Just got back from a trip to Europe. One thing that has always bugged me on previous trips abroad is how to have an economical way to stay in touch on the phone to back home. ATT's European roaming plan is expensive so that really never has been an option for me. I have an International SIM card that works in a lot of different countries I use in an old feature phone that I still have and took with me that I have used on previous trips that is somewhat economical but it is still .40 a minute or maybe even more depending on where you call. Its cheaper than ATT but can still get pricey at that rate.
Prior to the trip we just took I checked to see if there were any new options available for economical calling back to the U.S. from across the pond and I discovered a service called Rebtel. They have different ways to make calls but what caught my eye was a very economical VOIP calling feature using your smartphone. With an internet connection and the Rebtel app on my Android phone (they have an iPhone app as well) I was able to make calls back to the US using my regular smartphone for 1.5 cents per minute. Call quality with VOIP is commensurate with the signal strength of the wifi network you are on at the time. I did have calls drop a couple of times but overall I would say that the service worked very well as we made several phone calls back home during our trip, some for extended durations, and the call quality was pretty good most of the time. Again, it is possible to make calls on a wireless network with the Rebtel app and not just via wifi but I never really explored just exactly how that works or what the cost would be since I discovered Rebtel just prior to departure of our trip and I was already set up with my old feature phone and International SIM card if I couldn't call VOIP. They also have text messaging but that was something I didn't have time to figure out before we left so I didn't use that feature. The service can also be used for calling from the US to across the pond but I haven't researched how competitive they are or are not in that circumstance.
Anyway, just wanted to throw that out there about the Rebtel service for any of you that travel across the pond and would like to have an economical phone option to stay in touch back home. You can find them at Rebtel.com. YMMV.
Prior to the trip we just took I checked to see if there were any new options available for economical calling back to the U.S. from across the pond and I discovered a service called Rebtel. They have different ways to make calls but what caught my eye was a very economical VOIP calling feature using your smartphone. With an internet connection and the Rebtel app on my Android phone (they have an iPhone app as well) I was able to make calls back to the US using my regular smartphone for 1.5 cents per minute. Call quality with VOIP is commensurate with the signal strength of the wifi network you are on at the time. I did have calls drop a couple of times but overall I would say that the service worked very well as we made several phone calls back home during our trip, some for extended durations, and the call quality was pretty good most of the time. Again, it is possible to make calls on a wireless network with the Rebtel app and not just via wifi but I never really explored just exactly how that works or what the cost would be since I discovered Rebtel just prior to departure of our trip and I was already set up with my old feature phone and International SIM card if I couldn't call VOIP. They also have text messaging but that was something I didn't have time to figure out before we left so I didn't use that feature. The service can also be used for calling from the US to across the pond but I haven't researched how competitive they are or are not in that circumstance.
Anyway, just wanted to throw that out there about the Rebtel service for any of you that travel across the pond and would like to have an economical phone option to stay in touch back home. You can find them at Rebtel.com. YMMV.
