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FYI: Tel3Advantage

A lot of people on PBH (including me) use Tel3Advantage for long distance service to Colombia. In fact, I have recommended it to several people.

Well, things have changed. I think they must have changed their long distance carrier. Over the last month or so, the call quality(particularly with calls to mobiles) has gotten terrible. It is so bad a times that you have to yell on both ends to hear each other. Also, it often takes a long time(over 30 seconds) to connect calls. In short, the service has gone from great to awful.

The final kick in the pants is that I noticed that they quietly raised their rates to mobiles in Colombia over 50%. They went from 7.8 cents a minute to 12.

Luckily, I now mainly use Crossfone for unlimited calls to land lines. Unfortunately, their rates to mobiles are 11 cents a minute, but they are clear.

Just a heads up,
CG

By ColombianoGringo (Moderator) (Trustee board) on Mar 11, 2007, 12:06 in Friendly Talkzone.

panthdave says on Mar 11, 2007, 12:16:

Tel3 Noticed that too Quality but not the rates Thanks for the heads up on the rates. Not using that much since I connected Vonage in my apartment in Medellin.. So I can call my girl unlimited minutes to Medellin and she can call my cellphone and house unlimited minutes to Miami..

Surprised too Vonage very clear calls that way..thru the Internet..

Looking for a service right now for Cellphone calls only to Medellin

panthdave Miami

panthdave Miami

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Michael_B says on Mar 11, 2007, 12:25:

CrossPhone, You will be glad you did http://www.crossfone.com/EN_Index.asp

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ColombianoGringo (Moderator) (Trustee board) says on Mar 11, 2007, 12:42:

I think the rate hike happened within the last few days. I really don't use the service much anymore since getting Crossfone.

FYI on CrossFone. The fine print says that you are expected to stay around 2,000 minutes a month or less. They won't bug you for going over a little, but may ask you to get a business plan 4,000 minutes a month if you go over by a lot.

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ColombianoGringo (Moderator) (Trustee board) says on Mar 11, 2007, 12:48:

Hey Mario I'm totally jacking my own thread, but...

We need to do lunch again. I think I might stop by Pan Rico soon for some pan de yucas.

BTW, I happened to be out on 1960 area and hit that Arepas & Empanadas Gourmet place I mentioned to you. I bought a bunch of empanadas and they sucked. The dough was dry and chalky. However, there is a Colombian bakery in the same strip and they had some really good stuff.

Peace,
JC

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elmodefoque says on Mar 11, 2007, 13:08:

You guys are great!! I don’t have a girlfriend in Colombia or for that matter here in NYC, but I do call my nephew in Barranquilla quite often and it could get very expensive.
Thanks to you, I joined Tel3 and was quite happy until I noticed getting much less minutes for Mobil to Mobil.
I’m gonna look around for a better deal and if I see something I will be more than happy to alert you.
As to giving your girlfriend in Colombia access to call USA that I will never do, what if that b--c is calling another modefoque on your dime?

I'll get there, when I get there!

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CaptainHowdy says on Mar 11, 2007, 13:13:

Calling Colombia Ok...To those of you who know what's going on. I'm trying to call my friend in colombia. I asked her for her number and she gave me a number with 11 numbers.. 57681234567. I'm guessing the 57 is the country code and the 68 is the city code, although I didn't ask for these numbers. So, I'm not real sure if she gave me those codes or not. Looking at these numbers, would you say the first 4 digits are the country and city code or not? And, my computer keeps blocking when I try to call so I'll have to turn off my virus protection when calling (I'm guessing?) I'm using verizon via the computer and msn. It's pretty clear when I call her computer and it's free but she works away from her computer and I want to call her at another number. Thanks....

Teaching preteens the things they need to know!

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ColombianoGringo (Moderator) (Trustee board) says on Mar 11, 2007, 13:24:

57 is the country code

6 is the city code for Manizales, Pereira, Armenia and other areas in central Colombia.

Then the rest is the number.

However you normally dial 011 from the US.

So you would dial 011-57-6-8123456

You seem to have too many numbers.

However in a lot of Colombian cities, the first number of the exchange is always the same. For example in Neiva, the city code is 8, but all the numbers start with 8. So for example, if the number in Neiva is 871-1234, they would say 71-1234 with the 8 being implied. Hope this makes sense.

You should ask her for the number again or if the first part of her actual seven digit number is 8, you might try skipping it when you dial.

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Miguel_Clavo says on Mar 11, 2007, 13:33:

Codes 57 is the country code, 6 is the city code for Pereira and Manizales, i believe, and 68 is for Aguadas (Caldas))and then the phone numbers are 7 digits, although some older ones in smaller cities have retained the 6 digit phone numbers. the 1-7 digits should represent the actual house phone number, althoug i hope she didnt give you 123-4567 as a number!! jajja...what city does she live in? this will tell you what code is needed...

Just my opinion...and brought to you by a kinder and gentler

Miguel_Clavo =).....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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ColombianoGringo (Moderator) (Trustee board) says on Mar 11, 2007, 13:35:

You gotta love Telecom Miguel,

I hadn't run into the 6 vs. 7 digit number situation.

Doh!

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CaptainHowdy says on Mar 11, 2007, 13:37:

How about this? 573137651234..(NOT the actual number jajaja) 57 is country code? What the heck is this other mess??? 313 area code? 7651234 phone number? I'll get clarification when I IM her again but in the meantime, I was going to try to call her...

Teaching preteens the things they need to know!

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larryrn says on Mar 11, 2007, 19:46:

Calls to and from Colombia Greetings All -- I use Vonage here in the US to call Colombia which isn't too bad for cell and home numbers, but the best deal is that I have a Packet 8 phone at my Condo in Medellin and it has a local Florida number - so I can call and talk all I want to the Condo -- and when I am in Medellin I can call unlimited all I want in the US and Canada for $20 USD/month.. I used to use SKYPE to call the US from Colombia when it was free last year, and I paid the $15 Euros for this year, but as of January 1, they blocked access to calling the US from your PC when it is connected to the internet from outside the US. Well, the solution for that is a VPN, Virtual Private Network which can create tunnel connection to a computer in the US and the connection to the internet regardless where you are in the world would originate in the US. Of course this requires hardware and or software in the US with a dedicated IP address. Sorry to ramble.. Larry

--
Larry Snyder
http://www.rn.org - Nursing Education Online and CE Provider

Larry Snyder, www.rn.org

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