Best bet for short term International calling

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Chris S - 15 Jun 2004 19:50 GMT

I have a friend visiting the US from Europe for just two weeks. She
wants to have a phone for both local (Los Angeles) and International
(UK) calling.

I have an old GSM phone that I can loan her, unlocked. However, it
does not seem that the various 'pay as you go' options available offer
good International rates.

So ... my current thought is, get her a regular 'pay as you go'
number, and then buy some kind of calling card dedicated to UK
calling. I can program the codes into the phone perhaps?

Any better options? Thanks!
For email, send to chris at panties domain dot com
remove panties, and replace domain with attbi

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Joseph - 16 Jun 2004 00:13 GMT

>I have a friend visiting the US from Europe for just two weeks. She
>wants to have a phone for both local (Los Angeles) and International
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
>number, and then buy some kind of calling card dedicated to UK
>calling. I can program the codes into the phone perhaps?

Among other options is getting an account with Gorilla Mobile
<http://gorillamobile.com> where you can call the UK for around 5
cents/minute. You need to have a major credit card on file with them
to use the service.

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remove NONO from .NONOcom to reply

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Richie - 16 Jun 2004 05:47 GMT

Is she a very good friend of yours?

If so, why not temporarily add a phone number to your account (using your
old unlocked phone) and let her use it? I use Cingular and activation fee
with them is $36 + monthly plan fee. Your phone company would probably
charge you a similar amount.

For phone calls back to Europe, get her a calling card (such as one from
http://onecent.rnktel.com/ ) so she can use it for the duration of her stay.
1 cent to Europe is a great deal!

Personally, I have friends visiting me all the time and I keep an extra
phone at $9.99 per month just so I can lend it to them while they are in
town. Plus it makes it much easier for me to stay in touch with them
because I don't have to worry about my foreign visitors getting lost. It's
a small price to pay for friendship and my friends appreciate it a lot.

> I have a friend visiting the US from Europe for just two weeks. She
> wants to have a phone for both local (Los Angeles) and International
[quoted text clipped - 11 lines]
> For email, send to chris at panties domain dot com
> remove panties, and replace domain with attbi

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Chris S - 16 Jun 2004 19:55 GMT

>Is she a very good friend of yours?

>If so, why not temporarily add a phone number to your account (using your
>old unlocked phone) and let her use it? I use Cingular and activation fee
>with them is $36 + monthly plan fee. Your phone company would probably
>charge you a similar amount.

Good idea ... I presume the trick here is, since I have the phone
already, I'm not getting a discounted phone, and thus, don't need to
worry about 1- and 2-year contracts, so can cancel at any time. She's
a good friend and trusted. Slight complication is, I'm with ATT, and
my phone is TDMA; whether I can add a second account, GSM, may be an
issue - but worth pursuing.

I've been burned twice now with ATT's GSM coverage though - I tried it
myself last year, and just last week my girlfriend (who switched over
to GSM from TDMA) couldn't get a signal in SF's Chinatown. I'm still
thinking my friend is going to be better off with a CDMA phone from
TracFone at this point.

>For phone calls back to Europe, get her a calling card (such as one from
>http://onecent.rnktel.com/ ) so she can use it for the duration of her stay.
>1 cent to Europe is a great deal!

Yes, calling cards seem to be the obvious choice!

>Personally, I have friends visiting me all the time and I keep an extra
>phone at $9.99 per month just so I can lend it to them while they are in
>town. Plus it makes it much easier for me to stay in touch with them
>because I don't have to worry about my foreign visitors getting lost. It's
>a small price to pay for friendship and my friends appreciate it a lot.

I have fewer visitors than that (thank goodness!!!!), but do get them
from time to time, so want to come up with some kind of solution.
Thanks!

To email me, remove panties.

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