VOIP? Skype? Options please

[HastingsSeagull]

As an expat I have had some problems with a switch of banks (they were taking care of it over Xmas while I was back in UK but something went wrong their end and their fault).

Anyway, I apparently have to phone them up (no email, no way for them to contact me) and it has to be to a landline. I don't know if it's a free number or a high rate one, else just regular but whatever it is I can't exactly use my Philippine or Chinese mobiles and thus would like people's advise or reccomendations on which service I could use.

I have found some companies who advertise free calls per month even up to 100 minutes, but these seem to involve a max length of 1 or 2 minutes when it actually comes down to it. I'm happy to stick say a fiver on an account and use it for 2-3 calls and then hopefully have credit left over for future issues, but which sites do people have good experience with please whether expats direct comparisons or just generally.

Thanks and sorry for the waffle! Was up most of the night listening on the radio

 

[Emily's Mum]

As an expat I have had some problems with a switch of banks (they were taking care of it over Xmas while I was back in UK but something went wrong their end and their fault).

Anyway, I apparently have to phone them up (no email, no way for them to contact me) and it has to be to a landline. I don't know if it's a free number or a high rate one, else just regular but whatever it is I can't exactly use my Philippine or Chinese mobiles and thus would like people's advise or reccomendations on which service I could use.

I have found some companies who advertise free calls per month even up to 100 minutes, but these seem to involve a max length of 1 or 2 minutes when it actually comes down to it. I'm happy to stick say a fiver on an account and use it for 2-3 calls and then hopefully have credit left over for future issues, but which sites do people have good experience with please whether expats direct comparisons or just generally.

Thanks and sorry for the waffle! Was up most of the night listening on the radio

I'm in Brunei & subscribe to Skype. I pay £2.99 a month for 120 minutes to UK mobiles & landlines. I chat away very happily to the Co-op bank on my laptop.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Vankleek Hill Seagull]

I second Skype. I just top up $15 bucks at a time.

However, my company has introduced Skype for Business to replace all of our desk phones so I use that to make calls which doesn't cost me anything. It's available on Windows, Mac and iPhone.

I'm sure when I was working in Manila many moons ago, they used to sell calling cards where you dialled a local number and you got cheap calls to other countries.

 

[Boroseagull]

I use Skype if it's to a financial company. For family and other calls mostly Whatsapp - it's free!

 

[FatSuperman]

I'd recommend VoipCheap over those - like most you chuck a fiver on your account and use that for calling. When you top up you then get 30 days free calling to most places, so you'll only use the credit if you're calling American Samoa or something.

Alternatively, assuming you have the requirement you could buy some online Microsoft cloud (OneDrive) storage and you get free Skype minutes with that.

https://www.voipcheap.com/

 

[BNthree]

I use Skype if it's to a financial company. For family and other calls mostly Whatsapp - it's free!

Was going to mention that WhatsApp now does video and voice calls but doubt that would be useful for the original query. I'd say Skype for that.

 

[Captain Sensible]

I'd recommend VoipCheap over those - like most you chuck a fiver on your account and use that for calling. When you top up you then get 30 days free calling to most places, so you'll only use the credit if you're calling American Samoa or something.

Alternatively, assuming you have the requirement you could buy some online Microsoft cloud (OneDrive) storage and you get free Skype minutes with that.

https://www.voipcheap.com/

Yeah voipcheap is great. £10 worth of credit seems to last over 6 months, and I use it a lot. Also a great mobile app too.

 

[FatSuperman]

Yeah voipcheap is great. £10 worth of credit seems to last over 6 months, and I use it a lot. Also a great mobile app too.

From the Philippines, calls to the UK are going to be 1.3p per minute after his 30 days of free calls runs out, so £10 should last a decent amount of time for sure!

 

[HastingsSeagull]

Thanks for those replies all I'll look into both options

 

[KingstonSeagull]

Thanks for those replies all I'll look into both options

Not sure if there is a similar system but I use ZIPCALL (which is free) to call relatives in the US that are not tech savvy and only have a landline. Might be a similar thing for calling UK?