Contacting London Vicarge Hotel--Outage?

Posted by Wayne (Nevada City, CA, USA) on 10/27/10 10:23 AM

Sunday I filled out a booking form for Subject hotel. I have not received a response. Yesterday, I sent them an e-mail directly asking for acknowledgment. I tried calling a few minutes ago and the got not the message they were not available. Zero from them. Are they closed for the season?

A question about phone charges. I use AT&T land line, and called to find out how much it would cost to call London. $3.59. I think they said per minute, or possibly that as a charge and some other per number. I hung up after hearing $3.59 and used my prepaid AT&T card. It was close to $0.20 per minute.

Other than the prepaid card is there some cheap way to make such calls from here, Calif.?

Posted by Tyler

San Francisco, California, USA

10/27/10 12:51 AM

446 posts

Google Voice is by far the cheapest for international calling. Two cents a minute to non-mobile phones in the UK. http://google.com/voice.

And, you do not need a computer to use it. You need your computer to sign up for the service, but after you sign up, you can simply call your Google Voice number from a regular phone, put in your password, and make a call. You have to buy time in advance of calling internationally, with a credit card, but the time never expires and there is no monthly subscription obligation.

Posted by Anna

Lawrenceville, Georgia

10/27/10 10:28 AM

693 posts

Yes, Wayne, there is a cheaper way. You can download Skype free but then it costs about $10 a month for overseas calls to over 35 countries around the globe. Unlimited calls. Their offers change all the time, so the set-up may be a little different from what I've described. I had to buy a mike but am using the speakers connected to my computer. The mike from radio shack was cheap, you just plug it into your computer and go. Skype works on your laptop, too, and from Europe, as well. Skype to Skype calls are free in this country.

Posted by Wayne OP

Nevada City, CA, USA

10/27/10 10:36 AM

80 posts

Duh! :-) I use Skype to talk and see my son in the UAE.

Posted by George

Baltimore, MD, USA

10/27/10 10:41 AM

6 posts

Also, if you get your phone service from Comcast, the minute rate to England is around 6 cents.

Posted by Wayne OP

Nevada City, CA, USA

10/27/10 03:32 PM

80 posts

Google voice looks interesting. Is there a downside,say, getting on some mail list?

Posted by Wayne OP

Nevada City, CA, USA

10/28/10 07:48 AM

80 posts

I'll likely figure this out later today, but for now I'll try here. Last night I decided to sign-up for Google voice. Earlier I had purchased something with my credit card, but did not know I had given the wrong expiration year. My access to the credit card was then blocked. When I was trying Google voice later, I couldn't make the purchase for the international calling purchase. It wasn't clear to me why. The expiration difficulty was solved this morning.

I haven't figured out a way to make the purchase of voice. How do I do it? I see ways to pay for other items, but not voice.

Posted by Wayne OP

Nevada City, CA, USA

10/28/10 10:23 AM

80 posts

Solved. There's a small icon or phrase at the bottom of the "home" page that says Add $. That worked, and I completed the purchase.

Someone told me that this low price offer is only good through the end of the year. True?

Posted by Tyler

San Francisco, California, USA

10/28/10 11:49 AM

446 posts

"Someone told me that this low price offer is only good through the end of the year. True?"

Google Voice has so many features, it's kind of confusing sorting them out. Basically, Voice is a free service, except for international calls, which are still very cheap. I don't know of any plans to raise the prices.

There is a new feature of Voice that enables you to make a call from your Gmail account. Calls made from Gmail to the USA and Canada are free [INVALID] even if the call is made from outside the US. In other words, you could be on your computer in France and make free calls to the USA this way.

This feature may be the one you heard about that might not still be free at the end of the year.