Skype alternatives for data to landline/mobile phone calls.

EdMiami said:
TextNow.com offers Skype like functionality. They have an app for PC and for mobile. Free calling to US and Canada plus low cost international calling. Been using them for several months without issue.

Let me know if this works for you.
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Given your message count of 1, we can I think safely assume that you have commercial interests in that service!
 
syvictoria said:
Given your message count of 1, we can I think safely assume that you're commercially connected with that service!
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No. I am not connected.l to them in any way except I am a user of the service in the USA, where texting and calling in their service is free.

I found then when I was looking for a service to send texts from my desktop. I am a iphone user and a pc user so iMessage was not available on my PC. I tried them. It worked great. Then I used the phone calling feature when I wanted a business phone number. It also worked great.
Today, I came across this forum for the first time, read a few posts then saw this one about a Skype alternative. The app fits the bill.

Nothing commercial about my post. Just offering my experience. Remember everyone had a post count of 1, at some point.
 
EdMiami said:
Nothing commercial about my post. Just offering my experience. Remember everyone had a post count of 1, at some point.
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In that case, my apologies. I think it was the:

EdMiami said:
Let me know if this works for you.
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that made your initial post feel like a marketing ploy. I hope you contribute more about life and boating now that you're aware of the site!
 
syvictoria said:
In that case, my apologies. I think it was the:



that made your initial post feel like a marketing ploy. I hope you contribute more about life and boating now that you're aware of the site!
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Yes, I can see that.

My wife and I sailed a catamaran 25,000+ miles starting in Cape Town to Usa then Med and back to USA. It
Yngmar said:
It gets lots of critical comments and the app is ad-supported, packed with spyware and demands excessive permissions. Wouldn't touch it.
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Thanks for letting me know. Will remove it!
 
I use an App called Planet Talk. This will call mobiles and landlines all over the world. I got it because of the shear cost of calling the Greek Customs last year trying to sort out the Regs for uk Yachts - its a top up on line, and can work either through your wifi or directly with your own data. It costs very little to make calls and fiva seem to last for ages - months.... The cost of each proposed connection is shown against the number you dial. Its integrated into contacts.
 
Yngmar said:
While Viber has worked well for this in the past, I wouldn't recommend it based on the app being a bit annoying and having the usual batch of horrible privacy issues (although not as incredibly dodgy and horrible as Whatsapp).

I've got Satellite now, which gives you a German mobile number, is free up to, iforget, 100 minutes a month or something, but you need to fake a German location to sign up (unless you happen to be there). After signup location no longer matters and it works well enough. If you go above 100 minutes they want 5 EUR a month, which gets you unlimited minutes in 63 countries.
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Update, Satellite now insists on sending a verification code to a snailmail address in Germany. So that makes it more difficult to sign up unless you can swing that somehow.
 
Zing said:
Thanks for the suggestions of Satellite. How they can do free calls is amazing and puzzling, where’s the catch?
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I used a few apparently cheap sims/phone services whilst crossing the Med in 2006-2009. My experience was that there was always a catch, often in the high cost to people calling me. I cant see the catch with Satellite, but they will be making money one way or another
 
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