Hong Kong Cell to Australian Cell calls - cheapest reliable option?

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  1. #1

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    Dec 2012
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    Hong Kong Cell to Australian Cell calls - cheapest reliable option?

    All,

    I'm struggling to understand the best (cheap and reliable) option for calling from my HK cell phone to an Australian cell phone.

    My plan with 1010 includes 100 minutes per month of IDD calls, but even then there is the complication of dialling 1678 or 001 as a prefix. I don't know why they have two options?!

    I need to make approx 600 minutes of calls back to Australian cell phones per month, so any advice on calling cards or similar would be great. Unfortunately Facetime / Skype etc are not viable due to intermittent internet connection problems on the Australian end, and the fact that me using Skype to call still costs HK $1.70 per minute.

    Many thanks


  2. #2

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    never use 001... simple.


  3. #3

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    Yes I've been using 1678 as advised by the customer service consultant at 1010, but why on earth do they have two ways of dialling? And if they make more money from 001, why would customer service tell me to use 1678? Bizarre.

    Last edited by klan8456; 17-02-2013 at 10:18 PM.

  4. #4

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    You can't. find a way to call a landline. its not a hk issue the charge is levied at the aussie end which is why skupe is also expensive.

    Sent from my GT-N7000 using GeoClicks Mobile


  5. #5

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    Nope, landline isn't possible.

    Edit: just realised your post was a statement, not a question, but either way my response is the same. Unfortunately the folk at the other end do not have access to a landline.

    Last edited by klan8456; 17-02-2013 at 10:26 PM.

  6. #6

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    Quote Originally Posted by klan8456:
    My plan with 1010 includes 100 minutes per month of IDD calls, but even then there is the complication of dialling 1678 or 001 as a prefix. I don't know why they have two options?!
    Different tariffs.

  7. #7

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    Dec 2012
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    Yes, but why have different tarrifs? Is the cost to the telco lower with the 1678 option? If so, why?


  8. #8

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    Different routing.


  9. #9

    Join Date
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    If you have an iphone, there is an app called EasyIDD that automatically routes your calls through the cheapest IDD provider. You just dial with a + at the beginning of the number and then it will substitute the + with an IDD provider. It works with about 10 different IDD providers in HK.


  10. #10

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    Quote Originally Posted by klan8456:
    Nope, landline isn't possible.

    Edit: just realised your post was a statement, not a question, but either way my response is the same. Unfortunately the folk at the other end do not have access to a landline.
    Sorry - responding from mobile phones sometimes results in bizarre capitalisation (or not) that makes reading slightly difficult.

    The only way I can think of is if you can set up some kind of forwarding service within Australia - using any of the "deals" that are available to Australians from time to time (for example, sometimes if you have an Optus phone you can ring another Optus phone free, for example). But I can't see how that actually solves your problem since you can't ring the first one Unless they have some "landline to mobile" deals.

    It's a pain. I have the same problem calling folks in Oz.

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