There are several methods that you can use to keep your international call costs down. Using a pre-dial provider or using a VOIP service directly from your computer can keep the costs down.
1. Using a pre-dial provider
Pre-dial providers provide special access numbers (usually 0844 or 0871 numbers) that you dial before making dialling your international canumber. You can use these from any UK landline and it allows you to keep your existing number and calls are charged for by your existing call provider. Call rates start from 1p a minute to most of Western Europe landlines and the US, Canada, China and India landlines and mobiles.
2. VOIP Services
Skype is one of the most popular methods of making international calls. You can call another Skype user for free from your computer. The same applies to MSN Messenger and many other providers such as VOIP Buster. Some providers provide a special box which you connect to your broadband line and which then allows you to make low cost landline calls via your broadband connection.
3. Text Message credit
You can get cheap international call credit straight to your Vodafone, Orange, 3 and T-Mobile. This system works by assigning credit to your mobile phone when you send a premium rate text message to a short number. The provider will send a return text message which contains a pin that can be used to make calls from any other phone. Ususally however, you do not need to enter the PIN when calling from the phone from which the original text message was sent.
It is also possible to get unlimited international calls using this method. Details can be found via this link – http://www.cheapphonecards.co.uk/unlimited-calling-card.php.
4. Calling Cards
Yes, calling cards still offer some of the cheapest rates and most convenient methods of calling abroad from mobiles and landlines. You can purchase phone cards at most corner shops, supermarkets or via the internet. Providers give a PIN number which can be used in conjunction with an access number to make cheap rate international calls.
5. Mobile Short Codes
Mobile provider 3 provides 8 digit short codes which enable 3 contract and PAYG customers to make international calls straight from their mobiles without the need to prepay. This is a very convenient method with rates starting from 3p a minute to over 100 destionations.
Unlimited Calls to India
Unlimited Calls to India from the UK
Enjoy Unlimited Calls to India landlines and Mobiles from the UK for just £10 per month. You simply send the text message UNLCCD to the shortcode 67400 and follow the instructions on the answer text that your receive.
Its really easy!!
- No PIN to enter
- No need to enter your details
- Call Landlines and Mobiles
- No contract, hidden fees or charges
Click Here for Details of Unlimited Calls to India Service
Once you have texted UNLCCD to 67400, you will receive a free reply message with details of our Service.
Opt into the service by sending a reply SMS text message AGREE to 67400. You will then receive a billed premium SMS text message costing £10.
You can start right away making unlimited calls to destinations included in the package.
Click Here for Details of Unlimited Calls to India Service
To benefit fully from this service, you will need a contract mobile with free minutes to call the 030 access number. Calls to the 030 access number can be made from your free minutes and are otherwise charged the standard rate to a UK landline.
Start making Unlimited Calls to India now from T-Mobile, 02, Orange and Vodafone UK Mobiles and save now with this great service.
Try the Unlimited Calls to India Service today!
Get a phonecard sent directly to your mobile phone by simply sending a text message with Just Dial cards!
You can make international calls from your mobile any time you want, from the rates as low as 0.5p/minute.
LATEST BARGAIN RATES – BRAND NEW!
- Australia landlines – 0.5p/min
- France landlines – 0.5p/min
- Ireland landlines – 0.5p/min
- Spain landlines – 0.5p/min
- Nigeria mobiles – 7p/min
- India landlines and mobiles 1p/min
- Pakistan landlines and mobiles – 3p/min
- USA landlines and mobiles – 0.5p/min
Buy a phonecard in 2 easy steps:
1) Send the Text message CCD to the short number 80550 for £5 call credit.
You will receive a confirmation text containing your PIN and Access Number and a £5 charge will appear on your next phone bill.
2) To make a call, dial the access number – 0207 124 6666* (national access) or 0800 594 6666 (freephone) – followed by your international number in full.
Remember not to press your send or call button again after you have dialed the international number.
*The cost of calls to the 0207 124 6666 number may be used as part of your contract mobile free inclusive minutes or will be charged at your standard mobile rate to a landline.
That’s it!
Get a phonecard by simply sending a text message!
- You must have the bill payer’s permission before using our service.
- Text to 80550 costs £5 plus your standard mobile network rates for the request message and is charged by your service provider
- Our service can be used from the mobile number used for the subscription to our service or from another phone using a PIN.
- Calls to our 0207 access number will be charged by your service provider at their standard rate or included in your call package.
- If you don’t use our service to make a call or send a top up request within 90 days any unused Calling Credit will expire
- For customer services please call 0844 552 8575
- Service provided by New Call Telecom Ltd.
http://www.callingcardsdirect.co.uk/Just-Dial/Just-Dial-card
India call rates have decreased to their cheapest levels ever.
You can now call India for the bargain rate of 0.8p a minute using CCD India and CCD Value phonecards.
Check out the great cheap calls to India now!
CCD India
http://www.callingcardsdirect.co.uk/Story/CCD-India-£5
CCD Value – Click Here
We are proud to introduce our brand new Phonecard – CCD Value!
This Great Phonecard has NO Connection fee, NO Maintenance fee and guaranteed great rates from £0.002 to hundreds of countries.
Check your country rate and try one now!
http://www.callingcardsdirect.co.uk/Value-Call-Connect/Value-Call-Connect
Fantastic Low Rates and Multiple Minutes
- USA – 2500 minutes
- Canada – 5000 minutes
- India – 1250 minutes
- Australia – 909 minutes
- Pakistan – 833 minutes
- Bangladesh – 434 minutes
- China – 5000 minutes
- Germany – 1667 minutes
- France – 3333 minutes
- Poland – 1667 minutes
- Ireland – 3333 minutes
- Israel – 2000 minutes
- Brazil – 526 minutes
- New Zealand – 1667 minutes
- Hundreds of Destinations
http://www.callingcardsdirect.co.uk/Value-Call-Connect/Value-Call-Connect
Check your destination – Click Here
Nigeria calls are now available at the cheapest rates ever!
Call from UK landlines to Nigeria landlines for 5p/min and Nigeria Mobiles for the incredible rate of 4p a minute!
How it works
Its simple to enjoy these great rates if you are making calls to Nigeria
1. Dial the Nigeria access number:
- landline access number – 0844 552 8810 – 5p/min
- Mobile access number – 0844 904 8810 – 4p/min
2. When you hear the message, dial 00234 + your Nigeria area code and phone number.
That’s all! You will be connected in seconds.
How do I pay for my call?
You pay for your call on your usual providers bill. You will see the access number on your bill and a charge of our per minute rate plus the providers call setup fee (for BT the current call set up fee for every call is 12.5p a call)
Go ahead and start saving on calls to Nigeria now!
Terms and Conditions
Ask bill payer’s permission before using the service. Calls are billed per minute, include VAT & apply from the moment of connection. The charge is incurred even if the destination number is engaged or the call is not answered. Please replace the handset if the calls are engaged or unanswered. BT call setup fee applies. Cost of calls from non BT operators & mobiles may vary. Check with your operator. Service provider: New Call Telecom Ltd. Helpline 08445528575.
International calling card providers Lycatel and Nowtel have agreed to change the way they advertise their calling cards following an Ofcom investigation.
The probe found that Nowtel’s advertisement of its international calling cards potentially breached consumer protection rules.
Ofcom worked with Nowtel to bring the potential contraventions to an end and to ensure there would be no future repetition.
Ofcom has now accepted a written undertaking committing Nowtel to make changes to its advertisements which is enforceable in the courts.
Lycatel also made a written undertaking with respect to its advertisements and terms and conditions for Lycatel international calling cards.
For information on calling cards that have No connection fees and No Maintenance fees Click Here…..
Best Saver, Millions off Minutes, whatever the name of the Phonecard is, it will make no difference if you don’t look at the Details section.
If you intend to buy a phone card and you’re unsure how to choose one it, read on and you’ll find 5 tips to buying the right Phonecard for you.
Tip 1
Connection fee: an amount deducted from the phone card’s balance once a call is connected.
Does the phone card Terms have any information regarding connection fees? Often cards that appear to have very cheap rates are not as cheap as they profess to be.
You need to check the connection fees as these will almost inevitably be high as they have to make a profit somehow and the connection fee is used to recoup or extend any profits lost on the call rate. If nothing is said in the blurb regarding a connection fee or a bland statement is made which says something like “connection fee applies” without specifiying what the connection fee is, look out!!! There is likely to be a sting in the tail (so to speak).
Is there a Disconnection fee? Some cards charge a fee to disconnect at the end of your call (believe it or not).
Tip 2
Maintenance fee : an amount deducted from the phone card’s balance daily/weekly/monthly having the effect of reducing your minutes.
Check whether your phonecard has a Maintenance fee. This is usually a daily amount that is deducted from the outstanding call credit on the phonecard. This could have the effect of significantly reducing your credit and is used by phonecard companies to encourage you to quickly exhaust the credit on the card so that you will have less of a maintenance reduction. Avoid cards with maintenance fees if you can, unless you feel it can be justified by the card’s low call rates.
Tip 3
Does your phonecard advertise thousands of minutes to some destinations?
Some phone card users like to hear thousands of minutes when they use the phone card. Again, the expression caveat emptor applies. Beware that if the number of minutes announced seem to be unrealistic.
Tip 4
Free minutes may not be Free
Often a phonecard may claim to offer extra credit for free. For example, a £5 card may be advertised as £5+ £2.50. Check carefully the number of minutes that you actually get. You may find that the supplier has other means of recouping any losses such as by connection and disconnection fees and maintenance fees.
Tip 5
There is no such thing as a free lunch
Phone card companies want your business, so they offer what seems to be great deals. You need to do your research to ensure that you are getting value for money. These companies also need to make a profit, so they cannot afford to give away there call credit.
The above being said, there are some great deals to be had with some phone cards. Look for the card that gives you the most minutes at least fees. read the fine print before making your choice. If there is no information on fees, don’t buy it!
How many phonecard minutes do you really get?
First, lets establish the facts. Phonecards are the cheapest method for calling the greatest number of countries. So if you are looking for cheap calls to your country, you’re right to choose phonecards.
So what should you look out for when you are choosing a phonecard?
When buying a phonecard you need to read the terms and conditions carefully.
For many phonecards, the terms and conditions state that the minutes quoted are based on “single use of card”.
What this means is that if you use the card to make a single completed call, you could talk for the specified number of minutes before the card would run out of credit.
For example, You may see a phonecard with 500 minutes to a particular destination country. What the card supplier is saying is that if you called the specified country using this phone card, you could speak to your contact for 500 minutes before the phonecard runs out of credit.
At a glance this may appear to be a good deal.
However, it is necessary to strike a note of caution here. Why?
The answer is that almost all phonecards come with fees and charges attached.
What are some of the fees and charges to look out for?
Phonecard Fees and Charges
Connection Fee
The connection fee is an amount deducted from the phone card’s balance once a call is connected. As a general rule of thumb, the higher the connection fee, the lower the destination call rate. Therefore, if you make only occasional calls and tend to speak for a long time, a card with a connection fee may provide the best value. If you make regular calls it is recommended that you use a phonecard with low or no connection fee.
Maintenance Fee
The maintenance fee is an amount deducted from the phone card’s balance daily/weekly/monthly having the effect of reducing your minutes. Most phone cards carry a maintenance fee which usually coincides with the expiry period after first use of the card.
Call Completion Fee
Some phonecards have a call completion fee which is a fee applied every time you complete a call. This has the effect of reducing the number of minutes on the card.
Rounding
This is the basic unit for measuring duration of a phone call. Our phone cards are generally rounded one minute. Some phonecard suppliers have a stepped series of charges where for example the first 10 minutes of a call may be rounded to one minute and the next ten minutes are rounded to 2 minutes etc. Call the phonecards customer services number to check these details if uncertain as to the phonecard’s rounding policy.
In these economically challenging times we still need to keep in touch with our relatives and friends abroad. This can be expensive if using regular call services from the large landline and mobile telephone providers. You may be made to sign contracts that lock you in for months if not years at a time in the case of some mobile providers.
How about a method that allows you to call abroad whenever you feel like and without being tied down to a contract. We recommend to you our 3 step process for saving on your landline phone bills.
The cheapest and easiest way to call abroad from UK landlines is using Access Numbers. These are non geographic numbers that allow callers to connect with international numbers in a two stage process.
The 3 steps are:
1. Dial the access number – Find the access number here – Click Here
2. Enter your destination number including 00 and the country code.
e.g. for India dial 0844 862 0022 (cost 1p/min)
3. Wait for your call recipient to answer and start talking.
It really is that easy!
A popular site to find these numbers to allow you to call internationally from 1 pence a minute is Calling Abroad.
Let us know your experiences in using this service by adding comments to this article.
