Should I get a Landline for Long Distance?

[Beanieskis]

PDLM

But isn't there a monthly line rental? With PCCW it was $110 per month, even if the call costs are then minimal it's still more expensive than 30p or 40p per week on skype.

[MovingIn07]

PDLM

But isn't there a monthly line rental? With PCCW it was $110 per month, even if the call costs are then minimal it's still more expensive than 30p or 40p per week on skype.

You don't have a mobile????

[PDLM]

PDLM

But isn't there a monthly line rental? With PCCW it was $110 per month, even if the call costs are then minimal it's still more expensive than 30p or 40p per week on skype.

I'm not suggesting you get a fixed line - I'm suggesting you get an IDD service that you use on your existing mobile! There is no monthly subscription for IDD services (unless you choose to pay the "all you can eat" flat rate). I am signed up with three of them (0060, 0080, 1529); my primary choice is IDT1529, but occasionally one of the others makes me an offer that is better so I'll try that for a while. Although most recently 0060's offer to the Philippines looked good but the quality of the connections was poor so I reverted to IDT1529 which was cheaper overall after allowing for the calls abandoned (but charged for) on 0060 due to poor quality.

[Beanieskis]

Oh ok sorry, I thought you were referring to my coment about a landline!

I will investigate the IDD mobile.

[MovingIn07]

It's just IDD. Not "IDD mobile". It works on both. You have to rid yourself of preconceptions that HK is like a normal phone market where mobile is different - it's not - it's crazy but there it is. My international calls are cheaper on the mobile than the landline!

[Aterbbs]

You can sign up for services here, that let you define what phone number you are ringing from (like, your home phone, or your mobile) and instead of the bill appearing on your home phone (or mobile) it appears on this separate (third) bill. All you have to do is replace the normal code to dial an international number (001) with something else (like 1529) for it to work.

That's what he means by "sign up for an IDD service".

There are alot of them about. I use IDT1529 and it lets me call from my home phone, mobile or husbands mobile and they all appear on the single bill, which is really handy. So ALL our international calls go this way. This ALSO has a calling card option so you can even use it overseas, but I've never figured out how to get it to work (I think I lost the pin!).

Sorry i'm new to this idea too. I use 3 and I dial 1966 in front of the country code to make long distance calls from my cell. But it uses up my minutes. Is this what you're talking about?

My friend in Hong Kong tells me the "unlimited incoming and outgoing" mobile service is not popular in Hong Kong. I use the phone a lot, both for local and international calls. I do not have a landline and am desperately looking for cheap solutions.

[PDLM]

However you make your international calls from your mobile it's going to use up your airtime minutes, but everybody simply signs up to a plan that gives them more minutes than they will use (thousands for only a couple of hundred HK$ per month) so this is never really an issue. Make sure you do get enough though because minutes over those included in your monthly package do get very expensive.