Phone Cards
Sep 13th, 2003, 10:41 AM
#1
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Phone Cards
Health of Family member makes it imperative that I be able to stay in touch. Are there phone cards I can use from Australia/New Zealand? Anyone with any experience with this or suggestions on "cheapest" way to try and keep in touch with home?
Sep 13th, 2003, 01:29 PM
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Hi. We just returned from Australia. After much trial and error with phone cards, we found the following:
1) Telstra pay phone card: this was a poor, expensive choice. To use it economically, you had to use a Telstra pay phone. The cost of it ended up being 40cents (Australian) for each 10-15 SECONDS of use.
2)We purchased a second card (unfortunately, we can't remember which one) and the cost was about the same.
3)GO TALK: This ended up being a REAL 3.8 cents a minute for calls to the States. Keep in mind, however, that if you are calling from your hotel you still may have to pay for the local call at hotel rates. If you use a pay phone you are still at the mercy of Telstra's local pay phone rates, which are about 40 cents a minute, Australian.
Hope this helps.
1) Telstra pay phone card: this was a poor, expensive choice. To use it economically, you had to use a Telstra pay phone. The cost of it ended up being 40cents (Australian) for each 10-15 SECONDS of use.
2)We purchased a second card (unfortunately, we can't remember which one) and the cost was about the same.
3)GO TALK: This ended up being a REAL 3.8 cents a minute for calls to the States. Keep in mind, however, that if you are calling from your hotel you still may have to pay for the local call at hotel rates. If you use a pay phone you are still at the mercy of Telstra's local pay phone rates, which are about 40 cents a minute, Australian.
Hope this helps.
Sep 13th, 2003, 03:48 PM
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I have been using a HELLO card to phone the usa regularly (from my home phone) at about 4 cents a minute.
I pay for a local call to connect (
25 c) and then the phone card rate.
Available at all newsagents.
I pay for a local call to connect (
25 c) and then the phone card rate.
Available at all newsagents.
Sep 14th, 2003, 07:42 AM
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Hi
We bought a 650 minute phone card from Sam's Club before we left and although we were able to get our calls through on occasion we had many times where the call was interrupted or did not go through at all. Luckily we learned that there are internet cafes everywhere, and I do mean everywhere! We used these every other day and kept in close touch with family for approximately $1.00 each time. And actually in most instances it was $1.00 their money which would make it .50 or less of ours.
Family members posted messages to us and we retrieved them through our internet message provider "Yahoo" and it was available everywhere.
We bought a 650 minute phone card from Sam's Club before we left and although we were able to get our calls through on occasion we had many times where the call was interrupted or did not go through at all. Luckily we learned that there are internet cafes everywhere, and I do mean everywhere! We used these every other day and kept in close touch with family for approximately $1.00 each time. And actually in most instances it was $1.00 their money which would make it .50 or less of ours.
Family members posted messages to us and we retrieved them through our internet message provider "Yahoo" and it was available everywhere.
Sep 14th, 2003, 09:08 AM
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You will need to purchase separate cards for each country. We had no problem using one in Australia, though we were only in Sydney area. We paid 50 cents [aus.] for the connection, and there was no additional charge. The cost, about $10 Aus., gave us quite a lot of talk time.
In NZ, the first card we purchased was in Aukland, and because the store had run out of one type of card, we purchased a card that was only good for a few major cities. This proved to be a huge mistake. We then purchased cards elsewhere with no problem. Remember, each country will have a different code to use, to dial the U.S. I remember having a bit of a problem with that initially, in NZ.
We were advised, on this site, to wait and purchase the cards over there, and it proved to be good advice.
Enjoy the trip. They are both wonderful countries!
In NZ, the first card we purchased was in Aukland, and because the store had run out of one type of card, we purchased a card that was only good for a few major cities. This proved to be a huge mistake. We then purchased cards elsewhere with no problem. Remember, each country will have a different code to use, to dial the U.S. I remember having a bit of a problem with that initially, in NZ.
We were advised, on this site, to wait and purchase the cards over there, and it proved to be good advice.
Enjoy the trip. They are both wonderful countries!
Sep 15th, 2003, 01:57 PM
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John....I checked on the "Hello Australia" card by Nobelcom, including talking(live)to a customer service rep.It now appears that the "Hello Australia" card is only for calling from the US to Australia, not from Australia to the US. They offered me their NobelCom "Worldwide" card instead at a rate of 5.9 cents/minute. Can I buy your type of card in Sydney? How is the quality of the connection? Thanks for the good lead on a phone card.
Sep 15th, 2003, 02:14 PM
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RWeiner....I just checked out the "GO TALK" card you recommended, and it looks good,since the company is Australian-based. Were you able to buy it in a retail setting, or did you need to purchase it on-line? Thanks.
Sep 15th, 2003, 02:17 PM
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Martha
I live in Sydney...my partner is currently in Hawaii.I have had absolutely no trouble connecting on an excellent quality line many times for long conversations.
On a few occasions she has dialled from the usa (on a local card) and the quality of the line has been a little poorer.
I have dialled from our home phone and there a lot of numbers to dial.
If you are dialling from an hotel ask at the desk about their connection charges.
I believe we have got about 200 minutes out of a A$10 card.
Cards are available at all newsagents(newstands) here. But my newsagent told me that there is variabilty between cards.He recommended Hello.
Amongst other chores,I would buy one at the airport when you arrive,jot down the long list of numbers and then call home using the public phones at arrivals.
I live in Sydney...my partner is currently in Hawaii.I have had absolutely no trouble connecting on an excellent quality line many times for long conversations.
On a few occasions she has dialled from the usa (on a local card) and the quality of the line has been a little poorer.
I have dialled from our home phone and there a lot of numbers to dial.
If you are dialling from an hotel ask at the desk about their connection charges.
I believe we have got about 200 minutes out of a A$10 card.
Cards are available at all newsagents(newstands) here. But my newsagent told me that there is variabilty between cards.He recommended Hello.
Amongst other chores,I would buy one at the airport when you arrive,jot down the long list of numbers and then call home using the public phones at arrivals.
Sep 15th, 2003, 04:10 PM
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I bought more than one card, and they were different each time. [one we had lost]. Twice, we bought a card in an internet cafe around the corner from the hotel we stayed at then {Marriott Hyde Park. The fellow who worked there advised us, and we did fine. In NZ we had the problem with one card only being good in certain areas. Two others we purchased were great anywhere. And, all the cards were cheaper than here.
Sep 27th, 2016, 08:28 PM
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I am not sure what kinds of cards have been talked about here. All I can say is that we simply had a SIM card installed in our US mobiles - we went with Telstra because it has the widest reach out in the countryside (it is the successor to the former nationwide state-monopoly telecommunications network).
With that SIM card came a new, obviously local Aussie phone number. We communicated that to only those people from whom we wanted to receive a phone call while away, and we used that phone number to make local reservations and get call-backs etc.
I can't say how many (or few) cents this cost per call, it was just like having a local phone, and you dial 0011 (to get onto the international lines) then 1 for the US then area code and number. It was very cheap. You can top it up anytime.
Coming back to the US, we simply took out the Aussie SIM card and reinserted our regular US SIM card (which we had preserved very carefully - the tiny thing is easily lost...).
With that SIM card came a new, obviously local Aussie phone number. We communicated that to only those people from whom we wanted to receive a phone call while away, and we used that phone number to make local reservations and get call-backs etc.
I can't say how many (or few) cents this cost per call, it was just like having a local phone, and you dial 0011 (to get onto the international lines) then 1 for the US then area code and number. It was very cheap. You can top it up anytime.
Coming back to the US, we simply took out the Aussie SIM card and reinserted our regular US SIM card (which we had preserved very carefully - the tiny thing is easily lost...).
Sep 27th, 2016, 09:38 PM
#13
>>I am not sure what kinds of cards have been talked about here. All I can say is that we simply had a SIM card installed in our US mobiles <<
This thread is <B>TEN</B> years old . . . so of course things have changed. The discussion was about <u>phone cards</u>, not SIM cards . . .
This thread is <B>TEN</B> years old . . . so of course things have changed. The discussion was about <u>phone cards</u>, not SIM cards . . .
Sep 28th, 2016, 02:01 PM
#15
See the >><gray>Comment has been removed by Fodor's moderators</gray> << entry just above your post?
That means the moderators deleted a spam or advertising post. It must have still been there before you posted and then they deleted the bad one. Because, if they had deleted it before you opened the thread, the thread would have dropped off the radar and you wouldn't have seen it.
That means the moderators deleted a spam or advertising post. It must have still been there before you posted and then they deleted the bad one. Because, if they had deleted it before you opened the thread, the thread would have dropped off the radar and you wouldn't have seen it.
Sep 28th, 2016, 10:36 PM
#17
Not "See the >>Comment has been removed by Fodor's moderators << entry just above your post?"
Just "<u>Comment has been removed by Fodor's moderators</u>" which is the entry directly above your first post . . .
Just "<u>Comment has been removed by Fodor's moderators</u>" which is the entry directly above your first post . . .
