Communication from Aus

[Santosh]

Guys, what have you found as the cheapest and most cost effective way of phoning from Aus to RSA.

TX

Santosh

[Mara]

Santosh, when you arrive in Perth, look around at the shops, in the Lotto or Milkbars (Local Cafe) you will find they sell telephone cards, they have the posters in the windows or on the walls, just check which one has the cheapest rate to South Africa. Just check all the rules and regulations on the back. Usually you would dial a certain number (local call) you will then be required to key in your pin (found on the card) then you key in the number you wish to call, it will tell you how many minutes you have left, and the number will start ringing.

[woodag]

Well, we use Gotalk "override" but I know there are cheaper options. Cheaper may not always be better - we tried some providers where the call quality was terrible.

Anyway, this as been asked here many times before, for example

http://www.saaustralia.org/index.php?showtopic=1314&hl=

- try using the search facility to find other takes on this (some people swear by VOIP, others swear at it).

[Guest Bronwyn]

We use the phone cards - at any Wollies cigarette counter - there are a few choices, the pamphlets will be lying there or in a stand. You can only phone cheaply from a landline to a landline, as far as I understand it. We normally buy a $30 card (Say G'day or Daybreak) and get a couple of hundred hours talk time. It's well worth it. The first time I bought it and didn't use it properly. I called my granny for over an hour and our phone bill for that call alone was over $100! AAAgh! My mistake, oops!

The cheapest tho, is Skype, because that's free. But some people's Skpe's in SA seem to work better than others. When I talk to my gran it's usually a disaster, and when I talk to my in-laws it works perfectly. They both have ADSL. I don't know why this is so. Maybe one computer is faster than the other.

We also SMS a lot, I have the Vodafone prepaid cap and it doesn't seem able to distinguish between local and intenational SMS's so I can send LOTS. I have never run out, put it that way. With their caps of either $30 or $50 you also get 10 mins calltime to an Int'l number included. I save that for 'emergencies' when I can't get to a landline and I want to speak to someone.

Bronwyn

[Marius]

We have found that Ozcall is the best in terms of call quality and call duration credit. We buy a $ 30 card and talk for literally hours every weekend.I think a 2 hour call cost about $ 3-5 of the credit, so well worth it. Ozcall is available from most News Agents and also some other outlets.Yes read the instructions well and make sure you follow them.

[Guest Bronwyn]

Er, after reading Marius's post, I think I meant a couple of hundred minutes, not a couple of hundred hours for $30. Sorry!

[berndt]

Hallo Santosh

Buys a phone czard at any of the Golden Cascket news outlets - you get a lot of different options - Black & White is one name I can remember.

It is a lot of numbers to key in- but you get plenty of call time and you controll your budget as well.

We also Skype regulalry with people in SA - it is by far the cheapest but then both needs access to a PC and need to be online at the same time.

Cheers

Berndt

[The Parsons Family]

Hi Santosh

We use Skype to chat to most of our family in SA. My folks (in SA) have bought Skype credits so that they can call us on our home phone if we aren't online when they want to chat.

We hardly ever phone from the landline but when we do it costs just under a dollar a minute, so if you don't talk for long it isn't too bad

Cheers

Gaille

[Blossom]

Hi All,

Just buy a card from any news agency..think it is Say G'day for $20 and you can phone home for appr. 3 hours. That is landline to landline and not mobiles. Mobiles calls cost more.

regards,

Betsy.