international call costs

December 10, 2007 9:39 PM

How much will it cost to call my friend in Africa?

My friend has been in the Gambia for about three months, as he begins a Peace Corps stint. Because of his remote placement, he has been given a satellite phone. He e-mailed me the number and country code for it recently, and invited my wife and I to give him a call.

So we're going to, of course, but I'm curious -- just how much will this cost? I've only ever called internationally from work, so I have no idea how much these things cost. I've no problem spending money, I'd just like to know if we're talking like $30 or $300.

Is there a Web resource that lets you calculate international call costs? All I can find are offers for calling cards.

If it makes a difference, we'd call from our old-school Qwest landline. Probably on a weekend day. I believe the satellite phone is based out of Banjul.

posted by M.C. Lo-Carb! to grab bag (12 comments total)

My landlady is in the Peace Corps in Africa with a cell phone but I mostly send her email. If you're concerned about costs, get a calling card or use Skypeout which claims it will cost about 30 cents a minute. So, an hour for about $18, not bad.
posted by jessamyn at 9:46 PM on December 10, 2007

I don't understand why you don't want to use a calling card. When my sister got stuck in Lebanon one of the first things we did was activate a PennyTalk account, which (like all the other discount calling card companies I'm sure) gives you an access number you call via phone. The access number is delivered swiftly via email, and you can buy in as small of increments as $25.

The rates for PennyTalk are similar to Skypeout, 31 cents a minute, and the charge is flat.

Assuming you have an old-school Qwest land line and you haven't activated any sort of international calling plan, the base calling rate is $2.28/minute.
posted by onalark at 9:58 PM on December 10, 2007

According to Qwest, it will cost you $2.28 per minute, unless you have some sort of international calling plan. I'd recommend buying a calling card, for example these start at $0.15 per minute, but that's just the first rate I found. However, there might be extra charges related to the satellite phone.
posted by ssg at 9:59 PM on December 10, 2007

The above quoted rates are to Gambia from a location in the US.
posted by onalark at 9:59 PM on December 10, 2007

This may not be so straightfoward, and may have charges above normal international calling rates.

From Wikipedia: The cost of making calls from a satellite phone is usually quite high, while calling them from landlines and regular mobile phones is extremely expensive. Rates from landlines and mobile phones range from $3 to $14 per minute with Iridium and INMARSAT being some of the most expensive networks to call. The receiver of the call pays nothing, unless they are being called via a special reverse-charge service.
posted by zsazsa at 10:52 PM on December 10, 2007

The relatively lovely rates quoted so far are to phones in the Gambia country code: +220. Is this the country code you were given? Sat. phone systems can have their own "country" code assigned, like +881 for Iridium ($9.50/min base rate with Qwest). Check (better yet, post) the country code.
posted by deeaytch at 10:58 PM on December 10, 2007

I'm in Africa myself and my family primarily uses Skype - its cheap and works great.
posted by allkindsoftime at 12:09 AM on December 11, 2007

A satellite phone usually has a different country code and rates as a landline or mobile number, so the rates you'll find for mobile numbers in Gambia are different than the satellite rates.

One of the most pouplar systems in EMEA is Thuraya. I couldn't find the Qwest rates or them (dialing code is +88216), and calling them from Skype is not possible yet.

Using some calling cards I've found rates around $1.33/min, which is quite steep.

Could you post the first five digits of the number? That way we can confirm the country code and help you find the best rates.
posted by lodev at 3:06 AM on December 11, 2007

Use this. Much better than a calling card, no need to enter a code, works fine from cell phones. I have used it since several years and love it. Also, if I were to loose my phone the damage someone could do with calling abroad is limited to my Onesuite balance since diling abroad is diabled on my phone. Wish I could combine this somehow with grandcentral.com from Google.

Yoyo
posted by yoyo_nyc at 5:24 AM on December 11, 2007

Thanks for all the great advice. The country code is +220.
posted by M.C. Lo-Carb! at 6:27 AM on December 11, 2007

Ok, it's definitely a number in Gambia (country code +220), so you can use SkypeOut, calling cards just fine.
posted by lodev at 8:40 AM on December 11, 2007

Re: yoyo_nyc's recommendation, I've found that onesuite has a really annoying delay/echo that can really make conversations irritating. I wouldn't be surprised if you encountered that anyway, but just wanted to add my two cents.
posted by bassjump at 12:29 PM on December 11, 2007