Hi all,
I have to make a lot of international calls and wondering if there are any numbers, codes, or prefixes I can dial BEFORE calling abroad, to reduce the costs?
I have to call banks, offices and services, all of which are not able to be called using whatsapp.
Best,
ajb
Go to a Indonesian etc. shop or elsewhere and get a calling card. A good one for the States is this one, ridiculously cheap really
https://shopee.tw/祝福卡the-chuc-phuc-打到越南大陸卡360-i.44098281.3836561102
thanks, never knew. I call the UK more but US will come in handy too. How much are the cards?
I think they come in different denominations. Maybe you can ask which is best for the UK. I would try that one though. I almost suspect mine is broken or something.
I always pay the face value, I think that Shopee ad was someone looking to get rid of one.
Skype?
This. I use Skype to have unlimited calls in Europe for landline and mobiles. It’s like 5USD per month or so.
If you have an MS Office subscription you also get 60 mins of free calls per month worldwide too.
Skype is free for toll-free calling (1-800- and 1-888- numbers) to North America
Skype is $4/m to call anywhere in the US
If you want to appear more professional, look into VOIP services and get an international phone number.
For calls to US, get a google voice number. Free calls in/out to any US landline or mobile. The Google Voice app rings in Taiwan with a wifi connection.
Came here to say this. While setting it up in TW, I had to use a VPN to look like I was coming from the US though.
I downloaded the Google Voice app but I seem to need a US number to associate it with before I can set it up. Am I correct to assume that you got a Google Voice number after you got your US mobile and then came over to Taiwan – so now you can use Google Voice to call US numbers and be called from them?
Did you already have a US number before you set up your Google Voice number in Taiwan? When I try to set up the Google Voice app on my phone, it asks for a US number to link it to – and for it to call/sms to verify.
I am thinking of getting a US burner phone to send to a friend in the US, so after she gets it, I will then set up the Google Voice app using that number. Since I will get a new US phone number via Google Voice, I figure I won’t need the burner afterwards. Does that make sense?
Google needs a US non-VOIP line to send a SMS code to verify during signup, but after you won’t need it after that. You can definitely ask a friend with a US landline that can receive the text for you. Another way is to sign up for a line on Tello.com with a 1 month minimal plan just to receive the text.
Thank you. So I don’t need the burner after all!
If its that troublesome, why not just get a voip? Same number, worldwide.
I don’t know how to do that. I do already know that Google Voice is free and has been around since Google bought it back when it was still known as GrandCentral. So to my mind, there’s a level of trust that is much more than a VOIP service that I would have absolutely no clue about.
I do recall the days of MagicJack and Vonage, and I did use those services back then. Vonage took me a LONG time to cancel the subscription, but I managed to get those done.
Now, is there a Google Voice type service for Taiwan numbers? I would find that useful to after I can start traveling again
Just to be clear, when I wrote “…Google Voice type service for Taiwan numbers” I meant getting an online voice account (similar to Google Voice) where people in Taiwan could reach you by dialing a local (i.e., Taiwan) number
I am using Callshake - best Skype replacement I found so far. I use it to call to US and my bank in Austria.
