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I put $10 on an account over ten years ago to make sporadic calls (e.g. customer service in other countries). That account still has $5 left, and I’ve made a to

I put $10 on an account over ten years ago to make sporadic calls (e.g. customer service in other countries). That account still has $5 left, and I’ve made a ton of calls to many different countries. What’s a good alternative here? I just want to make outgoing international calls cheaply.

rwmj 2y ago
Especially an alternative that doesn't mean giving money to Google or using any Meta service.
pm3003 2y ago
SIP providers. I used Ippi before 2015, but then EU regulations made it illegal to bill more for EU calls than for domestic calls, so I had almost no more use for it.
EVa5I7bHFq9mnYK 2y ago
I use MobileVOIP, but voice quality and the probability of a call to connect is inferior to Skype.
- dzhiurgis 2y ago
  30-50 cents per minute is very expensive.
  - EVa5I7bHFq9mnYK 2y ago
    Checked prices, Skype is more expensive.
apatheticonion 2y ago
I'm in the same boat, I wonder if you can use the web interface from a 4g modem to make calls/send&recieve SMS messages. Could install a cloudflare tunnel on it and access it while abroad. I know you can do sms messages, but I'm not sure about calls. Perhaps an old Android phone could be used for this?
Marsymars 2y ago
Nearly same situation here. I recently used it to for travel logistics for a trip to Japan for some local things that didn't have online booking. From a bit of Googling, Viber may be a reasonable alternative. They're owned by a reasonably non-shady/non-fly-by-night operation (Rakuten), have a desktop app, and let you buy credit without a subscription: https://account.viber.com/en/rates-index https://account.viber.com/en/rates-index Happy to hear about experiences with alternatives.
- nneonneo 2y ago
  Seems reasonable. Rates are more expensive than Skype (almost 2x for some of the destinations I probably want to use), but not catastrophically so. I’ll chuck a tenner in and see how it goes :). Fingers crossed that can last me another decade.

rwmj 2y ago

Especially an alternative that doesn't mean giving money to Google or using any Meta service.

pm3003 2y ago

SIP providers. I used Ippi before 2015, but then EU regulations made it illegal to bill more for EU calls than for domestic calls, so I had almost no more use for it.

EVa5I7bHFq9mnYK 2y ago

I use MobileVOIP, but voice quality and the probability of a call to connect is inferior to Skype.

dzhiurgis 2y ago
30-50 cents per minute is very expensive.
- EVa5I7bHFq9mnYK 2y ago
  Checked prices, Skype is more expensive.

apatheticonion 2y ago

I'm in the same boat, I wonder if you can use the web interface from a 4g modem to make calls/send&recieve SMS messages. Could install a cloudflare tunnel on it and access it while abroad. I know you can do sms messages, but I'm not sure about calls. Perhaps an old Android phone could be used for this?

Marsymars 2y ago

Nearly same situation here. I recently used it to for travel logistics for a trip to Japan for some local things that didn't have online booking. From a bit of Googling, Viber may be a reasonable alternative. They're owned by a reasonably non-shady/non-fly-by-night operation (Rakuten), have a desktop app, and let you buy credit without a subscription: https://account.viber.com/en/rates-index https://account.viber.com/en/rates-index Happy to hear about experiences with alternatives.

nneonneo 2y ago
Seems reasonable. Rates are more expensive than Skype (almost 2x for some of the destinations I probably want to use), but not catastrophically so. I’ll chuck a tenner in and see how it goes :). Fingers crossed that can last me another decade.