[David Bernstein, November 25, 2006 at 9:57pm] Trackbacks
Free International Calls:

I don't know who's paying for this service, but my wife just called Israel with it:

FREE INTERNATIONAL CALLS You can now call any of 50 countries from the United States, free. Talk as long as you like. You pay only for a call to the access number in Iowa, which is 712-858-8883; if you use your cellphone on nights or weekends, even that’s a free call.

There’s no contract, no ads, nothing to sign up for. At the prompt, press 1 for English. Then punch in 011, the country code and the phone number. The call rings through immediately.

Fine print: In some countries, you can reach only landlines, not cellphones. And in part because FuturePhone's lines have been flooded, its success at placing calls is not, ahem, 100 percent.

Hat tip: NY Times.

Mike BUSL07 (mail) (www):
Well, it works. Thank you! Just called Israel with it myself. One thing though, here is the number it prompts you to call now, so (712) 945 1111 seems to have replaced the number listed. Again, thanks a lot, this will save me a bunch of money (for as long as it lasts).
11.26.2006 12:08am
Mr Juggles (mail) (www):
You can thank arcane rural telephone regulations.

http://blog.tomevslin.com/2006/10/free_internatio.html
11.26.2006 2:15am
Nick Good - South Africa (mail):
I use Skype - It's totally free Skype-Skype and the voice qulity is awsome, calling land lines in the UK from South Africa is 1.2 p per min (2 US cents). I have bought a UK telephone number for £20 per yr, anyone who phones that number that gets patched through to me in South Africa at no cost to me, they only pay UK call costs to phone London.

I also use a Skype Dual phone which is a cordless phone that works on Skype and landline calls.

Skype even allows me to send SMS (text messages) and spoof my cell phone number so that return SMS's come back to my cell phone. It has a voice mail box AND one can forward calls to a cascade of multiple numbers. Last but not least it has video calling facility that works great; so my Mother back in the UK can talk to her grandson, and see him.

To use a Britishism- it's the dog's bollocks.
11.26.2006 7:19am
Ram:
TIA?
11.26.2006 1:13pm
zooba:
Paid for by the friendly folks at the NSA.
11.26.2006 3:51pm
Moshe Goldberg:
Hello. I live in the UK and I've been making free international calls from my mobile for a while now. I don't like the idea of wasting my minutes.
The site I use is http://www.actiontelecom.co.uk
Otherwise I use skype.
11.28.2006 5:25am
A. B.:

I don't know who's paying for this service

I think a better question is, "I don't know who is listening in" on the conversation
11.28.2006 10:35am