How safe and useful are 1010 dial arounds for international phone calls?
June 18, 2004 9:39 PM Subscribe
How safe and useful are 1010 dial arounds for international phone calls?
I need to call Europe, and my Verizon Freedom calling plan may as well be subtitled Freedom Unless You Call Overseas. I think they're charging me upward of $3 per minute to call abroad.
So I want to use a 1010 for my calls instead. Problem is, unlike domestic 10xxx calls of my youth, the services all direct-bill arount the phone company and ask for my credit card.
Are these services legitimate and useful? Is there one company that is particuarly reputable?
I need to call Europe, and my Verizon Freedom calling plan may as well be subtitled Freedom Unless You Call Overseas. I think they're charging me upward of $3 per minute to call abroad.
So I want to use a 1010 for my calls instead. Problem is, unlike domestic 10xxx calls of my youth, the services all direct-bill arount the phone company and ask for my credit card.
Are these services legitimate and useful? Is there one company that is particuarly reputable?
1010phonerates.com has some good, recent comparison charts, as well as consumer alerts and a useful FAQ. I've had good results and great rates with various prepaid cards, too. And with cards you don't get hidden connection charges showing up on the bill weeks later.
posted by obloquy at 12:42 AM on June 19, 2004
posted by obloquy at 12:42 AM on June 19, 2004
I have used several 1010 numbers (1010629 and 10105885 being the most recent) when calling Australia. They seemed to work well and were both billed directly on my Southwestern Bell phone bill. And, I think they are actually the same company.
You just need to make sure to read the fine print as some have a 10 minute minimum (5885) - which worked well for us as our conversations were longer than that most times. Also, you need to make sure if you are calling a landline or a mobile number. I know in Australia incoming mobile calls are free to the reciever and the caller pays the fee, which can run around $.35 or so per min, but other countries vary a lot.
Or you could do what we ended up doing (and have broadband & usually calling one person) get cams and video chat online and only pay your internet fees. That has cut down our long distance bills considerably.
posted by thatothrgirl at 1:04 AM on June 19, 2004
You just need to make sure to read the fine print as some have a 10 minute minimum (5885) - which worked well for us as our conversations were longer than that most times. Also, you need to make sure if you are calling a landline or a mobile number. I know in Australia incoming mobile calls are free to the reciever and the caller pays the fee, which can run around $.35 or so per min, but other countries vary a lot.
Or you could do what we ended up doing (and have broadband & usually calling one person) get cams and video chat online and only pay your internet fees. That has cut down our long distance bills considerably.
posted by thatothrgirl at 1:04 AM on June 19, 2004
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You may also want to check this out; I don't remember where I got that link from (and I haven't yet used the service), but that's the lowest int'l calling rate I've seen yet (cheaper than even VoIP). Speaking of VoIP, you may wanna go with packet8, if you can do VoIP, and get an all-you-can-call plan (personally, I use Vonage, but that's for other reasons).
posted by costas at 10:32 PM on June 18, 2004