Need incoming home/business calls from USA to russia? Check this out. ;)

[MaxxumUSA]

Ok all interested in Skype... I am trying something currently.

I have been here in Russia for two weeks and I had an idea which is working pretty damn good for very little money.  I have one more week here so I figure I will post while I am still here if anyone thinks I should try another feature or avenue.

My business is almost all telephone and Internet, basically home based with subcontractors nationwide, so I don't need to physically be in my office.

Here is what I did so I can receive business calls here in Russia from USA for a fair rate:

1. I have call forwarding feature on the land line in my business.

2. I brought my laptop to russia.

3. My fiancee has broadband Internet access at her flat.

Here's the neat part:

4. I purchased a SkypeIn phone number back in the USA. This gives a land line incoming number to your skype account. This is only like $32.00 per year for unlimited incoming calls.

5. I forwarded my existing business landline to my skypeIn telephone number.

6. When in russia, my incoming calls come to me on skype. The quality is good when I answer on my laptop.

7. When I am not near the laptop, or I miss a call, I forward the calls to my fiancee's cell phone. This uses the skypeOut feature and is charged at about .09 cents per minute. If I miss the cell phone incoming call, then skype reroutes the missed call to skype voicemail.

For me I get a ton of calls and I thought this plan up so that I could stay for three weeks here in russia and still easily make decisions for my business in the USA.

There is a glitch that happened with my first skypeIn phone number and for some reason it stopped working. I sent skype an email and still waiting for a response. In the meantime I simply purchased a second skypeIn telephone number - $12.00 for 3 months - and reforwarded my calls to that new number.

It all does not work absolutely perfectly sometimes but most of the time it works out great and I am able to handle business as usual.

Any questions I will be happy to try and answer them.

- David

OH...  I have paid a bit extra to her Internet company for more bandwidth.  (So far 1,200 rubels)  I send/receive files in my emails so I am unsure of bandwidth prices if I only used Internet for skype phone calls.

[HiTech]

I just switch to Cingular.

Nice things about them
Ukraine is 30 cents a min to cell phones. Very good connection when calling card is not a good day.
I get rooming when In Ukraine but is expensive.
I switch out the sim card for local calls in Ukraine.

With your skype setup it would be perfect to forward main number to skype and local Ukraine.

[Daveman]

Thanks for the tip David!  I'll have to check that out. It sounds *exactly* like a setup I may need to use later.


HiTech... have you signed up for the "Ukraine" add on with Cingular?  That should drop the price down to .15 per minute for land lines and mobiles.  It's about 2 or 3 dollars a month.  I haven't called Ukraine in a while now, so my memory is a little foggy about it, but if you didn't get the add on, you really need to, it'll save you a ton over time.

I also use Lingo (www.lingo.com) , which gives me calls to Moscow or St Pete for .02 per minute, and most other larger cities in Russia for .06, mobiles .06, and the very remote locations for .25  Not a bad deal really if you have broadband at home.  It's VOIP but I can't tell a difference between it and a land line now.  If you are not familiar with a VOIP service... basically, you plug your regular telephone into the VOIP box (instead of the wall jack), then plug the VOIP box into your network hub with standard CAT 5 cable.  Or you can run it inline with your DSL or Cable modem.  But, lingo is about the price of a normal monthly phone bill. I think mine is 19.95 per month.  Of course, free LD to US, canada, Mexico, and many other countries - unfortunately not FSU yet... but I bet soon.

Dave

[HiTech]

Daveman: Yes I have the addon, currently I believe it is 30 cents to cell phones.

[corp]

Hi-tech, .30 a minute is a lot. I used to call Ukraine often and the skype service worked the best for me because many phone cards while prices about the same (aprox .15 a min) the quality was often bad. Skype is predictably good. If you call to Kiev etc it is not an issue but many smaller towns are difficult to get a clear call through.

If you call to major city in Ukraine, you should have no problem finding a phone card at half of what you are paying. I still use LDpost.com but there are a ton out there.