Phone calls - what are your methods?

[Slingerland]

The 9 hour time difference between Marina and me is frustrating.  Since we work on the same project, our employers have phone arrangements to speed dial each other, but trying to have personal calls at the office is a PITA. 
 
I work from home a lot, and I use Vonage.  While Marina was here, I gave her a spare Vonage adapter (I have half a dozen of them) and she took it back to Rostov, along with a $10 generic corded phone.  She has DSL service in her apartment, and I added a second line from Vonage to my account, but provisioned it to the adapter at her flat.
 
Presto... Marina has a US-based, Arkansas phone number! 
 
What about everybody else?  What are you doing to make calls?

[Phil757]

I use Skype it's free and I can use it on my Android phone to. Nice to see the other persons face.

[Larry1]

I use Skype.  Previously I've also used Vonage, and also some calling cards.  Skype is the best tool for this search.

I added a second line from Vonage to my account, but provisioned it to the adapter at her flat.

That sounds interesting.  Can you explain it in greater detail to a non-telecom. audience? 

[BillyB]

What about everybody else?  What are you doing to make calls?

My wife uses Skype everyday to talk to her mother. I don't like Skype because both people have to be on a computer and make an appointment so I never used it communicating with ladies in the FSU.


I used a phone card. I preferred using the phone. Calling at random times can help a guy gauge how interested a woman is in taking his calls. You never know, she may not like you calling when she's at boyfriend #3's house.

[Slingerland]

That sounds interesting.  Can you explain it in greater detail to a non-telecom. audience? 

Larry, each Vonage adapter has a unique hardware address.  Let's assume you go to Wal-Mart and buy the Vonage "kit".  You get a Vonage adapter with two phone ports, and when you call into Vonage, they'll set up your billing plan and assign a phone number.  Go ahead and ask for a second phone number at this point.
 
Inside your Vonage online account, there is a tab to let you add new adapters.  In my case, I bought half a dozen from a local computer company that was going out of business.  You go into your Vonage account and click on the button to add an adapter.  You key in the unique address and voila, it's set up.
 
Once the adapter is set up, you go back into your online account, and select the second line.  THEN you can pick which adapter to assign the phone line to.  It sounds complicated, but just three steps.
 
 

[mendeleyev]

My work requires redundancy so we use Vonage and Skype to connect several locations. From the perspective of ease of use and portability around the home, we find Vonage much easier to use and it mimics a traditional phone system although it is VOIP technology. Skype is not as technically consistent in recording voice interviews so while I use it often, it is a second choice and essentially my backup when it comes to my work from home or studio. Skype has the advantage if I'm traveling with a laptop.

As Slinger indicated regarding Vonage, in addition to your home number you can have have a US number in any state for 4.99. I do some work for the English service of France24 so we have a Paris number that costs $9.99 monthly. When someone calls it simply rings to our normal Vonage telephone and is a local call from Paris. A local number in just about any UK city is just $4.99 if your home service is in the USA.

Vonage is portable if desired so the adapter can go where you travel and with a broadband connection you can be local from anywhere in the world. Our basic plan is $49 per month for unlimited long distance anywhere in the world.

From a technical perspective where voice quality matters, Vonage is the leader although Skype has greatly improved in recent years.

[GQBlues]

Personally, I'm sold and is using MagicJack. Nothing even comes close..
 
 http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703444804575071582715212268.html
 
They've even enchanced this further by working your cell phone through your account so you're not wholly relient on land-based telephone connectivity.

[Shadow]

I have been going a little further than the usual solutions and found several VOIP solutions that are easy to set up.
If you have an internet router with call capabiltiy to enter a SIP (VOIP identification) you can use it from your normal phone, for the more mobile people among us a program like zoiper can be installed on a PC or notebook.

I will mention two services I have been using myself:
http://www.nomado.eu is a VOIP service privider where you can buy phone numbers and packs from several counties. If you buy a World Pack for Eur 60 (USD 80) you get 12 months of 500 minutes free calls to many countries, including Russia. Should you need more, other packs are available.

http://comtube.ru is a Russian VOIP provider. While you have to upload $5 monthly to keep it active the interesting thing is they offer phone numbers in many places in the FSU, meaning you could get a phone number that would cost your girl (or your inlaws) nothing more as a local call.

[mendeleyev]

Shadow, thanks for listing those. I'm checking them out and appreciate the info.

[MaxxumUSA]

The 9 hour time difference between Marina and me is frustrating.  Since we work on the same project, our employers have phone arrangements to speed dial each other, but trying to have personal calls at the office is a PITA. 
 
I work from home a lot, and I use Vonage.  While Marina was here, I gave her a spare Vonage adapter (I have half a dozen of them) and she took it back to Rostov, along with a $10 generic corded phone.  She has DSL service in her apartment, and I added a second line from Vonage to my account, but provisioned it to the adapter at her flat.
 
Presto... Marina has a US-based, Arkansas phone number! 
 
What about everybody else?  What are you doing to make calls?

If your second phone line is costing you any more than a penny then drop it.  Get Skype.  It's free and you can add the Skype app to your smart phone.  If you are calling other numbers in Russia then you can also add the Google voice app to your smart phone as well.  There are quite a few free video face to face apps for smart phones as well.  Kik and Tango are at the top of my head but you can go to the IOS app store or Google app store for Android devices to find them.  Even facebook has a chat feature in their app. Obviously when the Internet started AOL made email and instant messaging popular.  Since that time we have come so far the only reason you can't reach someone with a smart phone is if they don't want to talk to you.
 
Most people have smart phones and there is no reason you can't be in touch any time except when working or sleeping.  It is SO prevalent that even in my very strict work environment they allow employees to use smart phones while working to keep in touch with family and friends.  They were firing too many people for doing just that and changed their policy to keep the workforce.
Of course company emails and communications are kept professional and not allowed to be outgoing or incoming from personal contacts.
 
Communication today is SO SO easy anywhere in this world and as I have found out in my other thread...  If she ain't talking to you...  She is probably talking to some other man/men.  Be cautious if you give her these tools and still have trouble communicating.