The new forums will be named Coin Return (based on the most recent vote)! You can check on the status and timeline of the transition to the new forums here.
The Guiding Principles and New Rules document is now in effect.
Cell phones and long distance
Dangerous
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I'm not sure if this is more of a technology question or a general H/A so I'll put it here and a mod can move it if it's not right. Anyway I'm looking into getting my first cell phone and I was wondering about using long distance calling cards with a cell.
I have some friends going to school in the states that I'd call once in a while but probably not enough to justify getting a long distance plan. I was going to go with the Rogers (We don't have shit to pick from really around here) My 5 plan and use a calling card whenever I needed to.
I asked the guy at the store and he said most cell phones don't even work with cards. I thought that was kind of odd so I tried an old one I had on my brother's cell. It worked fine to call home with. Someone else I asked though said that even if you use a card you still pay the long distance fees. Another person said there were no extra fees. I couldn't find much on the internet about it either. Both the card website and the Rogers website didn't say anything specific.
TL;DR: Do cell phones (specifically on whatever network rogers uses) incur regular long distance charges even when using a calling card?
I have some friends going to school in the states that I'd call once in a while but probably not enough to justify getting a long distance plan. I was going to go with the Rogers (We don't have shit to pick from really around here) My 5 plan and use a calling card whenever I needed to.
I asked the guy at the store and he said most cell phones don't even work with cards. I thought that was kind of odd so I tried an old one I had on my brother's cell. It worked fine to call home with. Someone else I asked though said that even if you use a card you still pay the long distance fees. Another person said there were no extra fees. I couldn't find much on the internet about it either. Both the card website and the Rogers website didn't say anything specific.
TL;DR: Do cell phones (specifically on whatever network rogers uses) incur regular long distance charges even when using a calling card?
Dangerous on
0
Posts
However, most cards charge a premium for cell phone use. (Or pay phone use, for that matter). The card may advertise "5 cents per minute anywhere in North America!", but hidden way down in the fine print somewhere are the surcharges, which can include connection fees, monthly access fees, and extra per-minute costs for using a cell or pay phone. So, that $10 card that gives you 5 cents per minute long distance may actually charge you 99 cents per minute if you try to use it on a cell phone. They tend to charge extra if you're placing a call to a cell phone, as well.
If you have a computer with a half-decent connection, I'd suggest looking into Skype instead. All you really need is a mic, or you can spend $20 on a basic USB Skype phone for better sound quality. With Skype, you can use your computer to call any regular phone number for a fairly reasonable per-minute rate, or you can pay $3 per month to get Skype Pro, which gives you unlimited calls to anywhere in the US or Canada, including calls to cell phones.
I've been using Skype for years, and I've never had a significant problem with it. The sound quality isn't always perfect, but for $3 per month, it's pretty fantastic value. With a calling card, even if you could find one that worked with your cell phone without charging you hidden fees through the nose, you'd constantly be worrying about running up minutes. With Skype, you could talk as much as you wanted.
I bought the year of unlimited skype deal back when they had the 20$ deal on. I was really impressed by the sound quality but every call I made had some annoying delay. It wasn't much, about 2 seconds or so but it made it weird to use. Is it any better now? If they cleared that up a bit I'll definitely be signing up again.
Why not just buy $10 worth of Skype credit to start, and give it a try? If you do notice delay, you're only out the cost of a cheap calling card anyway, and you can still use the Skype credit to do things like send text messages to people. And if you don't notice any delay, you can go ahead and upgrade to Skype Pro.
If it turns out to be not so bad I'll probably end up getting a skype in number in the states so if they ever want to call they won't get wanged with international long distance. The ad says it's 60% off with pro.
Have you used the skype On-the-go thing? From what I gather it comes included with pro and lets you call long distance on your cell by giving you a local number to connect to so you don't get charged out the ass. The major caveat I read is that there aren't local numbers for every area code so depending who you're calling it might still be long distance.
That sounds very possible actually. I was having a hell of a time getting bit torrent and some other apps to work because of my router. Is there a skype guide on which ports to open or should I just check portforward.com? Thanks!
Update: Opened some ports and made a few test calls with the remaining dollar of skype credit I had. Works beautifully now, delay isn't really noticeable at all, thanks guys! One more thing, does anyone know if unlimited texting is included in Skype pro? It's not a big deal as it's something silly like 1 cent per text, but I'm just curious. I couldn't find a clear answer on the site.