Cheap Afghanistan US calls?

May 13, 2010 9:45 AM

I have a friend who is in Afghanistan. He has a local cell phone with the prefix 793, which I think is through Roshan. What is the cheapest way for him to call the US?

From Roshan's website it looks like the Saadat plan offers international calling to the Americas for 25 Afs ~(US$0.50)/min.

Is there any way to do this cheaper? I had thought about having him send a text and calling him back. Sending a text internationally appears to cost 10 Afs (~US$0.20). Are incoming calls and texts free with Roshan?

If they are, what is the cheapest way to call from the US to his number? Skype is $0.35/min + $0.079 connection fee. My VOIP provider is $0.32/min. Are there any non-scamy calling card providers out there that do better?

posted by ChrisHartley to Work & Money (8 answers total)

If he's only calling the sorts of people that can respond to a text and call him back (which would be crazy expensive for the caller, as well), I would recommend just doing skype-to-skype, which is free.
posted by brainmouse at 9:51 AM on May 13, 2010

I should have added that at this point he does not have Internet access. Eventually he may have a shared satellite internet connection but then I expect the latency will make voice conversations more like using a walky-talky.
posted by ChrisHartley at 9:54 AM on May 13, 2010

Google Voice is $.27/minute to Afghanistan.
posted by deadweightloss at 10:11 AM on May 13, 2010

Depending on the usage pattern, you might want to look at something like mobilecaller.com. They've got rates as low as $.21/min to Afghanistan Mobile, but that rates involves a 3 minute rounding increment and a 99 cent weekly fee, so it would only be worth it if you're going to be calling often, with long calls each time. I've used them for years to call to China, but rates for China are always ridiculously cheap anyway so I never bothered looking for anything special.
posted by kmz at 10:22 AM on May 13, 2010

Can anyone confirm if the Google Voice rate is valid for cell numbers?

Does anyone have a Google Voice invite?
posted by ChrisHartley at 10:38 AM on May 13, 2010

I can't comment on the pricing/cost effectiveness, but from a security standpoint, it's not particularly wise to use an unsecured phone over an Afghan run network to call back home. The Taliban can, and will, listen in. I know of cases where wives of serving personnel have had phonecalls at 2am where someone with an Afghan accent in broken English tells them that their husband has been captured and is about to have his throat slit. Not really what you want to hear...

Furthermore, idle chat about life out there, work and upcoming plans can be used by the Taliban as intelligence, further endangering your friend and his/her colleagues.

Sorry I couldn't be more helpful, but I would seriously consider using something other than mobile phones for comms.
posted by Biru at 11:20 AM on May 13, 2010

I use Rebtel for calling the rest of the world. http://www.rebtel.com/en/Rates/Rates/ says calls to Afghanistan cost $.0249/minute
posted by bbyboi at 8:05 PM on May 15, 2010

Thank you everyone for the suggestions and Google Voice invites.
posted by ChrisHartley at 12:19 PM on June 2, 2010