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Calling Home

Posted by (Vancouver, BC, Canada) on

I was just wondering if I could get some advice on phone cards and cell phones. I will be going to Egypt, Istanbul and Moscow at the end of April. While I haven't had many problems in most of Europe getting phone cards and using them, I was in Morocco last June and had a difficult time, and think it may be similiar in Egypt. Because I travel alone, and have a very worrisome mom, I like to try and call home every couple days.

I was wondering if anyone has used their cellphone while traveling, but with a calling card. My cell company (rogers) has very high rates - Egypt $3.50 a min. So I was wondering can I buy a phone card here before I go or one when I get to Egypt and then use it with my cellphone? Will I still get roaming charges if the calling card is a 1-800 #. I have tried calling my cell phone provider but no one seems too know.

Would appreciate any advice.

Posted by
50 posts

Every time I have gone abroad I've used call shops, the big shops full of phone booths, perfection. They have cheap rates and I'm sure calling the U.S. you should get a good rate. Best of luck...cheers!

Posted by
32212 posts

Cora,

As you've discovered the roaming rates with Rogers can be a bit expensive, but this depends to some extent on which countries you'll be travelling in. The three countries you've mentioned all have higher roaming rates than most of the countries in western Europe.

If your "worrisome Mom" also has a Cell phone, one fairly inexpensive solution might be to just use texts rather than voice calls. As the previous post mentioned, if you're able to find Internet/Phone shops in any of the countries you listed, that would probably be your best bet for voice calls. E-mails might be an option too if any of your Hotels offers internet service.

Unfortunately, I don't have any experience in those countries so can't offer any first-hand experience.

Good luck!

Posted by
191 posts

Thanks, for the most part I use e-mails when I travel, but when I was in Morocco many of the places only have computers with keyboards in arabic, so I was worried it would be the same for Egypt.

I think text messaging would be a good alternative, because it is only 60cents a text... if only I can get my mom to learn how to send and recieve text on her cell, lol

Posted by
110 posts

Stay away from celphones...use the cards (buy one there) or use the phone booth shops.

The other thing is internet cafes. What I've had travelling companions do in the past is use the "headline" feature of MSN Messenger. You can put up a headline that says something like "Monday, arrived in Moscow, off to Istanbul Thursday". That way friends and family can see what you're up to.

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