International Calling from Udon Thani

[Ray.Charles]

Hi,
From the U.S. I call Thailand by two-stage dialling: first I call an U.S. number, and then on the prompt I dial the Thai number; costs 10c per minute.
I would like to find out what is the best deal in the reverse; that is from Udon Thani Thailand to the U.S.
Plus, I would like to know the best deal for
1. from Thailand to the U.K.
2. from U.K. to Thailand
3. pushing my luck, perhaps one of the U.K. guys can tell me about the best deal from the U.K. to the U.S.

Thanks in advance.

[jetdoc]

Ray, Have a look at the skype rates.

http://www.skype.com/intl/en/prices/cal ... #listing-U

Not necessarily the cheapest but should give you a "ball park" idea of existing rates. Of course requires internet connection, but my experience a better connection and easier access, Been using skype about 7 or 8 years so maybe "phone" connections have improved.

[BobHelm]

UK to anywhere - there are VOIP numbers you can dial - the internet is full of them (A Google will bring them up). Rates often say they are from 1p (so about 1.60 - 1.70 cents) a minute, but, in my experience with them usually actually 2p to Thailand. You also need to take care as some offer cheap land-line rates but the mobile rate is not so hot. So you need to be sure what you are dialling (mobile - mobile; land-line - mobile; land-line - land-line) before you choose.
When you use sometimes the line can be VERY bad. It is a matter of redialling then & you usually get a good connection.
As jetdoc says Skype is well worth looking at if both parties have a pc.....

[jackspratt]

For Skype, both parties don't require a PC. If they both do, you can call PC - PC for free.

If not, the calling party can call from their PC to any phone number, at the rates listed above in jetdoc's link.

For Skype, it doesn't matter where you are calling from (on your PC) - the price determinant is where you are calling to.

For Skype (as per the above), you must buy credit. There is a connection fee http://www.skype.com/intl/en/prices/cal ... ectionfee/ and calls are charged in 1 minute chunks ie 2 minutes 25 seconds will cost you 3 minutes.

For heavy users Skype also has an "unlimited calls" plan, based on a fixed monthly fee.

[leehut]

I've been using Thaitel for UK PC to Thai Mobile calls for the last 5 years or so. It costs about 2.5 US cents per minute. You can also get prepaid cards for the same rate.....Lee

http://www.thaitel.com/pc2phone/rates.php

[parrot]

"I would like to find out what is the best deal in the reverse; that is from Thailand to the U.S."

Best deal, for me, is the Phone Net card offered by the CAT office. 1 baht per minute, crystal clear calls to the US. Card is good for 1 year (many cards expire within 60-90 days). Cards can be refilled, so you don't have to use a different access number each time you change cards. Cards can be purchased in 200-300-500 baht denominations. Calls to mobile phones in the US are same cost as calls to regular lines. Each time you call, you will know the amount of baht remaining on your card and the amount of time you can talk to the dialed number with your remaining balance. And, finally, I can call from my Thai mobile phone or my TOT phone to the US for the same price. No charges at all are levied against my mobile phone!

[randerson79]

True Move... 1 baht per minute. Dial 0600026000 then your number 1-555-555-5555. work great for me.

[polehawk]

I use Yahoo Messenger for my calls to the US, a penny a minute. Free pc to pc voice calls.

[sammyg]

We use a card called Emerald Plan from www.nobel.com cards.We have tried about 10 different plans and like this one the best.We pay $50 on our credit card and it lasts about 3 months and my wife calls to Thailand for about 1/2 hour almost daily.When it gets down to $10 it automatically recharges which it fine as I was always having to go purchase a new card on other sites also.You keep the same pin # and there is no charge for connection and this thing must have 4 (24 hour days) days of straight talk on it for $50 as it lasts a long time.It is not so good on charge when in Thailand calling to America though as it is about 12 cents per minute.But when we are in Thailand I give our pin # the locall access for each kids area(cheaper if you use a local access# than the 1-800#)also to my sisers and father so they can keep in touch with us.We usually buy a card from 7-11 for calling to America form Thailand as its cheaper than anything we have found on the internet.We have been using this plan for about 2 years now and love it.I think its about 1.1 cents per minute form U.S. to Thailand.Here is what I just copied off site talking to a person on their site.
Thank you. The card which I would recommend is the Emerald Plan, which has a 1 minute billing increment, no maintenance fee and no connection fee, and a very good rate of 2c per minute based on using a local access number.
[7:17:50 AM]: This is the card that I would sincerely recommend to any customer as it has an accurate billing system, it is PIN-less and it expires in two years after the last use.
[7:18:16 AM]: You can also receive calls from Thailand at a rate of 12.5c per minute if you use a local access number.

[aznyron]

I use cat telecom I buy a card for 300 baht for 300 minutes they also have a 500 baht card for 500 minutes
you get them in Cat office were they pay the bills

[Ray.Charles]

A lot of useful information ahead of me. Here is my attempt to organize into two groups;
1. Traditional telephony, that is time domain multiplexed transmission,
2. Packetized voice (technical speak) or cheap voice (sales pitch) or Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) (branding)

About 10 years ago, the second group tried to break into the voice market by piggy-backing on the internet; the biggest company was Vonage in the U.S.; terrible quality, went under bankruptcy. But, if folks now find Skype or Yahoo messenger to be OK, then I have to believe that VOIP has grown up. But, my preferece will be not to be tied to a computer. Cisco though is now offering 'telephone' with VOIP built-in.

I wouild like to be able to make and receive a call from anywhere. It is incredible that Parrot can call U.S for a Baht a minute from his cellphone. I am not in Thailand now, but I think that I pay at least that much to call inside Thailand using (?)DTAC. By the way, Parrot, is it 2 stage dialling like Randerson79's.
Sammyg, "4 (24 hour days) days of straight talk on it for $50" that's about 1 hour for 50c, less than 1c per minute! Did I get my math wrong? When in Thailand, perhaps you should look into Parrot and Randerson79's way. I certainly would.

[rick]

From Uk to Thailand, one of the best deals recently has been for Talk-talk landline customers. It is possible (unfortunately ends this week!) if you have one of the upgrade options, to have free phone calls to a lot of 0870 numbers, which included some of the companies providing international calls; therefore - calls to Thailand for free (Thai landline and mobile)! Unfortunately some one has cottoned on, and this service will terminate on Saturday. But the TGF has appreciated her hour a day call the last 3 months! Got to wean her off now.

It is possible a similar deal exists with other operators or maybe a new option will come up. Anyway, you should never have to pay more than 5p a minute if you have a landline, whatever your landline provider in UK, if you use a calling service.

[izzix]

fring.com

[dbriggins]

Cheapest way is to use a VoIP like Yahoo, Google or Skype PC to PC. It's free. TrueMove ( http://www.truecorp.co.th/eng/promotion ... idd006.jsp ) is nice, but it's actually 3 baht/minute to land lines, and 6 baht/minute to mobile phones in the UK. Plus the monthly charge for the phone, service, etc. The PhoneNet card ( http://www.cthai.com/catphonenet300.aspx )is good, again about 6 baht/minute to the UK.

[rick]

by izzix on July 28, 2009, 6:37 pm
fring.com
izzix

Only any good if you have an internet connected mobile phone (or maybe wireless laptop?) it seems. Some of us may have older technology; I like to do telephone calls on a telephone and my mobile is one version up from a brick .

[parrot]

"By the way, Parrot, is it 2 stage dialling like Randerson79's"

It's one baht per minute (not one penny). Dial 1544 (toll free on any phone in Thailand). 2 for English. 12 digit access code (doesn't change when you renew your card). 009-1-area code-telephone number

Sounds like a lot of numbers, but I loaded the numbers into my speed dial feature, so it's as easy as making any other phone call.

[UdonExpat]

I use a sim card from True on my mobile phone. It's 1 baht per minute for most international calls.

[Nick@AUA]

I use a sim card from True on my mobile phone. It's 1 baht per minute for most international calls.

Where can such a card be acquired please?

[aznyron]

Nick cat offers the same deal card 300 baht for 300 minutes they also have a 500 baht card for 500 minutes

[randerson79]

I just use a true Move sim that you can buy anywhere. I bought mine on the 3rd floor of the complex. It comes with the numbers for long distance calling on the package.