Looking for better phone rates or alternative to Skype

I was shocked and stunned to find out how much we pay for landline calls here if we don't use the Vonage phone.

I know! 

I'm another Vonage customer, and i don't think I'll ever switch back to a standard landline.  Other than the free calls to US you can also sign up to have what's called a virtual number.  It's £2.99/month for that. Along with my regular UK number, I have a Wyoming number, so my best friend can call me and it's free for him. He lives in rural Wyoming and broadband still isn't available where he lives, so things like Skype weren't feasable for keeping in touch.

If I rembember correctly, (I think another poster on the forum had done this) you can sign up for Vonage in the US, and then if you move to the UK, you can bring the modem with you and then sign up for the UK service, but you can always double-check that on their website.

I've been using enjoy prepaid for 2 years, and I love it. You can use it from any phone by pre-setting the numbers you call from(mobile, friend's house, home), which is nice for when the time difference doesn't synch well at home. No fee, no expiration. I think I pay less than 2 cents a minute.

When I moved here, I filled up the card with credits for my sister to keep in touch!


http://www.enjoyprepaid.com/

my boyfriend and i use msn or yahoo. we use to do the phone card thing until we realized that msn is free. all you both need is a mic headset. when you are messaging each other there is a call button. just call their computer and not a number. its free and you can talk for hours. on yahoo you can even leave voice mail messages if the person isnt on when you wanted to talk. they will get the message next time they sign on.

we have been using that for well over a year. i couldnt handle buying phone cards all the time because we spoke so often.

hope that works. since you are calling the computer and not a phone number there isnt a charge.

nickie

I swear by Telediscount.  It's wonderful!  1p a min from this side.  I use it to call my family ALL the time.  And if they call me, I usually tell them to hang up and then I call them back.
newcomer link: http://www.telediscount.co.uk/index2.php [nonactive]

Saves a TON.

-Megan

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone. I put my search for the perfect phone plan on hold while I am still recouperating, but will be looking again soon in earnest.

Thanks again!
Autumn

My fiancé uses TalkTalk Talk 2 plan (plan name might have changed since he joined) to call me free on evenings and weekends.  When I want to talk to him, I just call his phone and let it ring once before hanging up.  He then calls me back.

http://www.talktalk.co.uk/talktalk/servlet/gben-home-Home

I think, but am not sure, that the above is the website in question.

i have been a happy vonage customer for 19 months.

Completely unlimited calls to the US is a godsend, even if you just want to fall asleep to the sound of your partners breathing, and leave the fone on all night, it just costs 8 pounds a month

I use VoipWise. 

Will Vonage work if he doesn't have internet? My fiance and I have always talked through MSN messenger with head sets, but he has wireless and the place he was getting his signal from will be shut down for 6 weeks! Therefore we have had to do more phone calls and texting..he doesn't have a landline, only a mobile phone. Does this make the rates higher with Vonage? It does with every other phone plan I've checked into for some reason..
I know this thread is old..hopefully someone will still be here! lol

Hopefully I can answer your questions.  If he wants to use Vonage as his phone service, then he needs internet.  Not just internet, but relatively fast broadband. 

If you are in the States, you may have to pay extra to call his cell phone.  UK Vonage does not have to pay extra to call US cell phones. 

He could do Skype from internet hotspots/cafes.  I think Vonage (and probably other Voip services) have a sort of mobile phone you can use from a laptop that is picking up internet as well. 

I'd check to make sure you are not getting into a contract that you will not want to keep though.  If you are planning on moving out of the country, at least in the US the contracts are a year long now.

HTH

Thank you Hun..It did help. I checked on Vonage but because he only has a mobile phone it will cost me 34c per minute to call him! The cheapest I have found so far is a calling card from callingcards.com for 10c per minute. Wishing I could find the 2c per minute rates I hear people talking about!

I did not like Vonage.  I found the sales people to be pushy,and when I tried to use the service, I got nothing but static each time I used it.  Tim and I use Skype, and I have a US Skype-In number for when I'm out of the country for my family to call me on.  Tim's even logged into my Skype account to call my mobile while I was away from the internet for a weekend.  We love it.  Skype also has a Skype-to-Go, which gives you a local number to call that will then call overseas and come out of your skype credit. at US$0.02/min it's perfect for emergencies or when I'm not near my computer but want to call Tim. 

For the trouble with the hearing, did you try all of the Skype trouble shooting suggestions? Tim and I were having problems, and then he upgraded to the latest version and things were fixed. We also went in and manually adjusted the volume. 

given that this thread is about a year old, I wonder if people have recently found better deals out there for calling US -> UK  and UK - US...
So far I had been using skype, skype through the computer and skype video has worked out well and free!  Skype subscriptions were great when they used to be unlimited to the USA for $3 and unlimited world for $10, but now they've changed to $6/$13 respectively, and unlimited world does not include UK mobiles so that is not good.

Someone told me about lycamobile and then I saw it advertised as 4p/min to the USA, I thought it may be a good deal, but then I've read better deals up here.  I'll also check OneSuite as someone mentioned, but I guess it's only good for landlines and expensive to mobiles, will this always be the case?

But if someone knows a current cheap way (payg preferably) to call US - > UK that includes UK mobiles, please let me know.
Otherwise it seems like the BT line does makes sense after all

For U.K. to U.S. try this:

http://www.zerop.co.uk

4 pence per call, regardless of duration.

given that this thread is about a year old, I wonder if people have recently found better deals out there for calling US -> UK  and UK - US...
So far I had been using skype, skype through the computer and skype video has worked out well and free!  Skype subscriptions were great when they used to be unlimited to the USA for $3 and unlimited world for $10, but now they've changed to $6/$13 respectively, and unlimited world does not include UK mobiles so that is not good.

When did Skype raise their rates? They still charge me $2.99/mo...