[melodyhk]

Hi all,

Would anyone suggest an IDD provider that has cheap rates for USA and/or Taiwan? Or where can I go find a good deal on international phone calls? Have asked around in Causeway Bay but without success.

Thanks,
Melody

[tenchoc]

I converted to 1529 service a few months back after reading a thread about it in geoexpat. I am very pleased with their service. I suggest you also check it out!

[ontheroad]

We use Skypeoout for our international calls, it's like calling for free and the sound quality is just as good as over the phone.

[PDLM]

In what way is skypeout like calling for free? It costs money, and for many destinations it costs more money than traditional phone services such as 0060, 0080 or 1529.

[Alby]

melodyhk-

A credit card is needed for 1529 if you don't have one then I suggest that you use an international calling card with good service.

The one offered by PCCW at the 7-11 is expensive and not worthwhile.

I know that in Chungking Mansions in TST there are loads of International calling cards - used to buy the ones with 1643 and 1643 for about HK$36 - 38 and would get like 300 minutes to the USA - can't remember for sure as I have been using 1529 since May/June. I believe the card is called 'Go Home' but I could be wrong.

There are other places and cards in HK but I am not so sure where to go.

If you go to Chungking Mansions walk in from Nathan Rd pass the money exchangers just before the stairwell that goes upstairs take a right go down one row - I use to buy my cards from the vendor's in that area. I would buy a few at a time then have the guy help me program it into my mobile so every time I dialed overseas I didn't need the card as the 1643 or 1649 code was already in my phone.

[melodyhk]

Thank you all for the answers. That's really helpful.

Alby, I guess 1529 is cheaper than phone cards in Chungking mansion as you have converted to it? I will get my credit card soon so maybe I can wait.

[Max]

It really depends where you're calling. Long distance call rates to the US and Taiwan are really cheap from most providers. I suggest you call 10060 and register with PCCW. Get an idea of their rates and shop around first before making your decision.

[PDLM]

Melody,

One of the biggest differences between prepaid phonecards and postpaid services like 0060, 1529, 0080 etc is that the phonecards normally come with all sorts of tricky tariffing: calls are rounded up to the nearest minute and then to the nearest dollar, sometimes there's a daily "maintenance" charge, sometimes a fixed "hangup fee", and so on. In general, with the postpaid services there is only one charge which is a per minute rate for the time you use. This means that although the "headline" per minute rate of some prepaid calling cards can be cheaper than the postpaid services you never actually get that headline rate on the prepaid because of all the other charges (or with some of the better cards you can get that rate, but only if you use the whole card in one call).

Note though that there are differences between the postpaid services: 0080 rounds your calls up to the nearest minute (i.e. charging in 60 second blocks); 1529 and (I think) 0060 charge to the nearest second. So if you tend to make short calls 0080 will work out quite a lot more expensive than you would think from the "headline" rate because of this rounding effect.

[Jhalm'z]

try the 1611 asiatel idd..or the 1624 owtel idd..all you need to do is call the 24 hours costumer service and apply..

[PDLM]

Originally Posted by PDLM

Note though that there are differences between the postpaid services: 0080 rounds your calls up to the nearest minute (i.e. charging in 60 second blocks); 1529 and (I think) 0060 charge to the nearest second.

I've noticed that 0060 now also rounds up to the nearest minute, effectively increasing their tariffs quite significantly if you tend to make shorter calls. 1529 still bills to the nearest second.