FREE Overseas phonecalls.

TedTheLed

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ok this seems to actually work -- here's the website to check out :

http://www.futurephone.com/

"There's no contract, fees, taxes, signup, registration or calling cards; you don't even give them your name or e-mail address. You just pick up the phone—home phone, office phone, cellphone—and make a free call to Argentina, Australia, China, England, France, Iceland, Israel, Mexico, Venezuela or any of 40 other countries.
The possible catch: you reach Futurephone's international dial tone by calling a number in Iowa, which is a domestic call that you have to pay for.
Of course, for a lot of people, that's still free. Use your cellphone on a night or weekend, for example. Or sign up for a flat-rate unlimited calling plan at home. Or see if your office has an unlimited long-distance plan.
So here's how it works: Call 712-858-8883.
At the prompt, press 1 for English. Then punch in 011, the country code and the phone number. That's it. The call rings through immediately.
Truth is, I don't know what Futurephone's game is here. They say they're giving away the calls in order to "build up the company's brand-name recognition. Our plan is to offer additional services in the future." And they promise that this freebie will be in place for at least three years, through 2010.
The one disappointment: it doesn't seem to reach cellphone numbers. The company says that it's still working out agreements with the cell carriers in some countries.
Otherwise, the sound quality was about the same as any overseas call. The only difference: it's all free.

...and don't say TedTheLed never did nothin' fer ya' ! :)
 
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TedTheLed

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:bumpit: (...the lawyers were up all night... :grouphug: :grin2: )



please feel free to comment; is it working for you? where did you call? :santa:
 
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BB

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Future phone, from what little I could find, seems to be a company in search of a business... These guys used to offer 900 number services back in the mid 1990's (at least). You know, the guys that that setup the $10-$30 per minute phone numbers for some "service" or other.

Apparently, that business has collapsed and I guess they are trying to keep the web site name active for now.

-Bill
 

Empath

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My search on Google gave a lot of hits, but unfortunately they're all recent, and can't reflect longer term situations that might arise. There is a long thread about it on Fat Wallet

The philosophy that "if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is" may very well apply. I am certain that somewhere at sometime, money will be exchanged with someone. The trick is making sure your money isn't involved.

A recommendation if you really want to give it a try.

Use a prepaid cell phone. You can't loose more than your balance that way.

If you use your home landline, get a long-distance calling card with sufficient time on it for the call you make. Call the Gateway using your calling card. That will isolate your home phone from any trick redirected charges or whatever.

There's always the possibility that a loophole in the international calling system exists, but I'd think that would be closed as soon as possible.

But, who knows? :shrug:
 

BB

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One other major warning (also in the website FAQ)--If you are using a cell phone, make sure that you don't press the "SEND" key after you dial the 011... number. The cell phone company will probably disconnect your Iowa call and place the long distance call through your cell company's network, at their overseas billing rate.

-Bill
 
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TedTheLed

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seems to work for people on that FatWallet link.. and if you're worried about them harvesting your number (for billing you a a later date or something) just dial *67 first -- that blocks your ID for that call.
 

PEU

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TedTheLed said:
seems to work for people on that FatWallet link.. and if you're worried about them harvesting your number (for billing you a a later date or something) just dial *67 first -- that blocks your ID for that call.

that blocks your number at the consumer level, but the signaling between providers still forwards it.

With the current wholesale prices of voip calls around the world, almost cheap as dirt, this is a good example of a viral marketing move, I saw coverage of this everywhere the last couple of days.


Pablo
 

TedTheLed

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"viral marketing" ? sounds bad. what is that? what did the coverage you say you saw alot of everywhere the last couple of days say? I hear the sound is better than voip, more like a regular call... don't you need a computer for voip?
 

BB

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VOIP can be done PC to PC, or it can be a combination of PC to tel. switch or even tel. switch to tel. switch... They "phone company"--whomever they may b--just needs to put an interface converter from IP to some sort of supported telephone standard (analog or digital) and connect it to their switch.

VOIP may sound better if the company either uses higher bit rates and/or is connected to an IP trunk of some sort--whereas the typical PC user may be on a less capable branch (DSL; or even cable modems which can be 1-10 mbit/sec. fast on download but only 300 kbit/sec. +/- up upload side). Add local delays and loss packets, your own IP circuit may be less than ideal.

-Bill
 

LowBat

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Amazing how far technology has come. Last month I was driving to Los Angeles and I just tapped the button on my bluetooth headset, spoke "name dial" and then my British friend's name, and I was soon connected. Also amazing how this was free because I programmed the "Futurephone" number into the dialing sequence, and because my cell plan has free nationwide and off-peak calling.

Back in the 90's I had to call my friend from a land based phone, pay 60 cents a minute during off-peak, and got a slight feedback echo during the conversation.
 
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