Calling 800 numbers from a French cell phone or payphone
 

Does anyone know if you incur charges/minute usage when calling the U.S. via an AT&T 800 number from a French cell phone with pre-paid minutes? What about when using a pay phone with a pre-paid card? Thanks for any info!

Calling 800 numbers from France from cell phones or pay phones ( even private phones) without using a calling card is next to impossible - there are some 888 numbers you can call directly from here, but you will get a voice message telling you that you will be charged the international rate to place the call. You then have the option of continuing the call, or hanging up.<BR><BR>PB

PB, thanks for the response. Specifically, I am wondering about using an AT&T calling card. My daughter will be in France and plans to get a cell phone (prepaid type) while there. She would be calling an AT&T 0800 access number and charging the call to our account here in the US via the AT&T calling card. I am trying to find out if she will also be charged for the minutes used on her cell phone, i.e. double charges.

Whoa!<BR><BR>Ann, if your daughter gets a cell phone in France, it will make no sense at all for her to use an AT&T card to call the US - the rates are terrible. FYI, there are local toll-free access numbers for the AT&T card in France and other european countries. But dialing toll-free numbers will still use up minutes on a cell phone contract.<BR><BR>The most convenient way to communicate with your daughter is for you to call her cell phone from the US. She won't pay anything for the incoming call and while you will have to pay more per minute to dial a cell phone in France versus a normal fixed line there, charges shouldn't be too high (you might want to shop around for a phone company in the US with reasonable rates).<BR><BR>The cheapest route for your daughter to call the US is to use a good old pay phone. She needs to purchase a prepaid "Telecarte" from any newspaper stand and stick it into the slot on the pay phone. Rates are very reasonable, much less than any US calling card (don't know the exact amount per minute however). <BR><BR>Hope this helps,<BR>Andre

I think it has been suggested here before (Rex?) that the best solution would be for your daughter call you and you immediately call her back. When you are looking at international phone plans to France, be sure to ask about the rates to a mobile phone because those rates are more expensive.<BR><BR>A good dialaround number is 101-6868; their int'l rates are 10¢/min to France, 20¢ to France mobilephone, with no monthly charge (you don't have to switch out of your current long-distance program—it is just added to your phone bill) and 10% universal service fee. See http://www.pt-1.com/101-6868_Rates.html

Ann,<BR><BR>I agree that it's more cost effective for your daughter to get a prepaid phone card and use that.... or she can use the calling card at a pay phone. The cell phone minutes will be eaten up pretty quickly otherwise.

Call ATT&T and ask them to put you on their International Calling Rates.<BR>That is what we did when our son left home to live in Europe and Asia and it has saved us a ton of money!

I resolved the problem two ways...<BR><BR>1. I used Net2Phone Direct. Check them out on the web. It is a prepaid long distance service but they charge 15 cents a minute to call from France to the US and you can dial their number 00-800-8728-3525 from hotel rooms, fixed land lines and pay phones without charges.<BR><BR>2. She can use her French cell phone to call you (80 cents (euro) for the first minute and you can call her right back using 1016868 as suggested above.<BR><BR>3. She can get a pre paid French phone card which I believe have local access numbers. However, the French pay as you go plans on the mobiles are not all that good and charge 50 cents (euro) a minute to access the local French number.<BR><BR>Summary, check out net2phone and call her.

I just got my U.S. telephone bill. Calling a standard phone number in France cost me 19 cents a minute. Calling a cell phone cost me 75 cents a minute. Let her call you using a t&eacute;l&eacute;carte.

Michael:<BR><BR>If you have 1016868 service....use that prefix and the charge to a French landline is 10 cents a minute to a cell phone 20 cents a minute.