Calling from Europe with a local number

[Smurf]

I received a telephone call today from Europe on my mobile and the person had a local Argentinien telephone number displayed. I had no idea that is possible. How can they do that I asked the person and they said they just dialled my number...Anyone any ideas how an Argentinien number could display like that when someone calls from Europe?

 

[FrankPintor]

I think this might happen if the caller is using some low cost provider. Telephone services in Europe were deregulated some time back, in some countries you can select the carrier call by call, or you can also have a subscription to one, for example for international calls.

 

[elhombresinnombre]

I use Skype for most of my telephone calls. Skype displays my UK mobile number whenever I use it to make a phone call regardless of where in the world I am calling from

 

[carride]

I received a telephone call today from Europe on my mobile and the person had a local Argentinien telephone number displayed. I had no idea that is possible. How can they do that I asked the person and they said they just dialled my number...Anyone any ideas how an Argentinien number could display like that when someone calls from Europe?

That is how Rebtel worked in the past. Maybe it still does. It was a callback service that routed the local portion of the call thru the traditional phone system. In the days before people had good internet.

Argentina Unlimited | Rebtel.com

Truly unlimited calling to any mobile and landline. Try now, your first call is on us!

www.rebtel.com

 

[FrankPintor]

I use Skype for most of my telephone calls. Skype displays my UK mobile number whenever I use it to make a phone call regardless of where in the world I am calling from

That’s correct, and it’s about the only use for Skype now. You do need to set your desired number in the caller ID. I have a monthly subscription just to call home and it works well.

 

[FrankPintor]

Imagine, after all the work building in CIA backdoors:

Dear Skype user,​ In order to streamline our consumer communications offerings, we will be retiring Skype in May 2025. As part of this change, we want to keep you informed about important updates to your Skype paid services and how these changes may affect you.​

Please read on for detailed information about the updates and what they mean for your services. Subscriptions & Automatic Top-Ups: Existing subscriptions will continue to automatically renew until April 3, 2025. After this, all subscriptions will be retired and no longer be available for purchase, renewal, or reactivation. Automatic top-ups will end on April 3, 2025. Skype Number: Your Skype Number subscription will continue to automatically renew until April 3, 2025 and will remain active until the end of your next renewal period. To port your Skype Number, please contact your new provider directly. Learn more Skype Manager: Skype Manager users can purchase and renew paid products, including automatic credit top-ups, until April 3, 2025. After this date, only existing credit balances can be allocated to group members for calling. For SMS services: SMS services will be discontinued on May 5, 2025. Skype Dial Pad: After May 5, 2025, the Skype Dial Pad will be available to remaining paid users from the Skype web portal and Teams, where you will continue to be able to use your subscription or Skype Credits.

Need to look for another way to make cheap calls to landlines in Europe now.

 

[Johnny]

Imagine, after all the work building in CIA backdoors:

​

​ Dear Skype user,​ In order to streamline our consumer communications offerings, we will be retiring Skype in May 2025. As part of this change, we want to keep you informed about important updates to your Skype paid services and how these changes may affect you.​

Please read on for detailed information about the updates and what they mean for your services. Subscriptions & Automatic Top-Ups: Existing subscriptions will continue to automatically renew until April 3, 2025. After this, all subscriptions will be retired and no longer be available for purchase, renewal, or reactivation. Automatic top-ups will end on April 3, 2025. Skype Number: Your Skype Number subscription will continue to automatically renew until April 3, 2025 and will remain active until the end of your next renewal period. To port your Skype Number, please contact your new provider directly. Learn more Skype Manager: Skype Manager users can purchase and renew paid products, including automatic credit top-ups, until April 3, 2025. After this date, only existing credit balances can be allocated to group members for calling. For SMS services: SMS services will be discontinued on May 5, 2025. Skype Dial Pad: After May 5, 2025, the Skype Dial Pad will be available to remaining paid users from the Skype web portal and Teams, where you will continue to be able to use your subscription or Skype Credits.

Need to look for another way to make cheap calls to landlines in Europe now.

Surprising bad news. I've used reliable Skype since 2006.

 

[Quilombo]

If anyone is looking for an alternative, I suggest Google Voice, I've been using it since 2012 and it works great (with a couple exceptions):

- US Number for 2FA, no issues with banks or any companies so far
- Free once you port your number
- Free North America calls, free 800 number calls in any country that offers them, including Argentina
- Great for Voicemail
- You can get voicemail transcriptions, MP3s, or both
- Limited Spam

It's limits are:

- Call forwarding to US numbers only
- You have to send out a text or make a call every 3 months to keep it active
- App doesn't work on my phones and never has because it checks if you have an active US number for your SIM card(s), despite it being a VOIP service (i.e. I rarely if ever can get it to "ring" even on my laptop when someone calls, I usually have to make the call which isn't bad for a free service IMO)

 

[gracielle]

Surprising bad news. I've used reliable Skype since 2006.

Today I received the same email from Skype. I have been using Skype as well since 2005.
Now I need to look for another way to make cheap calls to landlines in the US. All suggestions are welcome!

 

[FrankPintor]

keeptalking seems to be one alternative, there are others, I’ll be checking them out after the long weekend.