# The cheapest way to call the USA?



## miss direct (Jun 11, 2008)

I have a telephone interview for a course, and I have to pay for the call 

I don't have a land line. What is the best way for me to call New York? Should I get a phone card, use a phone box, beg a friend to let me use their landline?


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## FridgeMagnet (Jun 11, 2008)

Have you got Skype? That's quite cheap for international calls. (Free, if they have a Skype address themselves....)


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## miss direct (Jun 11, 2008)

No, I don't. I don't have the internet at home (I have to go to internet cafes)..is skype something I could do at a net cafe? Sorry I'm rather clueless. The organisation have just given me a landline number and told me to call at a certain time in a few weeks.


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## Melinda (Jun 11, 2008)

Get a phone card from a newsagents for £2.50. 

You dial a number, scratch off a security code, dial the code, once it is accepted you dial your US number. 

You should get 2 hours or so for your £2.50.


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## FridgeMagnet (Jun 11, 2008)

Lots of net cafes do do it, and have headphones and mics, but of course you'd have to sit there yakking away in a net cafe with everybody else there, which may or may not be ideal (it would make me a bit self-conscious in an interview type situation to be honest). Staying late at work may be an option. But otherwise I'd probably get a phone card.


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## Melinda (Jun 11, 2008)

Or pay £3 for a lebara mobile sim.  Its dedicated to calling abroad for a few pence per minute. 

They come pre-loaded with £5 of credit.


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## miss direct (Jun 11, 2008)

Melinda, do the phone cards work from phone boxes? I had a look in some shop windows near here but they only seemed to have phone cards to asian and african places.


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## Melinda (Jun 11, 2008)

Those African/ Asian card will still give you a couple of hours to the USA.  Promise. 

And they will work from phone boxes, but you wont get as many minutes. 

I should also say that the access number printed on the back of the card is usually freephone.


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## simon_rushton (Jun 12, 2008)

miss direct said:


> Melinda, do the phone cards work from phone boxes? I had a look in some shop windows near here but they only seemed to have phone cards to asian and african places.



They do, but it costs more. Can you get one of the cards and use it from a friend's landline (it won't cost them anything)? Apart from anything else, I'm not sure how well a telephone interview would go from a phone box - how would you make notes etc etc. Sounds very awkward to me.


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## chilango (Jun 12, 2008)

I've done two transatlantic interviews via Skype recently.

One there were all kinds of problems with connection and the interview never got finished. Possibly costing me the job .

The other one worked like a dream and I got the job. 

Worth giving it a go I'd say.

Otherwise international phone cards tend to be pretty cheap (though sometimes the connection is a bit fuzzy ime).


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## Oswaldtwistle (Jun 12, 2008)

If you are serious about it, beg a friend to use a landline and  just pay them for the call ( it will cost less than calling a UK mobile, it will be private and call quality will be good). How long are you expecting the call to last?

Standard BT rates to the US is 17.5 pence peak, 11.5 pence off peak. But remeber UK off peak starts at six, which is still 1pm in New York and earlier still further west. So call after six our time and offer them a fiver for half an hours use of the phone, that would be more than fair.

If you are very, very lucky you might even have a friend with an unlimited international calling package.


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## Oswaldtwistle (Jun 12, 2008)

Another option, just to confuse you, get a free orange PAYG sim card from here http://shop.orange.co.uk/shop/simevent/searchfreesim?WT.mc_id=ConFreGeAdd_0984 and select 'camel' package (crap name I know)- it's only 6ppm to the usa  (but 20ppm to the UK!!)


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## D (Jun 13, 2008)

Oswaldtwistle said:


> If you are serious about it, beg a friend to use a landline and  just pay them for the call ( it will cost less than calling a UK mobile, it will be private and call quality will be good). How long are you expecting the call to last?
> 
> Standard BT rates to the US is 17.5 pence peak, 11.5 pence off peak. But remeber UK off peak starts at six, which is still 1pm in New York and earlier still further west. So call after six our time and offer them a fiver for half an hours use of the phone, that would be more than fair.
> 
> If you are very, very lucky you might even have a friend with an unlimited international calling package.


Standard BT rates is 11.5 pence off peak? That's less than it costs to call domestically within the USA with some plans/mobiles/etc.  Bonkers!


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## MightyAphrodite (Jun 13, 2008)

FridgeMagnet said:


> Have you got Skype? That's quite cheap for international calls. (Free, if they have a Skype address themselves....)



theres also something new im beta testing (i alawys get roped into that!!   ....)

http://www.tabrio.com/


is what its called and when you register they give you 5$ in credit from the get go....

you cant just sign up and use it yet, but you can if youre invited, i can send you an invite if you want to give it a go.


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## Oswaldtwistle (Jun 13, 2008)

D said:


> Standard BT rates is 11.5 pence off peak? That's less than it costs to call domestically within the USA with some plans/mobiles/etc.  Bonkers!



standard BT rates are actually about the most expensive way to call internationally from a domestic landline 

Payphones are a rip off though  , unless you have one of the calling cards mentioned above. 

Cellphone rates for international calls vary wildly from the 6 pence  I mentioned above to an eye-watering 150 pence a minute- you need to get the right package.


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## salem (Jun 13, 2008)

When I was on Virgin it'd cost me about 12p/minute to call my ex-girlfriends mobile in NY and 35p/minute to call someone in the next room!

You curren make it up!


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Jun 13, 2008)

Have you not got a friend who calls abroad regularly?  Convince them to get VOIP and then use their computer.


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## purplex (Jun 20, 2008)

Www.sipdiscount.com


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## Shippou-Sensei (Jun 20, 2008)

finally got my work place on voip

by buying a voip phone setting it up then billing them

i have onw too.....  but i'm pritty much the only person i know who does  so  i don't do much free calling


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## Detroit City (Jun 20, 2008)

miss direct said:


> What is the best way for me to call New York?



i hear they just laid a cable under the Atlantic Ocean


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Jun 20, 2008)

Shippou-Chan said:


> finally got my work place on voip
> 
> by buying a voip phone setting it up then billing them
> 
> i have onw too.....  but i'm pritty much the only person i know who does  so  i don't do much free calling




I was going to get a VOIP phone but stuck with using computer and headset.  Works fine for me


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## miss direct (Jun 26, 2008)

Well the interview was yesterday. In the end I asked many people I knew, but none of them had a land line. I went to an internet cafe that has phone booths, paid £5 for a phone card and 50p to use the booth. I still have hundreds of minutes left (but no other calls to make).


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## Poi E (Jun 30, 2008)

Bit late, but I get free calls for three months to the US, Aussie, NZ and a bunch of other places when I top up on my VoIP (VoipBuster.)


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Jun 30, 2008)

Poi E said:


> Bit late, but I get free calls for three months to the US, Aussie, NZ and a bunch of other places when I top up on my VoIP (VoipBuster.)




What's VoipBuster?

I have Voip, but it's £12 odd for 6 months I think


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## Poi E (Jun 30, 2008)

http://www.voipbuster.com

Just a VoIP service. No plan-just top up with credit by credit card. Quality to NZ has been a bit dodgy in the past but can't argue with the price.


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## chair (Jul 7, 2008)

I think a calling card is a good idea


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## Constellations (Jul 9, 2008)

skype is super cheap, whenever I travel abroad I use a calling card, for the sake of easiness.


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