long distance calls

[milly]

I've just started a new job which requires me to talk to Europe all day. They have told me not to use Skype or any other way of calling on the internet because of sound quality. I've moved into a new apartment where they are already subscribed to a package from Arnet 6 megas + local phone. Before I had Telecentro and was using cheap long-distance calling cards I bought on the internet, but at the new place Telecom blocks all calling cards execept their own which are double the rate.

Does anyone know if any phone companies offer long-distance calling plans and if I can put in a line in my name with only my passport? Anybody know any other solutions for cheap long-distance calls?

Thanks

 

[deeve007]

I'd do some tests with Skype with friend's at home and see if they notice the sound quality issues. I've used it and the person at the other end had no idea it was Skype.

 

[AngelinBA]

There are companies called Callback companies here in Argentina, that offer cheap (VERY cheap) international calls and it's a 0800 number from your local phone. I can talk to my mum in New Zealand for an hour and the bill is normally about 5 pesos.

The company we use at work is called IDT. I don't have contact details for them and I'm sure there are many others around as well, but I can say that IDT works well and the sound quality and line quality is good (it hasn't always been like that with other companies we have used in the past). Maybe worth checking out?

 

[deeve007]

Those types of companies also use the same (or similar) technology as Skype uses, so check the quality if your company has issues with Skype quality.

 

[citygirl]

I've just started a new job which requires me to talk to Europe all day. They have told me not to use Skype or any other way of calling on the internet because of sound quality. I've moved into a new apartment where they are already subscribed to a package from Arnet 6 megas + local phone. Before I had Telecentro and was using cheap long-distance calling cards I bought on the internet, but at the new place Telecom blocks all calling cards execept their own which are double the rate.

Does anyone know if any phone companies offer long-distance calling plans and if I can put in a line in my name with only my passport? Anybody know any other solutions for cheap long-distance calls?

Thanks

If your employer doesn't want you using Skype - they should be providing you with an alternate solution. I also hope they're paying for all these calls to Europe!

With that level of connection, I doubt you will have any issues with sound quality. 95% of my calls were fine when using Skype and the other 5%, well, that's going to happen with traditional lines here as well. I swear my local line had more static and feedback than my skype.

 

[sundae]

I use Skype to talk to my parents every weekend and have no sound issues... in fact, it soemtimes sounds better than the regular land line.

 

[Rease]

The company i work for uses a program called Global Crossing as well as a softphone called Xlite. I like Xlite better than global crossing.

 

[jago25_98]

Get on a VoIP forum and start researching.

VoIP systems are what big companies use to connect international offices and it should be the same quality, if not better than PSTN (regular) phones.

You can call through the internet over VoIP and make it look like you're calling from a regular phone in many countries. You can get a USA phone number that goes straight through to a PSTN in argentina for a subscription per month and you can have a USA number in Argentina.

The quality depends on what codec is being used. You can use a codec that is better than their phone system.

However, if all this is connecting through the internet then your internet connection has to be top quality, so it might be better to pay extra and dial through an access number, use call back or initiate a call using the internet or SMS.

Probably the reason the company doesn't want Skype used is because it's dependent on a good internet connection which in turn is dependent on many other things like:

- keeping the wifi secure
- having a good business quality ISP (possible in BA?)
- keeping computers maintained(clean of spyware,virii etc), not downloading and saturating the connection while using the connection or having the bandwidth managed

^ because of all this, it's probably best to use a dial through service.

I'm coming back at the weekend, can show you if you want

-j

 

[fifs2]

I've just started a new job which requires me to talk to Europe all day. They have told me not to use Skype or any other way of calling on the internet because of sound quality. I've moved into a new apartment where they are already subscribed to a package from Arnet 6 megas + local phone. Before I had Telecentro and was using cheap long-distance calling cards I bought on the internet, but at the new place Telecom blocks all calling cards execept their own which are double the rate.

Does anyone know if any phone companies offer long-distance calling plans and if I can put in a line in my name with only my passport? Anybody know any other solutions for cheap long-distance calls?

Thanks

Sorry but I dont understand the issue...Ive only ever used Hablemas cards for 10 pesos for 60 minutes to US and Europe on conf call lines and private so never had an issue...available in all locutorios. No numbr ever blocked in 8 years.