Best Way to Make International Calls With iPhone
Using your iPhone for international calls can simplify how you stay in touch with family and friends without having to resort to a traditional home phone and expensive international calling plan. Your iPhone could be the answer to getting some ‘face time’ as well - with plenty of video calling apps available for the iPhone, your contacts get even more of the real you.
In fact, the app market has exploded in recent years and really allows for great connectivity via the web. Apps like Skype, Tango, Viber, Fring and many more offer excellent free services over an internet connection so be sure to install the same as your friends and family in order to enjoy staying in touch. You also have the option to use an app like Rebtel to call people who don’t have the same app as you, with excellent rates available.
iPhone International Calling Operators
It is highly likely that your carrier offers discounted options for making international calls. Most carriers offer a monthly plan that allows you to pay a small flat fee on top of a minute-by-minute rate that is less than ‘normal’ (i.e if you hadn’t paid the flat fee/base fee). For example, if we take a quick look at the US market we see that AT&T, Verizon and Sprint all offer slightly differing packages at similar rates to connect back home to countries like Haiti, Cuba, Mexico and more and that these packages will save money based on making a ‘normal’ international phone call.
However, regardless of discounts, rates remain high. So to lessen the costs of international calls you can turn to other service options:
VOiP iPhone International Calls
VoIP apps can make iPhone international calling much less expensive. These apps usually work by using your minutes or data plan on your phone to make the call, but charging you only a fraction of what your carrier would charge you for the international portion of the call.
Skype. You can make calls using Skype’s iPhone app and a subscription that lowers the cost of calls significantly. Skype-to-Skype calls are free whereas Skype-to-phone calls require credit. Rates are favourable over normal phone operators.
Evaphone. Evaphone is a relatively new VoIP service that allows you to call at decent rates. You can also top off your credits using PayPal, which can be convenient.
Rebtel. With Rebtel you are given a “local” number to assign to your contacts, meaning that call rates are much lower than normal phone operators and one of the cheapest on the market, coupled with excellent audio quality.
An extra advantage of VoIP calling apps is that if you stay on Wi-Fi networks instead of 3G or 4G, you can avoid using up your data plans.