Looking for PC To Telephone - USA TO RUSSIA

[RickM]

Anybody know a good pc to telephone service for calling russia (or ukraine) from USA?
Seems calling cards are getting outtahand with rates and quality really is inferior for costs...
Appreciate anyone's recent experiences...
Thanx in advance...RickM

[geh]

... in response to Looking for PC To Telephone - USA TO RUS..., posted by RickM on Sep 2, 2005

You may want to check out net2phone.com.  I have used them for several years.  They offer many telecom services.  I have a calling card from them and have used it to call the Ukraine for $0.15.min -- no other chanrges -- if you talk one minute it is $0.15.  They have 1-800 access (slightly higher cost) or local access numbers in major cities.  I have always gotten through without being disconnected.  They also have PC-to-Phone and PC-to-PC calling -- check the web site for costs and the software you can download.  Payment is easy -- just give them a credit card and you can even set your account up to refresh automatically if your account balacne drops below $5.  Good Luck

[UnitedNut]

... in response to Looking for PC To Telephone - USA TO RUS..., posted by RickM on Sep 2, 2005

I've been pretty happy with: http://www.opexinternetvoice.com/agents.asp?name=cognigenws&id=expresspinld
Even though the pre-paid card costs are a little lower, the call quality has been more consistent.

[YEP]

... in response to Looking for PC To Telephone - USA TO RUS..., posted by RickM on Sep 2, 2005


There's many options ....

For starters you can check out Skype.com

They skypeout service is OK to Belarus fixed line ... mobile it's more doubtfull at least with the short experience I have until now.

For SkypeOut
http://www.skype.com/products/skypeout/

Their rates:
http://www.skype.com/products/skypeout/rates/

Ukraine rates is here:
http://www.skype.com/products/skypeout/rates/all_rates.html#listing-U

But there's many PC / standalone solutions around

Also you should consider a "semi-solution" like this:
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=24046
http://www.dualphone.net/ (the homepage)
or just a USB handset that has some soundimproving features and doesn't rely on the quality of your soundcard (important)
Many if not all soundcards that is "built-in" on the motherboard of your PC don't quite add up
But there's many options.

Just as an example here's the rates of Broadvoice

http://www.broadvoice.com/rateplans_international_li.html

Another cute thing is that you sign a VOIP service in say russia so she can call you at a cheaper rate ;-)

There's many ways to Rome

[RfB]

... in response to Looking for PC To Telephone - USA TO RUS..., posted by RickM on Sep 2, 2005

We have been using Discall.com for several years with little or no problems to St. Petersburg, Taupse,Volgograd Russia and anywhere in the good old USA. Rates are very cheap, and saving the access numbers on the speed-dial makes it easy. We have a local access number for Discall, and it's actually cheaper for my wife to call her family in Russia, than it is to call my family an hour away.

[RickM]

... in response to Telephone - USA TO RUSSIA, posted by RfB on Sep 3, 2005

We've been using noblecom for about 4 years now and the connections and quality is getting worse instead of better through the years.The only thing that they seem to have improved is their ability to sell more service by "re-charging" your existing cards...

[RfB]

... in response to What types of rates and service are u ge..., posted by RickM on Sep 4, 2005

We tried noblecom in the beginning, but as you said, the quality was lousy, and the connections were spotty. The final straw was when they goofed in their billing and charged us almost 40 cents per minute for one phone call instead of 4.5 cents/min.

[RfB]

... in response to What types of rates and service are u ge..., posted by RickM on Sep 4, 2005

We are using "The Best Phone Card" from Discall.com , and to St Petersburg, it costs $0.76/Hour using a local access number, and would cost $1.36/Hour using the 800 access number. Moscow rates ae about the same, and for the rest of the country, the rate is $2.68/Hour. I do mean 60 minutes in my price quotes, not the ten cents per minute that Verizon wants for me to call my Dad who's only an hour drive away. The costs for anywhere in the lower 48 states is a buck an hour. I have the local access number set on the speed-dial, the pin number on another , and the actual home phone number on a third. I can recharge the phone card online when it gets low, and not have to reprogram anything. The quality overall has been very good to the places we call.

[RickM]

... in response to Check the website for details, posted by RfB on Sep 4, 2005

N/T