From Bob Morris writes in response to my newsletter article on how VoIP works:
A Dedham MA provider, www.rnktel.com sells prepaid VoIP which is $.01/minute to most places in the world (Latin America being the major exception, where it is (a)poor connections and (b)$.06 and up). On their web site you give your credit card and get $5, $10, or $20 worth of billing. They send you a pin number by email.
In their case, you call an access number in the 781 area or one in RI. No one I know has reported finding $.01 service in other parts of the country though. The complete price list is on their web site.
On weekends it can be difficult to get to their access number. Clearly this is not an issue for modem-based services such as you described.
I program their access number in one button, my pin in another, and a few of my regular overseas callees in others. In fact, because I have a two-line phone, I have two pins running at any one time and can set up 3-way conference calls. (Tricky when my collaborator in Australia and I need to talk to our colleague in Germany. Somebody is up a wee bit late or a wee bit early....).
The setup time while your phone dials all those numbers is a bit of a nuisance compared to just dialing the long distance number, but we all need to slow down our telecomm lives anyway.
I also have the numbers in my fax memory buttons. So we are talking about sending faxes for about $.01-$.02/page anywhere in the world.
Plus, these pin numbers also help you control weight. Here's how, in the actual words of my Taiwanese graduate student (who is so trim that I can't imagine how she came to this): "Every time I go into MacDonalds and start to order fries, I think to myself: 'Wow, if I don't buy these fries I can talk to my parents for an hour and a half on the savings!' "
No need to thank me for the cost savings. All part of the JOHO service... (PS: Bob has no connection with the service he's recommending.)
Comments
My wife and I have been using pincity.com for a couple of years and it works the same way.
We have a local access number (now) or you can use their 800 number at a slightly higher rate.
Our costs to call her family in Europe typically run in the nickel a minute range vs $1 a minute using my selected long distance vendor (AT&T).
Posted by: Anonymous | June 18, 2004 05:38 AM