What do you guys do for international calling/ international roaming

[erandall38]

I have to make quite a few calls to India from the US.


I also have to visit India a lot for work and make calls back home.


I called At&t and they set me up on some plans. For international calling from US it is $3.99/Month and 32 cents a minute.
For international roaming (while I am there in India calling back home) they want $120 for 60 minutes or something.


What are some work arounds I can use on my iPhone to avoid these charges?

 

[Mrbobb]

That's WAY too expensive. International calling these days is like *almost* free.

To India: You can buy calling cards. I use a service called UWT Service, there are others. Like 5 cents/minute.

From Overseas: If u don't mind having a new number, the cheap way to do it is to buy a Pre-paid SIM. Talk to your India contacts if they have those over there. I know when I go to Europe, there are SIM vending machines at airports, very convenient. Here in the U.S. they make it so difficult.

 

[erandall38]

That's WAY too expensive. International calling these days is like *almost* free.

To India: You can buy calling cards. I use a service called UWT Service, there are others. Like 5 cents/minute.

From Overseas: If u don't mind having a new number, the cheap way to do it is to buy a Pre-paid SIM. Talk to your India contacts if they have those over there. I know when I go to Europe, there are SIM vending machines at airports, very convenient. Here in the U.S. they make it so difficult.

These calling cards...How do they work on the iphone? You just call a number on the iPhone, and then enter you data, then it connects you?

At&t told me they would charge me for this and that they "know" when I am doing it. I didn't necessarily believe them. But they said they track for when you use a calling card and then charge you for international. Don't see how they could track this, or legally charge your for it?

 

[617aircav]

These calling cards...How do they work on the iphone? You just call a number on the iPhone, and then enter you data, then it connects you?

At&t told me they would charge me for this and that they "know" when I am doing it. I didn't necessarily believe them. But they said they track for when you use a calling card and then charge you for international. Don't see how they could track this, or legally charge your for it?

I'm surprised that they would blatantly lie to you. Did you come across to them a naive? I mean a phone card has nothing to do with your phone plan, and they can't charge you for it.

 

[ucfgrad93]

If you travel to India for work, they should cover the cost of the calls that you need to make and are work related. As mentioned earlier, I would get a pre-paid sim for those occasions.

 

[erandall38]

I'm surprised that they would blatantly lie to you. Did you come across to them a naive? I mean a phone card has nothing to do with your phone plan, and they can't charge you for it.

No I just mentioned something about how the plans were far too much for what they offered, and that I would have to look into getting some calling card. A few minutes later when I was getting of the phone she brought the cards back up and associated charges.

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If you travel to India for work, they should cover the cost of the calls that you need to make and are work related. As mentioned earlier, I would get a pre-paid sim for those occasions.

It is my own business. I run a couple factories out there, so I visit rarely, but enough that the cost builds up.

So "they" is me. I am trying to find the best and most cost effective way of paying for both my employees and my self.

 

[araje]

There are plenty of integrated services that you can use with your iPhone to call India.
Voxofon : India is 1.6c / min. This is not VoIP but actual calling. You download their app on iPhone and log into the app. When you make international call it prompts and shows you the cost of the call and you just press dial. That's it.

One suite: similar service. But they have lots of options which is an overkill for an individual user. But as you run a business maybe you might find its call forwarding services useful.

I know AT&T's charges. It's a joke.

 

[Mrbobb]

At&t told me they would charge me for this and that they "know" when I am doing it.

WTF? I hope u noted the guy name badge and write AT&T a nice email just to scare the guy a little.

How it works is, u call a local number, sometimes they even have a 800, then when u connect, u punch in the international number u want to reach, many will let u save often dialed numbers so u just go "1#" for example (first entry on saved list). AT&T only knows ur calling the local#.