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Traveling to Greece...

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psywzrd

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Feb 6, 2008
2,837
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My sister is traveling to Greece and needs to be able to make calls to (and receive calls from) the US. I have given her an unlocked iphone 2g so that she can buy a prepaid sim card when she gets to Greece - that will give her a local Greek # so that she can call other people in Greece and allow them to call her; however, I'm trying to figure out if there's a way she can use Google Voice for incoming and outgoing calls to/from the US.

I am familiar with Talkatone and I have configured it to work on her ipad and her iphone 4s; however, those devices are going to be used strictly over wifi and for outgoing calls only.

If there's a way that people can reach her on the iphone 2g when she's not connected to wifi, that would be ideal. I know that myself and other people here in the US could just call her Greek #, but that would obviously get expensive.

Is there any possible way to do this?
 
psywzrd said:
My sister is traveling to Greece and needs to be able to make calls to (and receive calls from) the US. I have given her an unlocked iphone 2g so that she can buy a prepaid sim card when she gets to Greece - that will give her a local Greek # so that she can call other people in Greece and allow them to call her; however, I'm trying to figure out if there's a way she can use Google Voice for incoming and outgoing calls to/from the US.

I am familiar with Talkatone and I have configured it to work on her ipad and her iphone 4s; however, those devices are going to be used strictly over wifi and for outgoing calls only.

If there's a way that people can reach her on the iphone 2g when she's not connected to wifi, that would be ideal. I know that myself and other people here in the US could just call her Greek #, but that would obviously get expensive.

Is there any possible way to do this?
Click to expand...

I am not familiar with how SIM cards work but here's a thread on your QS:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/994991/
 
I ended up using skype to call home off the hotel wifi. I used the sim I got in Croatia in Greece. It wasn't ideal but i grew tired of getting a new sim card in every country for the data. I also found it was a pain to find a sim card for the 4S in Croatia. I must have went in 20 stores before I found one. That's a problem you won't have with a 2G.
 
I'm not too sure about Google Voice, but my friends have used an app called Pinger which assigns you a US number and allows you to make and receive calls over any data connection. Also, for those at home, no fees will be incurred because it will be like calling a domestic number.

Also, if you want the most reliable data connection, especially on the islands, you are probably going to want to go with Cosmote. They currently have a deal going on: 500MB for 5€. Also, note that if you want to get a SIM in Greece, you will need to have your passport photocopied in the store.
 
iDuel said:
I'm not too sure about Google Voice, but my friends have used an app called Pinger which assigns you a US number and allows you to make and receive calls over any data connection. Also, for those at home, no fees will be incurred because it will be like calling a domestic number.

Also, if you want the most reliable data connection, especially on the islands, you are probably going to want to go with Cosmote. They currently have a deal going on: 500MB for 5€. Also, note that if you want to get a SIM in Greece, you will need to have your passport photocopied in the store.
Click to expand...

Looks like pinger is only free if the other person has pinger as well. She doesn't necessarily have to use GV but I don't know of another solution that will allow her to make and receive US calls while she's traveling. Using GV over wifi is fine but that will be for outgoing calls only. Since she will have a data connection everywhere she goes, it would be great if she had a US number that people could call her on.
 
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psywzrd said:
Looks like pinger is only free if the other person has pinger as well. She doesn't necessarily have to use GV but I don't know of another solution that will allow her to make and receive US calls while she's traveling. Using GV over wifi is fine but that will be for outgoing calls only. Since she will have a data connection everywhere she goes, it would be great if she had a US number that people could call her on.
Click to expand...

I totally understand. One thing to note is that, like stated, Google Voice uses your phone's regular airtime minutes (which won't be possible if you are going for a data only plan) to place a call, which can get expensive after awhile.

Honestly, the most hassle-free way is going to have to be with Pinger (the paid version). For $2.99 you get a free US number with your local area code and 6 hrs of talk time free with other non pinger users. My friends in the US have used this every time they come to visit me and it has worked out for them. All you need is a data connection or Wi-Fi.
 
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Well she is going to be getting a pre-paid card with data AND minutes, so she would certainly like to be reachable if people need to call her. She can call out using google voice if she wants. Also, pinger requires iOS 4.3 or later and the iPhone 2g is only on 3.1.3.
 
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psywzrd said:
Well she is going to be getting a pre-paid card with data AND minutes, so she would certainly like to be reachable if people need to call her. She can call out using google voice if she wants. Also, pinger requires iOS 4.3 or later and the iPhone 2g is only on 3.1.3.
Click to expand...

In that case, VoiP will not work over 2G and if it does, it will be really unreliable. In this case, when she goes to get the SIM card, have her put enough money on the card to be able to make international calls. I believe Cosmote charges 1.20EUR/min for calls to the United States. If you want to call her from home, stay on the line long enough for it to ring once (you will be charged for one minute long distance) and then have her call you back when she hears the iPhone ring once. That way, she will be using her pre-paid minutes instead of you paying for long distance.

Now, when she is using Wi-Fi (which almost every restaurant/taverna has here) she will be able to use VOiP just fine.
 
iDuel said:
In that case, VoiP will not work over 2G and if it does, it will be really unreliable. In this case, when she goes to get the SIM card, have her put enough money on the card to be able to make international calls. I believe Cosmote charges 1.20EUR/min for calls to the United States. If you want to call her from home, stay on the line long enough for it to ring once (you will be charged for one minute long distance) and then have her call you back when she hears the iPhone ring once. That way, she will be using her pre-paid minutes instead of you paying for long distance.

Now, when she is using Wi-Fi (which almost every restaurant/taverna has here) she will be able to use VOiP just fine.
Click to expand...

Thank for the info. She actually just called me via GV over her hotel's wifi and it was pretty bad (it was like that last year too). Hopefully she'll be able to find better wifi connections elsewhere on the island.
 
If that iphone is Jailbroken, use a location faker on google voice to make it think the iphone is it he USA, and then it will assign her a US number. That way, you won't have to pay international rates. As for call quality, she will need better wifi. If she has a laptop, you two can Skype ;)
 
anaqvi786 said:
If that iphone is Jailbroken, use a location faker on google voice to make it think the iphone is it he USA, and then it will assign her a US number. That way, you won't have to pay international rates. As for call quality, she will need better wifi. If she has a laptop, you two can Skype ;)
Click to expand...

She already has a US# for GV - the issue seems to be that the quality would be awful over 2g. Plus Talkatone apparently requires 4.3 or higher so she can't even use that for incoming calls.
 
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