Choosing dates of stay ay Luxury Link hotels and resorts?

[lhbrown]

Hi ff,

Funny that you should mention skype, my husband just walked in the door with a skype phone. All we have to do now is install it. I have been using another alternative phone carrier for Europe. KallCents 1-800-919-1919 charges about 7cents/minute to Europe. You open up an account with them, give them your credit card for billing, then you call the above 800 number wait for a dial tone and call your number in Europe. I found this worked pretty well for me. You get billed only for the number of minutes you use, nothing extra.
I do have a question on skype though.... will it work in Europe to call the US??? Do you have any experience with this?

Happy New You to you and yours too

[enewseven]

Hi Lbrown,



One other idea, if your internet telephony phone is wireless as well as having a laptop, bring it with you to the country you travel to and this way all your calls will be as if you were making them or receiving them at your home with the same number because of the fact that these are all internet calls. All you need is a high speed internet connection, it's a great loophole and will save you lots of $$$$.



A wireless phone like the one above is from Vonage will work, just throw it in your bag when you pack, take your laptop and you are ready to go

[curtiejoe]

Good evening tf

Skype's good for calls all over the world. That means you can call from your computer or your special Skype phone in the USA, Canada or anywhere to just about any phone, including cell phones, in any country. So, for example, my cousin in Belgium calls me (or I call him) anytime from his computer by dialing my home phone number. My phone rings and we talk. And talk. And talk. It costs 2.4 cents a minute! *half of what you're now paying on Kallcents). This is the going "global rate" for calls involving North America, Chile, most of western Europe, China and Australia (see www.skype.com for rate details). ALL calls anywhere in the world are FREE between Skype users via the Internet!!! It just can't be beat!

ff

[lhbrown]

Hi enewseven, hi ff,

Thank you both for your excellent info on internet phone use. Iam learning... have not been too keen on cell phones, but I am all for saving money when we are over in Europe. We always take our lap top with us, couldn't live without it, but only use a tracfon here in the US for emergency use in the car. We have cell phones in France and Germany and we load them with cards in each country, but this is rather cumbersome, so the internet phone sounds really a lot better. Used the skype phone already this evening just to try it out. Found the conversation is slightly delayed and it sounds somewhat funny, like there is an echo... but ff you are right, the price can't be beat. Enewseven, I will also check out your idea. Thank you both.

[omegaet]

lhb....I use two cellular telephones in my business and both services offer international calling plans (a small monthly cost of $3.99 allows me to make deeply discounted calls to most countries). We typically make a call or two to each of the properties in which we have an interest and then follow up by emails. I calculated the additional costs average $10-$15 for the telephone calls. For us, the extra costs are worth the mental comforts, since several of our LLhave beenoff the beaten paths of mass tourism.

[lhbrown]

Hi O,
Like your new logo better than the last one but thought the wine glass was the best.... thanks for your input on the cell phones international calling plans... The trouble with us is that living in 3 different places a year, it sort of makes it difficult to subscribe to any plan for that short a time. Most cell phone plans ask for a commitment of 1 or 2 years, so tracfone and sim cards is what has worked for us so far. Kallcents is also good from Europe for 5cents a minute. But we just got the skype phone and we are going to try it in Europe since it is supposed to work worldwide.
Have a Happy New Year

[omegaet]

lhb, several people have posted information regarding VolP usage (1.e. Skype, etc.). In addition to my quad-band cellulars, which offer foreign calling plans, I use Vonage, which is also VolP (thak God I have a couple of computer "geeks" that point me in the right direction).



When we travel, especially for leisure, Iseldom carry along a notebook computer....however, by using the Vonage V-Phone, which is a 256MB USB flash drive with ear phones and a micro phone, I can plug into any USB port in an Internet Cafe (they are everywhere these days....we were crossing a pass in the Andes at 16K feet and able to check weatheron the internet at a cafe)andor hotel business center.....and "Bingo".....I have use of a world-widetelephone and check my voice mail at very low rates. It's just a personal preference for us....we like to be able to establish voice contact and permit family and friends to stay in contact....we find Vonage andthe V-Phone extremely handy.

[lhbrown]

Hi O,

Still another logo, I won't be able to recognize you in a flash anymore...

Thanks for the informative post. I think I need serious phone education from your computer geek... You lost me... what is Vonage...? I thought it was a cell phone plan for $ 29.95 a month. I guess the phone comes with a cord you can plug into any computer... and then you can talk for a minimum of $$$$. That is as far as I can get to understand how it works... Sorry for asking stupid questions, but don't you still have to buy the Vonage phone and sign up with Vonage for a year or so??? I need "cell phones for Dummies" here; and while my husband is somewhat better than I with the computer system (I just use the computer, I don't worry how it works...), he is still far behind all this new phone technology....

[omegaet]

lhb....yes to "Vonage" service.....which actuallydisplays a virtual telephone on your computer screen and you go from there. Their tech support is very user friendly. As for the V-Phone, it's a small item you carry with you (almost) anywhere in the world you can gain access to the Internet. The device is plugged into a USB on whatever computer you are using (Internet Cafe or hotel business center or whatever)...and the same looking virtual telephone is displayed on your computer screen.....and you're ready to make calls, check your voice mail, etc., etc. There are no "stupid" questions. My icons change because I feel differently on different days!

[lhbrown]

Hi O,

I will check out Vonage when I get a few minutes. Right now we are off to the theater to see Amadeus - have a good evening and thanks for your post.