Communication with RW

[eagle59]

Hello to all. I have been in communication with a woman in Cherkassy since Oct 07. I had plane tickets to go in Dec 07 had to reschedule for 19 Mar 08 for 10 days, my second trip to Ukraine, first time to meet this one. Her name is Val and since Jan, I have been talking to her thru my yahoo voice service for 12 cents/minute. However, the service is very hit or miss and it is frustrating. I heard skype or microsoft messager is better and you can talk all you want for free (if you pay monthly membership)
I am not so worried about the cost, just be nice to have better service...(drop calls alot)
Val has bought a headset, like I do and she has computer, but just basic. She told me a lady said she will need to pay about $20US to get "package internet service" Could someone recommend what providers have good service and reasonable on price?
BTW I also sent $100US western union funds for her for headset and internet cost.
Thank you for any suggestions you have for us to try...TG

[wxman]

I sometimes use SKYPE to call Ukraine. It's about $0.16 a minute to a mobile phone. The clarity is very good. Unfortunately they don't have a monthly plan that allows you to call a Ukraine mobile or landline. If she has a pc, just have her install SKYPE and the calls to her will be free as it will be pc to pc. You don't need to pay a monthly membership for that.  Will she have high speed internet? If not, sometimes the latency rate can be slow with a dial up and the pc to pc talk may not always be good.

[AnastassiaAsh]

I don't know providers, but the price per month seems realistic. In Moscow for example i checked it is $25-$40 per month, depending on the speed and the amount of traffic of course. So $20 that she mentioned seem ok.
I have good experience with Skype too. 

[eagle59]

thanks for your replies...so for shure Skype does have service to Ukraine?
when I was researching on Skype homepage, just about every country expect Ukraine was listed. But, if you guys have tried it, I will sign up and try it-with prepaid credit first.
I think Val has dial up and that is why she has to upgrade to high speed for aprox $20 month. Thanks again. Will let you know how it worked.

[Gator]

Examine http://www.jajah.com , a form of VOIP.  3.6¢ per minute to Moscow.  Good connections, clear voice.

[I/O]

We've found skype to skype, (Aus to almost anywhere in the FSU unreliable) as internet providers, even high speed, in the FSU are providing a wide variance of quality in their server base.

My view, if it works it works but don't rely on it.

My wife uses Skype exclusively to call F & F back home, but she calls their mobiles or land lines directly. Cost is approximately 9c/minute. The way we approach it if she want's to do the cam thing is to run webcam on MSN or ICQ and simply use skype to phone for voice concurrently. That seems to work quite well.

Our impressions so far are that skype is the most reliable means of voice calls, but I repeat, that is skype to phone, not skype to skype.

Just one small thing to watch, (Thinking far ahead) is that some embassies won't accept skype printouts as phone call evidence. I don't know about the USA situation, but I have seen a few guys from Aus get themselves in to hot water on this one.

I/O

[Enot]

If she has dial-up, buy her high speed and use skype.  It will be free and save you hundreds of dollars a month.  Get a web cam if you like and you can also see her.  Yes you will get dropped calls but it's free.

You can also buy a calling card.  Calls to Ukraine start at 9.4 cents a minute.  Here's the website which I have used.  http://www.enjoyprepaid.com/enjoyprepaid/jsp/plan/planselection.jsp.  Beware of most calling cards because they don't give you all the minutes they promise.  I've never had a problem with the address I gave you.

[docetae]

we are using skype out service, from skype to her land line (quality is better than on her cellphone). Budget is around 45$/month.
She send me sms when she wants to call me and I call her back.

For direct internet communication, the worry is that ISP have sometime strange settings with double NAT and high speed is not really high speed..(more 256 or 512k) as I/O told, Internet service is not always very reliable...

[Serious]

we always use PC to PC skype with  my boyfriend. More dropped calls latelym - but overall - is good.

[Kuna]

My wife uses Skype exclusively to call F & F back home, but she calls their mobiles or land lines directly. Cost is approximately 9c/minute.

I/O,

Check out the Joy Calling Cards from www.telpacific.com.au

From memory we're getting calls to RU for < 1cent per minute.

$100 credit seems to last forever except when "The Beautiful One" decides to call friends in Ukr and then we're back to 19c/min...





Eagle59,

I guess it's too late to mention this but sending money to someone you don't know (not yet met) isn't a great idea.  Whether it's you're idea... or the ladies idea... it's not a geat idea.

IMHO it also sends the entirely wrong message about the friendship/relationship and for what it's worth, my wife would have NEVER accepted money prior to meeting asa matter of self respect.

I guess you're traveling soon so you'll see what is what...  but still the messages might be wrong if you're sending money at this point.

Best of luck,

Kuna

[eagle59]

Thanks for your advice to try Skype. I send my girl $100 to upgrade her internet service and to buy a headset. She was very grateful for that and very much appreciated it. She has money left over and she suggested to use it for my apartment rental deposit for my stay coming up 19 March. So far, the Sype is working out very well, as a matter of fact since it is free we now end up talking for hours and hours. With Yahoo Voice, it seemed like I was buying minutes every other day. I still call her occasionally on her home or cell phone briefly with my Yahoo, just to tell her good morning or say hi. Thanks again all.

Tom

[I/O]

So far, the Sype is working out very well, as a matter of fact since it is free we now end up talking for hours and hours.

Well, there is no harm in that. If you can communicate freely and often, you are yards in front of many in this caper. Like Kuna, I would caution against sending money at all, however in this circumstance, you seem to be achieving the desired result so I guess it is fair enough.

Kuna: I got the schits with calling cards ages ago, 1) I hate keying in a load of numbers each time I want to call and 2) I had some bad experiences with poor quality servers, so the skype thing wins hands down for me. She/me can simply click the number and connect. $10 or $20 per week is neither here nor there, but I did buck a little at Telstra charging me $1.50 per minute. That started to add up to ridiculous numbers pretty quickly. Nevertheless, I did use Telstra exclusively prior to the visa being issued simply to get that account statement the embassy seems to prefer.

I/O

[mark2353]

I found a phone card from the US the is about 3 cents/min it works very good. You can ask for upgrade and they have what is call international card which has numbers all over the world. I know the have a number in Moscow. That is the only one I know for sure
how ever here is the link
http://www.nobelcom.com/nobelcom/jsp/productselection/productselection.jsp?from_country=1&to_country=237&x=70&y=14

Good luck
mark

[williama]

I checked out the JahJah site Gator recommended.
It has worked very well so far, is easy to use regardless of connection type. Voice is clean and clear. There are two rates .09 for  your line to cell phone and .03 to landline. No monthly or sign-up fee's except for phone time actually used.
Another option lets you pick a launch number from a region near you which will allow you to initiate the call without the use of your PC.

Pretty satisfied with it so far when she can keep the loose battery in the phone instead of her purse!

[Jazzyclassy]

Skype is the best service like others told PC to PC calls are absolutely free, well of course you just gotta pay for the interent

No need to send money , no need this huge some of money to spend.

We used to have back in 2005 those calling cards but with skype it is so much more different you can talk for ages, the whole day and skype wont cut you off

Choose simple and convenient way of communication, all those yahoo , msn are great as well if you have oportunity to use them , it is also nice and comfortable

Though among them all I choose Skype which hardly ever fails, (knocking on the wood 3 times