Make cheap or free cell phone calls to Africa

    My girl friend lives in Kenya and I am currently in Finland which leaves us with the problem of how to stay in touch over all that distance. The first thing that might pop to mind is international calling cards. Well let me back up there are three categories of calls into Kenya: Kenya, Nairobi cell, and Nairobi land line. The cheapest is Nairobi landline then, Nairobi cell, followed lastly by calls to Kenya outside of Nairobi. The cheapest calling cards for Kenya were about 0.079$usd and, I found those on http://www.callingcards.com/.

    The other way That would be common would be Voip(voice over ip) Skype being a prominent name in that market. Skype allows you to make free calls and free video chat and has lower rates than direct dialing. However I don’t have a skype usable computer every where I go and African Internet connections leave much to be desired. The solution was buy a smart phone, get a 14,90 euro/month unlimited data. Using Fring  on the smart phone and terrasip.com as the SIP company I now pay 0,0196euro/min. calling to a Nairobi landline from my N95.  Fring also has an interface for MSN messenger, AIM messenger, and the facebook site. At Frings website there are many SIP companies to browse and choose from, many offering free Internet to landline deals in quite a few countries. Nigeria was the only country in Africa where I could rig it to call absolutely free however, there were many European countries and the U.S.

    If any one needs help finding a decent SIP company to meet their needs and I’ll do what I can. If you need a data plan you are best off checking with your local service provider.

~ by toolboxed on April 7, 2009.