Free Phone - U.s. To Thailand

[Taggart]

Did a search but couldn't find it here, so apologies if this has already been posted.

From the New York Times - Nov 23, 2006

FREE INTERNATIONAL CALLS You can now call any of 50 countries from the United States, free. Talk as long as you like. You pay only for a call to the access number in Iowa, which is 712-858-8883; if you use your cellphone on nights or weekends, even that’s a free call.

There’s no contract, no ads, nothing to sign up for. At the prompt, press 1 for English. Then punch in 011, the country code and the phone number. The call rings through immediately.

Fine print: In some countries, you can reach only landlines, not cellphones. And in part because FuturePhone’s lines have been flooded, its success at placing calls is not, ahem, 100 percent.

But it’s hard to argue with “free,” which, according to the company, it will be until at least 2010.

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According to the website, Thailand is included. I'm in Canada, so it's no good for me.

Edited November 25, 2006 by Taggart

[Jamie]

Have you tried this service much? I know you said that in some countries you can only reach landlines...any luck reaching cell phones in Thailand from the US?

[Taggart]

Have you tried this service much? I know you said that in some countries you can only reach landlines...any luck reaching cell phones in Thailand from the US?

Hi Jamie,

I posted the above from the New York Times as soon as I heard about it. It's difficult for me to say if the service is good or not, since we're in Canada, and that makes for long distance charges to the router in Iowa.

Anyhow my wife tried it for the first time from Canada this morning. The call was from a land line here, to a cell phone in Thailand. She used a long distance card to call the router in the U.S. No problem there, and the call eventually went through. However, we could hear the person in Thailand, but they couldn't hear us. Tried a second time. Same thing. Switched to a different long distance card for a third attempt to the cell phone. This time she got through and both parties heard each other. The call only lasted a few minutes though, when the signal started to waver then die. My wife figures it's easier to go back to the old method, and call direct to Thailand using the long distance card.

[lanny]

I gave the number to my ex in Hawaii and had her try. On several attempts, we were able to make contact but the signal was never satisfactory. Most of the time, the signal would break up badle and we could hear but not understand each other.

I don't know where the problem is but the system doesn't seem to work. Not exactly free, either. It is still a long distance call to Iowa. Cheaper than calling Thailand direct but, if the signal is so bad the internal long-distance call could actually run the cost up.

[cdnvic]

Sounds like the same service that those 1 cent per minute phone cards gave. Just a very bad voip link that sounded like a ham radio in a thunderstorm. The company is probably making a commission on the long distance call to Iowa and isn't worried about the voip connection once the original call connects and they get their money.

[Taggart]

Sounds like the same service that those 1 cent per minute phone cards gave.

The $5 long distance card we've been using in Canada the last couple of years, to call Thailand, costs us 2.5 cents per minute, (2.25 cents per minute actually because we can get the card for $4.50 in Chinatown, no tax). Most of the time the card works pretty good, although on the odd occasion there's an echoing effect, or the line drops. Still much, much cheaper than the rates the major telephone companies charge.

Note: $Canadian currency

[suksoi77]

www.futurephone.com

[cdnvic]

www.futurephone.com

Futurephone's business model is built around making you listen to advertisments before the final call is placed. I think if you use it now they haven't put the ads on yet so it won't be quite so annoying.