Voice - mobile phones


Author
Message
Daria Blackwell
Daria Blackwell
I'm hooked (493 reputation)I'm hooked (493 reputation)I'm hooked (493 reputation)I'm hooked (493 reputation)I'm hooked (493 reputation)I'm hooked (493 reputation)I'm hooked (493 reputation)I'm hooked (493 reputation)I'm hooked (493 reputation)
Group: Administrators
Posts: 811, Visits: 148
When researching Google Fi, I came across a blog post written by member Behan Gifford about voice communications. It has a great summary of options and what to takes to make them work.

I also found a comparison of Google Voice (connected to Project FI) and MS Skype. I guess Google Voice is currently only available via the US but presumably will be expanding.

On Aleria, Alex and I have Irish phones with unlimited data through mobile provider 3. Our phones now work all over Europe without roaming charges. Presumably, it won't apply in GB after Brexit. We also have a Skype US phone number that is VOIP but redirects to our mobiles so our family can dial a US number to reach us on our mobiles for pennies. We've given up our global coverage US phone with provider T-Mobile which worked great for the first couple of years in the Caribbean but then got to be ridiculously restrictive and expensive. We've also activated the 'call to phones' feature on Skype which lets us call anyone's phone anywhere in the world for pennies, whether or not we are connected to them via computer. It works like an automatic top up phone.


Increasingly, we rely on What's App and Messenger to communicate internationally, but the person has to be subscribed for it to work.

What's everyone else doing? And do you find Google Fi significantly superior to Skype?
edited by DariaBlackwell on 3/15/2019

Vice Commodore, OCC 
Reply
Hasbun
Hasbun
New Member (41 reputation)New Member (41 reputation)New Member (41 reputation)New Member (41 reputation)New Member (41 reputation)New Member (41 reputation)New Member (41 reputation)New Member (41 reputation)New Member (41 reputation)
Group: Forum Members
Posts: 72, Visits: 166
We are not EU residents, and so the possibility of subscribing to a European-based phone account is limited.  Currently we use pre-paid service from Spanish operator Simyo, good anywhere in Europe, at 28GB for €17 per month.

Our solutions for the past few years have been:

1.  In France, you can subscribe to Free France, a telephone operator, via a credit card.  We subscribed to their €2 per month plan four years ago, and that's been our "voice" telephone number ever since.  Whereas in France proper they can give you what amounts to essentially unlimited internet for about €20, they cap data use elsewhere, so this was our solution for data only when we cruised France.

2.  All over Europe, you can purchase very cheap prepaid _data_only_ plans.  For almost two years our solution was Wind Italia, which gave us 20GB for €9 per month, and we could pay from anywhere via PayPal.  We used it in a bunch of countries and hardly at all in Italy.  Sadly late last year they started capping non-Italian use at 3GB, so it was time to get something different.

3.  We are now with Simyo Spain: 28GB for €17.  Pay from the phone itself, but alas!, their app rejects our U.S. credit/debit cards.  So here is what we did: we got one of those all free/zero cost N26 bank accounts.  It comes with a debit card.  Trough a Spanish friend, we deposited €500 on it (deposits from any European bank account are free to sender and receiver).  The Simyo app accepts the German-issued N26 card, which we use exclusively to pay for phone service, so we figure we have enough to pay for several years' service.

4.  Final note: service from innovative/"new entrant" companies such as Free France/Wind Italia/Simyo Spain, etc., has been perfect for us sailing around, but it is to be acknowledged that the former national monopolies are said to have more comprehensive networks.  Guess what?  When we are out of the country where we purchased our service, we often get roaming service from a so-called "premium" service provider, not that, in the end, there is any noticeable difference.
GO

Merge Selected

Merge into selected topic...



Merge into merge target...



Merge into a specific topic ID...





Login

Search