Calling Europe from the U.S.
 

Does anybody know a good telephone service to call Europe inexpensively? I had read about numbers that you dial before placing your call to access inexpensive services, but I haven't seen anything recent. Hoping for some up-to-date information as my daughter is in Copenhagen for the summer.

I haven't tried this, but recently saw an ad for 10-10-297 which looked really good. It says only 3 cents a minute to western Europe (incl Denmark) 24/7 plus a 39 cent flat connect charge.

They have a website www.1010297.com

I've been using 10-10-987 to call Europe for the past several months. It's 3.9 cents a minute. Apparently 10-10-297 just lowered their rates as they used to be the same, but their newest ads say just 3 cents. The bill is included in your regular monthly phone bill. Only drawback is you can't use them from cell phones or pay phones.

Try PT-1. The per minute rates are listed. The UK is 8 cents per minute.
No connect charges listed.
You can look it up at http://www.101-6868.com/ and see what you think.

Thanks, I'll check these out.

Hi, is 10-10-220 a good choice too?

I use one 10-16-868 to call the UK. There are no minmum fees and it bills directly to your phone bill.

Not all 10-10 numbers are good everywhere -- it depends on your local phoone exchange. For instance I can't access 10-10-297 or 10-10-220 from my home but my parents can from a nearby suburb because we have different local phone service.

But I can use 10-10-987. So you may have to try a few before finding one that will work. You can look them up in the web and enter your phone prefix and find out which will work for you.

Just got my phone bill for 10-10-987 calls last month:
Holland 2 minutes $0.45
Holland 46 minutes $1.77
Germany 13 minutes $0.78

These are 24/7 rates. Using algebra, it works out to 42 cents for the conection and 3 cents a minute after that. So, just keep talking until you show a profit. ;-)

During my 6 weeks in France, my family used Pioneer telephone to call me for a rate of 5 cents per minute, no minimum and no connection charge. I already used Pioneer for my regular long distance carrier because their long distance rates are only 3.7 cents per minute 24 hours a day.

Try this link where you can obtain comparisons on all the different 10-10 international rates.
http://1010phonerates.com/

Thanks, everyone. Lovejoy, that's a great site.

francophile03, if you check out the website Lovejoy gave us, you'll see that they refer to 10-10-220 as a bad deal.

Nikki: I use 10-15-335 to call my sister in Berlin (8c a minute to germany); my aunt and uncle in Moscow (10c min) and my family friends in Italy (also 8c min). There is no fee for the call or the connection, you just dial out direct. They are also good for in-state and out of state calls as well (5c/min). I have checked around and used a lot of the other numbers posters listed here and have found the 10-15-335 to be the best deal.

Plus, their customer service is very helpful, if you find a discrepancy on your bill, they remove it quickly, without having to jump through hoops like the telephone companies often make one do.

I signed up for a plan with my normal phone company. A flat monthly additional fee (~$6) lowers European rates. At their regular rate 1 hour to Switzerland was nearly $100, now it is more like $25. I had previously tried a dial-up but often had problems with clarity on their lines.