it up eventually (our credit goes mainly on sending SMS's, which is almost 100% of the time because it's easier), it just builds up otherwise and sits in your account until you do use it - there is no expiry or time limit on it. When we first got it about 8 years ago I went well over a year not really using it and it was still there. The only other time we use credit up is when calling mobile numbers in Aus or UK and I think the 1300 numbers in Aus have a small charge because their purpose is to direct you to the nearest branch/location and if you aren't in the country it sends you to a national number which isn't free, same with the freecall 1800 numbers. Always best to get the 'overseas caller' number, but it can be like pulling teeth as a lot of companies don't want to give it out.

[LivinLOS]

I use both Skype and Viber Out to call Thai landlines and cell/mobiles, without any issues. I do find the overall call quality much better with Viber Out, compared to Skype.

That's interesting. Skype quality has deteriorated badly lately, but I have put off trying alternatives, because skype is still so widely used. How is the quality of viber out on computer-to-computer calls? And the video quality? Do you call the US? If so, how is the quality from here to there?

Since MS bought skype I found the UI and call quality got worse. The bloat of the app increased and generally became less appealing.

I far prefer google hangouts for video conferencing.. I made sure all my biz partners have a high end video cam (logitch HD ones are clear.. and they make a 'tv friendly'one for my technophobe father) and group video conferences with those are superb.

The fact its all built into the google gmail interface, and I set up and use google enterprise features for our comms systems makes it just a no brainer. IM, Calls, Video calls, Document sharing and collaboration, screen casting, etc etc..

Google FTW.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

I've used them for enough years to know that they are reliable, and you really do get your free days.

I wasn't really commenting above on whether VOIPDiscount is reliable, since at that point I hadn't made a call with them.

I was raising the question of just how much usage they'll allow for their "free" U.S. and Thailand calling, after someone has paid them to gain the free days calling, before they start trying to charge a per minute fee, as they mention in their ** message that I copied above.

FWIW, my wife calls her Mom here in LOS a lot, and last month on Skype, she managed to rack up about 1800 minutes of calling -- which all was covered under Skype's Unlimited World Plan, which I had been paying $9.99 a month for, but which now is priced at $13.99. So, will be interesting to see how VOIPDiscount responds to that level of calling activity.

Meanwhile, I did make a first call with VOIPDiscount this morning to a Bangkok 02 business number using their mobile app on my Android phone. I could hear the other party loud and clear throughout the call. But several times during the call, the other party said they were having trouble hearing me.

To be fair, though, my wife also has been complaining to me lately that her Skype calls with Mom are continually dropping during the call, and she's having to re-call/call back quite often.

In comparison, I use a MagicJack device here at home on my main PC to handle all of my U.S. phone calling. And, apart from a period when our True Online service was having extended problems (since resolved), those calls now are back to being fine and clear on both ends.

MagicJack is quite a good deal for U.S. calling, since you pay a yearly fee and get pretty much unlimited free calling to the U.S. and Canada, plus the advantage of your own selected U.S. phone number for incoming calls (which a lot of the other services don't provide), and lately, they've also added/included in and outbound SMS messaging via their mobile apps as part of their annual service.

MagicJack also offers calling to other countries (apart from the U.S. and Canada) for an extra price by purchasing international calling credits from them. Unfortunately, when I checked last night, their per minute fees for handling calls to Thailand numbers are REALLY high -- much higher than any of the other calling options I posted rates on above. So they're definitely not a solution for making calls to Thai numbers.

We'll see how VOIPDiscount handles the need for calling to Thai numbers...

Edited September 19, 2015 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[Konini]

Point taken, but bear in mind that we've got apples and oranges - the VOIP calls are free (up to whatever limit, and nobody buy them know what the limit is as they don't publish it).

I suppose the only way you'd know what your quota is - they used to call it reasonable usage but that may have changed - would be to go over it; very strictly monitor length of calls and keep an eye on the screen when starting each call which tells you how much the call cost per minute is (I think it doesn't come up until you're connected) and when it moves from free to a couple of cents, that's the limit. Then you would only need to figure out if it's a daily, weekly or monthly limit and on which exact day it clocks over - it's almost as if they don't want us to know, eh?

One hour each and every day (1,800 minutes a month) may be asking too much for free, I really don't know. We can get up to an hour a day between us once a week, maybe twice at a stretch but that isn't usual and as I said, I guesstimate about 3 hours per week, 4 at most and that would likely be Christmas week. It will be interesting to see how you go, please let us know if you remember.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Definitely plan to keep track of how things go with VOIPDiscount.

Skype made it very easy to see your monthly total minutes usage. I'll have to check and see how/where the same is reachable in VOIPDiscount.

As I said, my wife talks to her Mom A LOT! That's why I don't want her running up those calls on our regular Thai mobile service voice calling plans

Edited September 19, 2015 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[LivinLOS]

As I said, my wife talks to her Mom A LOT! That's why I don't want her running up those calls on our regular Thai mobile service voice calling plans

If your wife really talks that much.. Is it not cheaper to make sure the mother has a net connection and let them VoIP talk ?? Cut out the phone call part 100%.

A 3G data pack can be just a few 100b a month.. a smartphone that can do viber or line calling is a couple 1000b now.. Then you never have to think about it, or monitor minutes, or have any ongoing costs at all beyond the data pack.

When we are out of Thailand my missus calls her family with line or viber.. Even her aging aunt has a 3g capable smartphone and talks on that.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Yes.... already thought of that a fair amount, re calling to her Mom...

But, right now, the Mom doesn't have a smart phone, just an old simple Nokia phone. And right now, they have no internet service at the parent's home.

So, to get to the more modern approach to volume calling, we'd need to buy a smartphone for Mom (whom I not sure would know what to do with it), and then arrange and pay for some monthly internet service at their home.

In the end, it probably remains cheaper and simpler to just keep the Skype Unlimited World plan for my wife for $14 a month, she can call to her heart's content, and Mom can keep her current phone. Just the monthly internet service we'd need to add at the parent's home is going to cost more per month than our current Skype subscription -- leaving aside the other cost of buying a more modern phone for the Mom.

Hard as it may seem for some of us here to remember, there are still people in this world (and the country here) who go about their daily business without ever touching or relying on the Internet for anything...

Edited September 20, 2015 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Definitely plan to keep track of how things go with VOIPDiscount.

Skype made it very easy to see your monthly total minutes usage. I'll have to check and see how/where the same is reachable in VOIPDiscount.

Well, apparently "free days" for free calls to Thailand numbers aren't quite so free under VOIPDiscount's system.

A couple of days after having installed it on my wife's mobile phone, I checked the account yesterday and found they had already started deducting from her original 10 Euro balance. It's now down to 7.76 after just a few days' use by my wife, exclusively for Thailand to Thailand mobile calls.

And just to be clear, for the record, her call pattern tends to be half hour to hour long calls with her Mom. So perhaps the billing drawdown would not occur if the customer was only making calls of a few minutes at a time. But clearly for longer calls, free isn't exactly free.

[Konini]

Our calls to UK are usually around the 30 minute mark, but there are only 2 or 3 of them a week. Calls to mobiles in Thailand are probalby more often, but only a few minutes at a time and we've never been charged for either. I can only suspect the volume of calls are too high for the free offering.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Just a bit of an update re our experience with VOIPDiscount.

My wife used the service for the past two weeks for her Thailand to Thailand Mom calling, and in that two week period, for whatever reasons, her account's original 10 Euros funding balance dropped to about 6.50. So at that rate, she'd need to top up another 10 Euros about every six weeks.

That's not all that bad a price for heavy Thailand calling (compared to the other provider prices listed above in this thread), but it's also not "free" as the provider claims in their information.

Unlike Skype, as far as I could find, I didn't see any easy way to get a monthly or weekly total on the volume of calling minutes a person uses on the VOIPDiscount service. You can can download your call history with them, but then would have to manually or via a spreadsheet total up all your call times for a given period. I didn't do that.

Another option that I'm probably going to try next month is AIS has a particular add-on package to their mobile service where you can call any SINGLE Thai number for 25 satang per minute, rate valid on all Thai networks and 24/7, for the calling time price plus a monthly flat charge of (I believe) 150 baht.

When I ran some scenarios, the AIS package can work out to be as economical or better than the Skype $13.99 plus tax Unlimited World plan, but with the obvious restriction that the benefit is only going to work for calls to a single Thai number.

[Konini]

Thanks for remembering to update; although I'm happy with them, this may be very useful to people in future.

If the calls are an hour a day, the AIS would work out at 15 baht/day or 450 baht/month plus the 150. If you were on the South Pacific Peso (AKA the Aussie dollar) you'd be better off staying on Skype, depends on your currency.

Also, I don't think you should be paying tax on Skype unless you are based in the country their ownership is registered - I don't pay it on VoipDiscount but it is listed as a charge if I were in EU. I could be wrong, but it's worth checking as it's better in your pocket than theirs.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

I have a U.S. based Skype account, and they've always added tax to my basic bill, although, curiously, it's charged against my card in Euros so appears as a foreign currency transaction. They seem to be registered someplace in Europe.

AFAIR, on the Skype rates webpage, they specifically mention about rates plus VAT.

[kkuls]

Used Skype unlimited world last year for 4 months in Chiang Mai to call home to Canada. Worked like a dream from my PC, but call quality was spotty from my smartphone.