Any experience with Nationphone for (supposedly) unlimited calls to U.S.?

Hi everyone,

We're getting ready for our big move back to the UK (one month away! eek!), and I'm trying to figure out the best way to keep in touch with my family in the U.S. using the phone rather than Skype. 

I know, I love Skype, too, but I also found a service called Nationphone that, supposedly, will allow unlimited calls to and from the U.S. from my cell/mobile phone for a fixed monthly fee of $24.95, in addition to my usual U.S. cell phone service costs.  This way, my family can continue to use my current U.S. number and call as usual (well, except for the time difference).

Additionally, the Nationphone service gives you a local number and up to six virtual numbers for other countries, so that, supposedly, your mobile phone can pretty much call the U.S., your local area, and up to six other countries with unlimited back and forth calling. 

Here's the thing: I tend to be wary of of things that sound to good to be true.

Has anyone had any experience with this company?  They were advertised on an article about expats, but I tried contacting them three separate times with no results.  I called and left a message- no callback.  I emailed, no response.  I called again, and got disconnected.  Ordinarily, three strikes is enough for me to run in the other direction, but I can't find anything like this service anywhere else, so was hoping my experience might be an anomaly?

I know I could just get Vonage for a landline, but I was hoping to use a service that let me use my cell phone as my "world phone" for a flat fee, so that I'm always available to get calls from both home and locally.

Advice, please!  Thanks in advance! 

You've already answered your own question - called & disconnected, no call back, no email response....run....very fast.....

I have Vonage  with a virtual number that's a local call for my family in the US, but no one bothers to call anymore, so will be dropping it. Unless you are not home a LOT, is there any real advantage to maintaining a cell phone just for other people to call you? You may be surprised how infrequently they do.

Unless you are not home a LOT, is there any real advantage to maintaining a cell phone just for other people to call you? You may be surprised how infrequently they do.

This makes perfect sense..... you need to be home a lot AND at the right times.  You may be home at lot in the evenings, but that's when everyone who might call you would be at work in the US...... they might call you during their evening, but you'll be asleep in the middle of the night in the UK!

My family and friends in the US communicate with email a lot and I Skype with my parents and grandparents rarely (usually just if my parents are visiting my grandparents and get Skype started for them).  We're using Skype less and less the longer I'm here!  I think we Skyped every few weeks when I first got here, but now we really just do emails. 

Unless you are not home a LOT, is there any real advantage to maintaining a cell phone just for other people to call you?

I guess the advantage I was looking for was to have one phone (and one bill) only, so that I wouldn't have to have a phone hooked up to my computer at home just for U.S. calls, and a mobile phone for everywhere else. 

But as you and another poster wisely pointed out, most of my calls are going to come at night because of the time difference, which means I'd be home, anyway (not much night life with two little ones!).  So Vonage it is, and I'll just deal with the mobile phone issue once I get there.

Even if people taper off calling me (wait, they totally won't- I'm awesome!), I have a feeling I'm going to be calling them like crazy for the first few months out of homesickness!

Thanks for the advice!! 

We use Skype for most calls, and pay extra for a US number so that our friends and family in the US don't have to call long distance. The US number calls into our laptop,  iPad, iphone and you just pick it up through the Skype app.

Or, if your friends and family have smartphones you can keep in touch using Facetime over wifi/phone data service.

This makes perfect sense..... you need to be home a lot AND at the right times.  You may be home at lot in the evenings, but that's when everyone who might call you would be at work in the US...... they might call you during their evening, but you'll be asleep in the middle of the night in the UK!

My family and friends in the US communicate with email a lot and I Skype with my parents and grandparents rarely (usually just if my parents are visiting my grandparents and get Skype started for them).  We're using Skype less and less the longer I'm here!  I think we Skyped every few weeks when I first got here, but now we really just do emails. 

Wow, what's your secret? I've been here permanently for nearly two years and my parents still call constantly. If I don't talk to them 2x a week they get all pissy. Granny lives with them as well. So each phone call is at LEAST an hour! It's exhausting! (Plus they also email!)

We have vonage here in the US and use it all the time.  There is a free vonage app (vonage extensions) where I can also call the UK thru that on my cell phone.  When I get over to the UK we will be getting vonage as well and I think it is a lot cheaper over there than here in the US.

Also Sky has a phone package with international calling as well

Wow, what's your secret? I've been here permanently for nearly two years and my parents still call constantly. If I don't talk to them 2x a week they get all pissy. Granny lives with them as well. So each phone call is at LEAST an hour! It's exhausting! (Plus they also email!)

Hahahah!  I think I started to slowly wean them off.... then I made them go cold turkey.    hehehehe  My mom and one of my grandmas are on Facebook, so if we post stuff there, they see it.... all my family (grandmothers included) email, so it's easy to keep in touch. 

My folks, brother and sister-in-law are coming over in a few weeks to visit, so that time together should meet our quota for a while.....   

I use 1899.com for really cheap calls to the US. Never found one to do the reverse.
http://www.1899.com/index2.php

Thanks for the replies, everyone!  At least I won't have to send up smoke signals!  I mean, it would be free, but also easy to misinterpret. 

For 4.99 GBP I can call any landline or mobile in the US on Skype. I have skype on both my laptop and my iPhone so I can just call the phone number - I've never had problems with it and if you find you aren't really using it, its alot better than 24.99 a month! 

I also paid extra for a local number for them to call me - but I'll tell you what...no one calls. I barely use Skype and the only people calling me are US companies and telemarketers!  No matter how many times I tell them to call me no later than 7pm their time, they don't get it.  So if I want to talk to them, I have to call them. Then they are AMAZED that I'm calling from the UK. LOL.

I barely use Skype and the only people calling me are US companies and telemarketers! 

Oh, wow!  I didn't even think about the fact that telemarketers could be calling me at 4 in the morning with a U.S. number.  Yikes!  Definitely a big plus for Skype.  Thanks for the tip!

For 4.99 GBP I can call any landline or mobile in the US on Skype. I have skype on both my laptop and my iPhone so I can just call the phone number - I've never had problems with it and if you find you aren't really using it, its alot better than 24.99 a month! 

I also paid extra for a local number for them to call me - but I'll tell you what...no one calls. I barely use Skype and the only people calling me are US companies and telemarketers!  No matter how many times I tell them to call me no later than 7pm their time, they don't get it.  So if I want to talk to them, I have to call them. Then they are AMAZED that I'm calling from the UK. LOL.

I'd be interested in learning more about this £4.99 thing!
I have been trying unsuccessfully for a year or so to get my parents on Skype or Viber so that we can do free calls, but they just can't 'get it'.  First we tried Skype but my mom got all flustered with the registration process and gave up.  Then tried Viber, which doesn't require a registration, password, etc, but she doesnt have wi-fi, so the 2 or 3 times we arranged times to talk, it was just a waste of time for me, and complete frustration and tears for her.  (she's old and not very well, so EVERYTHING is a HUGE ordeal.)

I need to find a way of calling them which is absolutely no effort on their part, but doesn't cost me a pure fortune.

To make calls with google to US/CA landlines and mobiles is free.

We use Skype for most calls, and pay extra for a US number so that our friends and family in the US don't have to call long distance. The US number calls into our laptop,  iPad, iphone and you just pick it up through the Skype app.

Or, if your friends and family have smartphones you can keep in touch using Facetime over wifi/phone data service.

I have a US Skype number, as well, and chose a local number for my mothers area as shes the one who calls me the most.  It doesnt cost her a dime as she gets local calls for free. Calls can go to my cell phone or to a computer or other mobile device. I also invested in a home phone that can receive both landline and skype calls on the same phone, so when I'm in the house, calls come through there first.


If you lack an iPhone, Google Hangouts (what used to be Talk on an Android) will let you video chat with up to ten people at once as well. Thats free. Which is good if you want to video chat with more than one person at once