IDD 1609 International Calling card

[US2HongKong]

I am looking at getting an international calling card here in HK. I moved from US and haev a Vonage world plan (not the mobile/Iphone on). Unfortunately, my temporary accomodation does not have the modem/router in our apartment and it is centrally controlled. So my vonage is useless. I found out online about IDD 1609. Is it worth a shot? calls to US is 30 cents a minute which does not seem that bad at all.

[PDLM]

30 cents/min (probably plus some rounding, etc) isn't very good.

Do you have a local mobile phone yet? If so then the best options are either an "all you can eat" plan, probably from your mobile operator, if you call a lot, or something like 1529 if you call less. 1529 costs $0.18/min to the US from a HK mobile and is postpaid to your credit card. You get $28 of free credit just for signing up, so you can get the first 2+ hours for free.

[ghkg]

Try Rebtel.com. Very cheap to US.
Posted via Mobile Device

[US2HongKong]

Thanks PDLM and ghkg. Rebtel.com certainly looks more cheap but apparently, you can only in USD I believe. Also, how is the call quality? Is it one of those VOIP plans?

[PDLM]

Yes - it's a prepay VOIP operator (no licence or oversight), where you have to do some extra stuff to register numbers to call and get a corresponding local number. Rather too much hassle for me. A proper phone service like 1529 (licensed by OFTA) is very straightforward, post-paid and good quality. At 18 cents a minute you'd have to be spending a HUGE amount of time on the phone for any cost savings to be worth the increase in hassle and small saving in price. And who knows when they might simply disappear with your prepaid money.

[BenderBends]

What's quality like on these?
My old 3hk unlimited idd was good, but a lot of times calls would not connect or dial out, and it was usually the 1966 problem.

I also had a problem with my older PCCW idd calling, where calls were always low and staticy.

[pin]

I use rebtel to call the uk all the time. They are generally pretty good. For me it works well as I can make free calls to uk mobiles.
Posted via Mobile Device

[PDLM]

I use rebtel to call the uk all the time. They are generally pretty good. For me it works well as I can make free calls to uk mobiles.

How does that work then? Rebtel advertises a rate of US$0.149 to UK mobiles: Cheap international calls to United Kingdom from $0.010/min - Rebtel.com

[Max]

How does that work then? Rebtel advertises a rate of US$0.149 to UK mobiles: Cheap international calls to United Kingdom from $0.010/min - Rebtel.com

I think the idea is to make a rebtel 'smartcall'. This is possible only with a few (and a growing list of) countries that Rebtel supports for this purpose.

It involves you calling the UK mobile number that you have preregistered, and after connecting, you ask the other party to hang up and call the number that was displayed on their callerID (a local number), all while you are still holding. They call the local number (usually using minutes on their cellphone plan or the regular local charge) and the call gets connected to you instantly.

Yes I know it involves jumping through hoops for this, but hey, it's free....

here's the link:
http://www.rebtel.com/en/Learn/Make-Free-Calls/

[PDLM]

That's not free - it's transferring the cost to the far end mobile subscriber. Rebtel isn't a charity - it makes money from one party or the other on every call.