First Deployment; question about phone calls

aundraya · March 2011

Hey ladies,

So what do y'all do as far as making those phone calls to other countries? My sister mentioned international calling cards, but I'm clueless on those. I would like for my DH to have to opportunity to talk to DD on her birthday, but I really want to avoid paying $1.39 a minute if possible.

chlsymarie · March 2011

This is our first deployment as well, but I am planning on upgrading our skype accounts so that DH can call my cell from his computer if I'm not sitting at home on mine.

armybaby06 · March 2011

The hubby took a magic jack with him, he can call when he wants and I can call him if it is hooked up. While he is on shift, he unhooks it and locks it away. Hope this helps.

seastar77 · March 2011

Have him set up a spawar (sp?) account to use from the MWR phones. It's a calling card pin # thing, but set up online. I think my DH got like 20 hours of phone time for $50. Can't beat that with a calling card or cell phone. Also, don't waste money on the calling cards in grocery stores/at the PO - you get wayyy less minutes from overseas than what's advertised on the card. Also, skype is great if he can access it from where he is!

Leipock · March 2011

During my DH's first deployment to Afghanistan he bought a cell phone from over there. I would then go to a cheap calling card website, I think it was cheapcallingcards.com, to buy a cheap card. I would then call him during a time of the day when I knew he was off duty. We also used yahoo's webcam service. It was better for us than skype. Plus we had facebook when he was able to get to the computer. We just learned to communicate as much as possible when possible. I hope you and your DH find a solution that works for you.

RACox · March 2011

I agree with the spawar account. The minute are cheap and and he can refill it as needed.

My DH is hardly ever able to get a good connection on skype when he isn't working, and we can't even get the calls to connect. So don't be surprised if something like that happens.

JessC28 · March 2011

International calling cards are crazy expensive. Skype is a hit-and-miss, but I've had really good luck with it, and it's easy to cancel the subscription if it doesn't work out.

Sometimes you can find phone numbers that you can call and get a cheaper rate if you listen to a short advertisement before placing the call. Google "cheap international phone calls" and the name of the country he'll be in and see if you can find a number for him to call. We use this to call home overseas now. We dial the 800 number, listen to a 10-second ad, dial the country code and phone number from home, and then we only pay a penny a minute and the line is really clear.

Temp984666312503071 · March 2011

Well, if you are land based I guess there are many options.

For ship based folks (no Skype or cell phones) the best seems to be the AT&T Global calling cards. They are used to working with the military and negotiate pretty good rates. Though, calling from a ship usually is in the $1-$3/minute range all the time. And the delay makes it almost not worth trying.

Good luck!

proudarmywife08 · March 2011

They have military phone cards at the PX for use in Iraq and Afghanistan that are cheaper than the international ones. They can also buy them at the PX while deployed. That said, we used Skype 90% of the time (when his internet connection was good...the internet cost $60 a month though!!) and I paid on Skype to have it forward my calls to my cell so I never missed a call. We tried MagicJack but due to his spotty internet connection it didn't work.

croberts22 · March 2011

https://www.cellphonesforsoldiers.com/requestCards.html

You can only do this every month or every 3 months (I forget for sure). I did it with MH when he was deployed last time and I'll do it again.

We didn't use skype much because it was more expensive to get on the internet than to use a calling cards.

NSL · March 2011

Skype usually works well for us, and as long as it's Skype to Skype there's no charge.

mrswalker1221 · March 2011

Depending on location. but my husband isn't offered "personal internet" and their MWR only has 1 webcam so we don't skype too often. So he took his personal cell phone[Blackberry Bold through Verizon]. They offer a "Worldwide UNLIMITED Data package" for like $60 on top of the basic phone plan. He can use internet, email, yahoo IM, AIM, Blackberry Messenger, Facebook, ect. as much as he wants no EXTRA charge. BBM is what we use most. Its been awesome being able to text almost all day everyday[With the exception of some tower downtime or blackouts, even then sometimes his phone still worked]. Phone calls do cost alot though, $4/per min and texts are like $.50/per text. So he doesn't call often.

During our 1st deployment he bought a "Hodgie" phone and minutes were cheaper then phone cards. I also set up a "google talk" account with a "local" number for the colorado springs area and had it forward to my cell phone. He could call FREE from a NIPR[prounounced "niper" I think] phone and connected through Shriever AFB. So if you live near a base that is a good option. I hope this makes sense lol

armybride31 · April 2011

For all 3 deployments we have used the Spaware account since he was in Iraq and many times had unstable internet or no internet at all. We used skype for a bit his last tour but again the connections always sucked. The Spaware accounts worked great and I could even load up the account if he couldn't get to it.

I know of a lot of people now doing Magic Jack or even Vonage if you have stable internet.

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First Deployment; question about phone calls

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