Comments on: international call costs

Question: international call costs

M.C. Lo-Carb! — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 21:39:15 -0800

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.

By: jessamyn

jessamyn — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 21:46:14 -0800

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.

By: onalark

onalark — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 21:58:38 -0800

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.

By: ssg

ssg — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 21:59:17 -0800

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.

By: onalark

onalark — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 21:59:36 -0800

The above quoted rates are to Gambia from a location in the US.

By: zsazsa

zsazsa — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 22:52:29 -0800

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.

By: deeaytch

deeaytch — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 22:58:29 -0800

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.

By: allkindsoftime

allkindsoftime — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 00:09:22 -0800

I'm in Africa myself and my family primarily uses Skype - its cheap and works great.

By: lodev

lodev — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 03:06:20 -0800

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.

By: yoyo_nyc

yoyo_nyc — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 05:24:40 -0800

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

By: M.C. Lo-Carb!

M.C. Lo-Carb! — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 06:27:59 -0800

Thanks for all the great advice. The country code is +220.

By: lodev

lodev — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 08:40:24 -0800

Ok, it's definitely a number in Gambia (country code +220), so you can use SkypeOut, calling cards just fine.

By: bassjump

bassjump — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 12:29:30 -0800

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.