Phone options for the non-tech savvy guy

[InnocentVixen]

Ok guys, I need your help, my boyfriend is not so much into computers (or phones really) and we have been having really long phone calls ever since we met, he calls me from his cel (verizon) and he is supposed to have a plan that has some sort of discount for international calls but the bill was still huge, he is not tech savvy so anything that needs complicated configurations will not do, spending hours in front on the pc is not an option either.


I am sure once I visit it won't be a problem because I'll set something up but until then I was wondering of what can I do so next bill is not as big since we will meet again in a month, I feel guilty but that doesn't mean I don't wan to keep hearing his voice every day. After we meet again we will be visiting on regular basis so nothing drastic, just something simple that get us through this month.

[Researcher]

    If he is completely against using a computer he should use calling cards.The best ones I have found are in these little bodegas.They usually have a huge selection for Mexico and you pay for the card so the charges aren't to the phone.

   Other than that I like Skype lately.I know some folks that use Vonage.Before those I used Jajah which is a website that makes calls via the internet.They have always been fairly reasonable but it is easy to setup.

       Researcher

[michaelb]

Phone cards are the way to go, especially if he doesn't want to or doesn't know how to mess with that other stuff. I don't know where he lives, but if there is any kind of Mexican (or other foreign) community at all, then all of the ethnic grocery stores and money sending places and a lot of the restaurants will have tons of them for $5.00 (and often they discount a face value $5.00 card to $4.00). It depends on the brand of card and the destination city (D.F. and some major cities cost less than the rest of the country), but he should get at least 3 hours of phone calls per card. Now, some cards are better than others (both time wise and quality of connection, dropped calls, etc.), tell him to ask the clerk to recommend one and/or try two or three different brands until he finds one he likes. 

[AndyLee]

When I was in US and talking to Colombian girls I purchased Phone Cards online at
http://www.nobelcom.com/phone-cards/calling-Colombia-from-United-States-1-70.html
You can search the net and find cards as low as 3 cents per minute cell to cell or 10 cents per minute cell to landline.


IV, I don't want to be nosy, but why, in this day and age, is an intelligent man hesitating  to use the computer so you can be on web cam when you talk? It is so much better to be able to see your sweetie face to face...........

[Calipro]

    If he is completely against using a computer he should use calling cards.The best ones I have found are in these little bodegas.They usually have a huge selection for Mexico and you pay for the card so the charges aren't to the phone.

   Other than that I like Skype lately.I know some folks that use Vonage.Before those I used Jajah which is a website that makes calls via the internet.They have always been fairly reasonable but it is easy to setup.

       Researcher

If you have a smart phone with a data plan you can install skype on your phone and he can call you where ever you are for nothing. Even if you don't have a data plan you can still talk to each other when there is a WIFI connection


Best quality is ooma.com...it is a vonage type device but without the monthly fees and it has better voice quality than vonage.


Another option is to buy a DID which will give him a local mexican phone number that will ring this home phone or cell in the US.

[InnocentVixen]

voice quality is very important, when he calls me to my cell phone it's not so clear and it's hard to have a decent conversation, specially if it's clouded over there, over here, or how it is often the case at both ends (when there is a storm it's impossible to talk!), he ends up calling me on my land line which is much clearer but since I am going crazy here waiting I will be traveling next month so we'll only be able to talk from cell to cell.


Where he lives there is no foreign communities but he is close to Boston and he has told me over there there is a little of everything, at the moment he is away on a conference so I am sure he could pick up some cards on his drive back.


@AndyLee: not being nosy at all, I know it must sound weird, he is just a busy guy who is always on the go and has no time to sit around in front of the computer, he also happens to be a little bit stubborn.


lots of good options, thank you guys, I think a phone card will probably be the easiest one, and since it's only for a month and after that we'll be visiting on more regular basis, I'll just ask him to buy a bunch of them    too bad I don't live in a big city, but if he can get 3hrs out of a 5usd card that is still a great deal!

[AndyLee]

IV, please don't take this the wrong way.....I "sense a red flag" whenever I meet anyone, man or woman, who "doesn't use the computer". The laptop is almost a personal accessory anytime and anywhere in the US. Most people I know in the US, men and women, treat their cell phone as their most important accessory and their laptop as their second most important accessory.
Anyway, if cell phone and phone card is your only option, you can buy increments of $5 online and renew online as needed. Assuming he isn't too stubborn to go online and pay for minutes with his credit card

[benjio]

If he is calling you in Mexico from the U.S., Pingo is your answer. It is an online phone card service. He can recharge the minutes online or over the phone wherever he runs out. The minutes are not the absolute cheapest that can be found, but they are economical, and I haven't found better call clarity or reliability during the three years I've been calling people in Latin America. Their website is www.pingo.com
 
The card works perfect for any country south of the border. Easy and quick to sign up and if you want them to they will store your credit card information so recharging takes about 2 minutes. 

[Jeff S]

If you both have computers, you should get skype. It's free computer to computer for as long as you want to talk and voice quality is way better than a telephone. You can also hook up a cheap webcam and have a video chat. When I travel I talk to my wife from anywhere in the world for free from my laptop. Hotel rooms, wi-fi hotspots, anywhere you can get online, works.


You can also use it to call landlines at 3 cents a minute just about anywhere in the world and to cell phones for 6 cents a minute. For $3 a month, you can get an incoming telephone number too so people can call in to your computer from any phone also. I use it as a primary business phone line, so where ever I am, people can call me as if I was sitting in my office and I can answer from my laptop.


He doesn't need to be tech savvy to use skype. If he can send an email or log onto a website, he can use skype.

[jm21-2]

Boost mobile has a $50/month unlimited plan which can be extended to Canada and many places in Mexico for $5/month extra. If your area in mexico is covered (only covers landlines) it would definitely be worth it. Otherwise maybe calling cards are the best way.

[Micky]

IV -

Since he is in a metro area Metro PCS has,  or I should say had,  it has been awhile for me,  an unlimited international calling plan that was not expensive.  He can check it out,  my 2 cents.
 
AndyLee -  A red flag because he is not a gadget guy?  I am computer literate,  but I do not like laptops,  cell phones,  any mobile devices at all.  So I think he is like me,  a super catch !!
 
Micky

[InnocentVixen]

I am computer literate,  but I do not like laptops,  cell phones,  any mobile devices at all.  So I think he is like me,  a super catch !!

Of course you are Micky and yes he is 


Actually even though it doesn't make things easier for me (skype was my first choice being so clear and free!) but like I said he is always on the go, he can't run around from one way to another at work with a laptop on his hand (hell he doesn't even own one) and no smart phone either, he is a bit like my dad in that way, already teased him about it, dad has sticked to his phone for years because "he finally learned how to use it"


I like that side of him, he is not the kind of guy that uses the computer every day including weekends... one of us is enough and it's a habit I really want to get rid of... he doesn't talk on the phone for hours all day everyday, well he does to me but when he goes on vacation he is the kind of guy that turns off his phone, that is worth gold in my book!


@benjio: thanks for the link, I was taking a look at cards and most focus the information on price so I figured it would be trial and error, but the rates are not bad in pingo and if you recommend the quality it is def worth a try.

[Researcher]

         I found one of the best international calling cars at Walgreen's.I think you can find calling cards in Wal Mart as well.One thing a lady at one of these bodegas told me was that the newest cards were the best because they were trying to get customers so the call quality was good.But as soon as they would be popular the call quality would get bad.I found that this was true and I changed cards every 6 months.

        FYI: I kept the cards I used as "proof of relationship".I just made copies of all of them to send with  the visa paperwork.You've got to remember to document your love for USCIS!!!
 
     Researcher

[InnocentVixen]

Thanks Researcher, that is very useful information! it's good to know that huge bill will come in handy at some point and I'll remind him to keep the cards if he gets some, the pingo ones would be easier to keep track of I guess because it's online right? it makes perfect sense new cards are trying to attract more clients by offering higher quality at first, will keep that in mind, thanks again!

[AndyLee]

IV -
 
AndyLee -  A red flag because he is not a gadget guy?  I am computer literate,  but I do not like laptops,  cell phones,  any mobile devices at all.  So I think he is like me,  a super catch !!
 
Micky

Not a red flag because of not being a gadget guy.....I'm about as Luddite as they come, but I still like to talk to my girlfriend on Skype or Gmail at least once in a while. I figure if a girl doesn't want to talk to me on web cam then she is wasting my time because she either isn't serious or she has other boyfriends. If she uses the "no computer - no savvy" excuse I write her off as not trainable and/or playing the field/games.

[chameleon]

IV, please don't take this the wrong way.....I "sense a red flag" whenever I meet anyone, man or woman, who "doesn't use the computer". The laptop is almost a personal accessory anytime and anywhere in the US. Most people I know in the US, men and women, treat their cell phone as their most important accessory and their laptop as their second most important accessory.
Anyway, if cell phone and phone card is your only option, you can buy increments of $5 online and renew online as needed. Assuming he isn't too stubborn to go online and pay for minutes with his credit card

+1


If he's the type that's very busy with work and is even travelling to conferences for it, he's got a laptop and you can be damned sure he's at the thing every day. That's just how it works if you're relatively successful. Taking some extra time to talk/email to a girl he's involved with really isn't asking too much.


Anyway, a red flag is still just a flag and not a certain indicator something is wrong, but be careful.

[Traveler]

If a guy is not an "early adapter" gadget freak does not make it a red flag.  Not everyone is into this stuff.  Well, without knowing what he does for work, I can say about myself.  I certainly have a laptop but rarely take it on the road.  My work involves mostly traveling around Miami metro between my clients' houses.  Believe it or not it complicates dating tremendously as girls in the US for some reason prefer to text, and well I can't do it without literally taking time off to communicate to them.  I am either driving or talking to clients, and obviously I can't text during the day.  Drives me crazy  . 
 
Anyway, I would say that Skype or at least Vonage would be a way to go though.  It's not at all difficult to set up, and I don't see a reason for somebody to be resistant to it.  And if he wants to call you on the go, he can use a phone card.  It's really cheap, especially if he calls your fijo line.

[ulmus]

I used to use phone cards... lots of phone cards to make calls to Colombia.
But then I discovered FaceTime on the iPod Touch. 
I do travel a lot, but most all of the hotels I stay in have WiFi available.
So it is really easy to make high-quality video calls to anywhere in the world.
 
After a few video calls, I think I will only use phone cards as a last resort. 
It is sooo much better to see each other.