PBH / colombia (travelguide, pictures) / post

An alternative to Skype to make international phone calls

This article came out today in the local rag, and i thought some of the PBH callers out there might be able to offer a critique of this new startup in Sweden. The article is written from a San Francisco Bay Area perspective, but i have included the applicable Colombian rates. One main difference per the article, is you can initiate the international call from a cell phone or landline phone, as opposed to the PC generated call with Skype. The website is www.rebtel.com.

How do you compare this one against Skype and the other methods of calling Colombia??

Hope this might be useful to some PBHers.....Miguel Clavo

Start-up offers low-cost VoIP calls from any mobile or landline phone

Service to some countries is free; cost of other calls is similar to Skype’s rates for making overseas calls.

Millions of people are already using Skype, the Internet phone service, to make free or low-cost international calls. Even though Skype can be used to call people who have regular phones, you have to initiate the call from a Internet-connected computer or PDA.

But a new service from Swedish start-up Rebtel (www.rebtel.com) lets you make free or reduced-cost international calls from a cell phone or standard landline. There is only a $1-a-week (USD) service charge that is only billed for the weeks when you use it.

The service lets you go online or use your phone to create a nearby “local�? number for calling each of your international friends or associates. (So far, the only Bay Area numbers are in San Francisco, but that’s a free call from most cell phones.)

When you want to make a call, you dial that local number and it connects you to the other person’s overseas phone. If it’s someone you call regularly, it pays to use the “REBin�? service, which also assigns them a local number in their country to call you.

To initiate a call, you can the local San Francisco number and the other person’s phone rings. If they hang up and call you back while you hold on, the call is free for as long as you want to talk. The other person can call you at any time on the number in their country that is assigned to your phone.

The REBin service works in 35 countries (however, not Colombia) but you can use the REBout service to call any country. REBout allows you to use your cell phone to call any phone in the world for between 2 and 26 minutes (Colombia landline 9 cents US, and mobile 12 cents US), depending on the country and whether you are calling a landline or a mobile. The rates are about the same as Skypes SkypeOut service.

Again, you get a San Francisco number that rings the other person’s phone. You pay for the call (landlines in many European countries are only 2 cents US per minute.) and there is no need for the person to call back.

By Miguel_Clavo on Jul 31, 2006, 19:24 in Friendly Talkzone.

Mr. Hollywood says on Jul 31, 2006, 20:53:

Sounds complicated I'm a big fan of Vonage and have used their equipment with US numbers all over the globe. The voip device doesn't care where it's physically located as long as it's on the net. Generally, as long as you have enough bandwidth you're cool. There are a few countries that try to block VOIP from using their networks.

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Miguel_Clavo says on Jul 31, 2006, 21:42:

Mr H, so if i am located in CTG, and a caller from US/EU wants to call my office, Vonage would work? and in the reverse direction as well?

Just my opinion...

Miguel_Clavo...Listo!! Libertad!!!...Colombia es pasión!

"F.A.R.C..S.U.C.K.S"

"I would rather die living life, than to live a dying life."........ Oh, and my PM is always ON. Great Bumper Sticker: "Home of the Free, Because of the Brave"

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webmanco says on Aug 1, 2006, 05:39:

Colombia is not listed in

Colombia is not listed in the countries they will support, maybe it is because none of Colombian´s operators (Comcel, Movistar, Ola) had done the upgrade to the new tecnology (CDMA2000 1xEV-DO) that will let implement VOIP on mobile phones.

There are many alternatives to Skype and Vonage I had set up USA numbers in Colombia with Icallhere, to keep the USA number costs USD 8 per month and outgoing calls are cheap. You pay for what you use, nothing more or a higher monthly fee or one year contract. If you get two or more numbers calls will be free between them.

If having a USA number is not a big deal, for outgoing calls Icallhere or Phoneserve will do the trick.

In Colombia phone carriers (ETB, Telecom EPM, EMCALI)are investing big on selling voip, with the inclusión of the spanglish word "Voipiador", they try to hook you up with the voip device by paying a "small" monthly fee, they will say you could talk for free with any user who owns their "voipeador".

REBin doesn´t seem too complicated or expensive, and it doesn´t sound like a scam or multilevel marketing as once 1cellnet did offer something similar but ended as a scam (pyramid selling scheme).

"The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has instituted proceedings in the Federal Court in Perth, Western Australia against 1Cellnet LLC, a company incorporated in Delaware in the USA, for alleged breaches of the pyramid selling scheme provisions of the Trade Practices Act 1974. The ACCC has also instituted proceedings against Unified Interactive Pty Ltd; its director, Mr Bruce Pallister; and an alleged promoter, Mr Shaun Mellet."

...A yo, déjenme queto y no me jodan má! ...

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Michael_B says on Aug 1, 2006, 05:48:

Help with ICALLHERE I went to their website but there is no information or place to sign up. Only download the app. Anyone have any ideas on how to set up an account?

Thanks

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webmanco says on Aug 1, 2006, 05:52:

You need to download the aplication, then you need to buy credits, a number account will be issued to you, where are you located?

...A yo, déjenme queto y no me jodan má! ...

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Michael_B says on Aug 1, 2006, 07:06:

I am currently in North Carolina. I am investigating how I can get my mother in law in Cali and local or US phone number.
Thanks

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Lostgringo says on Aug 1, 2006, 07:31:

Vonage I had Vonage and got rid of it. Often the Vonage does not connect you to 1-800 numbers. I found it a bit of a pain. I use a calling card here in Canada called Bravo...it cost me 3 cents a minute. If you use an American or Canadian number you can set up Vonage for free calling back and forth to Colombia. This is a good deal if you call all the time. Just my 2 cents.

Your Home Away from Home www.welovebogota.com and www.apartmentinbogota.com "Luxury apartments and rooms Cheap" Only 2 blocks from the American Embassy! 24/7 hour security.

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tejasmarcos says on Aug 1, 2006, 08:54:

Vonage feedback Vonage worked great for me in the states. However, after moving to MDE in February of this year, it did not work well at all due to EPM's whopping 256k triple play program. I even subscribed to another local companie's 1024 down/512 up wireless connection. The fees for this speed were $200 per month (i have since downgraded my service to something more affordable). I still could not get my Vonage line to work well as every call was plagued with voice "gaps" coming and going. This was just for outbound from MDE. I ditched the Vonage account.

I am currently on a long distance plan that charges me 28 cents a minute for outbound calls to the USA. I have heard that there are sales from time to time that will allow for calls to the USA for as low as 5-10 cents a minute, but I have not found that deal yet.

For inbound calls from my USA clients, I bought a vanity 888 number and subscribed to Telnet.net. They offer .0995 cents a minute for my inbound calls via the 888 number. The 888 number is routed to my MDE landline. I can also change the routed "to" number on the fly through their website dashboard. Therefore, when I go back to the USA during the 1st quarter of next year, I will have the system redirect all calls to my US based cell phone.

* I was even investigating satellite systems for a while (Hughes)to get the VOIP, but gave up after it looked like there was too many hoops to jump through and not enough interested service providers to do the install and followup billing and service in MDE. Miguel_C, I alluded to this in your previous thread looking for data providers via satellite.

* I am a big fan of VOIP, but not when the service is less than spectacular. I am very interested to see the progress of Colombia's big three and their VOIPIADOR. Sounds interesting........

trying to walk a straight line on sour mash and cheap wine...

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GregYohn says on Aug 15, 2006, 17:03:

VIVA! VOIPSTUNT.COM & VOIPDISCOUNT.COM These 2 used to be $.05 a minute, then free to Colombian landlines, but now $.02 to use! It costs an additional $.03 hookup fee to make a connection using your landline to their landline when signed on via the web.

Greg

Almost Free Calls to Colombia & Free to most of the rest of the world!
http://www.voipstunt.com/en/index.html

12VOIP.com gives free calls to Colombia.Greg

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Mr. Hollywood says on Aug 16, 2006, 12:55:

Miguel Clavo I use Vonage in BOG with great results. And to answer your question, yes, it's just like you're in the US. Your friends from there ring you at a local (or at least US) number. And all your calls to the US are included in the monthly subscription.

I can see how it would not work well if you have a bad internet connection, as VOIP demands some substantial bandwidth. But if you're using SKYPE already you must have enough.

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