Calling outside the U.S sometimes can be expensive & a hassle specially if you use calling cards where they waste a lot of the minutes if not used at once or if the calls do not go through. In search for the best calling rates and service I came across http://www.raketu.com which Ronen has covered in the past. it has by far exceeded my expectations on how simple it is to use. It is sort of like a pre-paid plan. You create a free account, & just add minutes to it using the PayPal check out or my favorite Google check out.
Once you add minutes to the account you can add increments of $9.99 or $24.99 and the new balance is reflected on your account within a few minutes 5 to 15 minutes at the most. You can place calls from your blackberry easily and it does not require you to download any application to your device. From your Blackberry you can point your browser to BlackBerry.Raketu.com a mobile version of their site and the simply easy to use interface lets you connect any two numbers. You can also check what the rate will be before you even place the call. To call all you need to do is input your number you want to call from and that of the person you are trying to call and press the call button. The service first dials your number and once you answer the call is place to the international number directly without having to mess with any codes you normally do with calling cards. You are only charge for the minutes you actually use and the balance you got left you can use it at a later time.
You can also send free text messages depending where you are sending them to, and includes other features such as social, blogs, but I don’t have any use for those features, & don’t know much about it to go into detail. The main idea is to tell you about their useful calling services. Services such as this are available from quite a few other companies, but I find this one to be the most useful for me that is.
Why I believe this is a good service:
- Rate to call my family internationally $0.07 land Line $0.11 cents Cell vs. $0.15+ with other similar services (Check for rates at this link)
- Can place a call as long as you have a web enable phone to Visit Blackberry.raketu.com mobile friendly site
- Don’t have to mess with all the steps when using a calling card
- Can even add funds from you blackberry
- Only uses minutes that you actually talk
- If you call Mexico is super cheap about 0.02 cents per minute
- Success of calls places has been about 98% of the time
- Ability to check the rate per call before placing it
Cons:
- 1 hour limit on continuous talk time
- every now and then your call may not go through
Overall this is a good service & best of all you don’t have to sign a contract, just add funds as needed. For me this is a lot cheaper than the rates on Vonage. This service has save me $ & head aches with calling cards. If you know of any other services you have used in that worked for you please share below in the comments.
Raketu Cheap International calling
