I have been calling my fiance via Verizon Wireless...it used to be 35 cents a minute but now they upped it to 1.49 per minute. It's the only way I have been able to get a really good connection.
I tried using Vonage and Lingo ip phone services but the connection is too difficult and not very good.
I used a dial around Tel3Advantage but it has about the same quality as the ip phones. With both ip and dial around it seems to take about 15-20 tries before I can get my girl on her mobile phone.
Is anyone from New Zealand calling Ukraine ??? If so I would like to know your calling card or options you are using. I have been using ZTalk (Telstra Saturn based) Pay $5.99 plus .50c for cell phone use -- for 15 minute blocks. Trouble is if you get a disconnect (which happens often) 3 mines into the call - then you still pay the $6+ dollars.
For anyone in the UK, visit http://niftylist.co.uk/calls/
This site lists the cheapest international providers to all countries. Examples...
calls to Russian landlines: 1p/min
calls to Russian mobiles: 2p/min
calls to Ukrainian landlines: 4p/min
calls to Ukrainian mobiles: 6p/min
I'm sure other countries, such as USA, AU, NZ, etc. have similar comparison sites. It's worth googling using the same keywords that niftylist uses (see HTML header section in "view source").
I use Sunrocket to Belarus & Russia. It takes a while to get a connection, but the rates are outstanding.
I was with Vonage but their customer service tanked about 3 years ago. I've been a VOIP user for 7 years now and will never go back to traditional landlines.
I use freeinternetcalls.com. You pay 10 euros and yuou have something like 120 days free calls anywhere in the world. Talk as long as you want. At the end of 120 days re- up with another 10 euros and your good to go again. My wife talks for hours on this and everything I have tried, this cant be beat.
I call my lady every week in Ukraine,through sprint I pay $4 a month for international calling plus.30 cents a min.with very little problems getting through
In 3 weeks (August 2007) I'll be driving with my Ukrainian girl frined through Ukrain. Kiev-Carpethian montains-Lviv-Odessa-Sevastopol -foros (or near by) -zaporozhye-Kiev. Any suggestion about inexpensive studios to rent, places to stay and how to deal of highway corrupted cops, stopping cars and try to get money.
I nedd suggestions !
Carlos
i have started using a service called pingo.com. it was a breeze and the connection was really good. just put in 20 bucks and if your a first time user they will give you 5 bucks upfront. im thinking it was around 4.5 cents/minute with no hidden charges