need to find a new international/long distance carrier HELP desperate please.

[FauxPas]

You should look at Google Voice, too. There is nothing to buy and the setup is very easy. You get a phone number that is local wherever you want it to be and free long distance for the 48 states with cheap international rates. I haven't tried an international call, but the rest works well.

[roguesmom]

[SIZE=3]Thanks y’all so much for your replies! I’m so relieved that people took the time to reply…after that long windy originaly message, I was a bit shattered, I thought I had lost the post![/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Frank – thanks for the link about checking connection speed! For download I have 1.5 mbps, for upload I have 382 bps. Apparently I am not ‘optimizing’ according to Verizon….*sigh* no pressure on you to explain what those numbers mean, im going to check on that with someone who has more knowledge than I do when it comes to tech stuff. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Biggjoe…that ooma must be nice..i would like to never receive another phone bill again! Question about the ooma…is there any sort of warranty? What is their customer service dept like?[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]j-lurk..interesting point about the phone & the internet getting into competition…how often would that happen? Does it make a difference what kind of call (local, long dist, international?) is being made?[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]CHtransplant, thanks for your advice. Thank you for the reminder about the fact that if the phone is run through the modem & power goes out, the phone is out too. In the back of my mind I think knew that – denial kept it back there. We lose power on average, twice a week….usually not for long, sometimes its just a blip, but it usually happens for absolutely no good reason (good reasons= weather, workmen in the area, etc. etc.). so if power goes & phone goes, is there a lot of reset work (other than the modem I presume?) that has to be done to get the phone working again? Also, if the power goes out, can I access the voicemail from a cell phone or someone elses phone…vmail would still take messages if I had no power, right? Even as im typing these questions, they sound stupid…sorry, its been a long day. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]LDJ & Raleigh lass – at&t’s advertised (on the net) prices for the countries we call (mostly Ireland & England, maybe 1-2 times a year - nz, Australia and peru) are verry low in comparison to our most recent bill. We were charged almost double our normal rate for making a call to a mobile phone – yikes, that mistake will be be made again! We’ve been with at&t for at least 10 years & in the past, we were on an international plans for a few bucks a month. Somewhere along the line that changed…but I don’t think we initiated the change. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]I tried to contact at&t about our current rates for both domestic & international calls. As I looked through contact #s for them, they were all listed as automated. Surely, I thought, I should be able to speak to a human at my phone company. Wrong wrong wrong. I tried reaching them by email only to be told it would take them 10 days to research my issues……hopefully in 10 days I will have found a new phone service! [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]We might give phone cards a try again….2 years ago we tried them from here in NC (we aren’t from here originally) with not a lot of success. The reception on both ends wasn’t great & then it took 3 or 4 tries for calls to go through…losing minutes along the way. We only tried 2 differents brands…one might have been sprint, the other one was some company connected with at&t. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]so yeah, i know i could have done this whole reply thing a different and probably more efficient way...did yall miss the part where im not tech savvy? ok, i probably could have figured it out, it probably wasnt terribly difficult....*sigh* [/SIZE]

[roguesmom]

argh

[J_Lurk]

To answer your question about the phone and the internet getting into competition -- no, it doesn't matter what kind of phone call (domestic, international). It matters what else you are trying to do on the internet at the same time. I had a real problem when I started using the website Mozy to back up my computer. Since my computer was trying to transfer data up at the same time I was talking on the phone, I'd suddenly find that the person I was talking to couldn't hear me. If you don't do anything major on the internet while talking on the phone then you should be fine.

[wjsluvskaz]

MagicJack easy to use and cheap for international calls.

[Heathercp]

We use Cellular International: International Calling Plans & Rates - Spend Only Pennies Making International Calls Using Any Cell Phone to make all our international phone calls and have been for a couple of years. It's cheap and easy. I love that I can call from my cell phone, so can reach the MIL whenever I'm out and about and have some time to talk. Recharging is easy via my credit card. I usually put $25 on the account and can talk for a long time at $.04/min. When I'm running low I just log in and recharge the acct. The recharge takes effect instantly and I can talk again. You can add more than one cell phone number to the account, so my husband can call his mom from his phone, too. I'm not sure if they have domestic long distance, since I just use my cellphone minutes for that (even though we have the all inclusive TWC phone stuff.) I hardly ever use my home phone, we just keep it for emergencies and the alarm system.

[Straitlover]

I use OneSuite for all my long distance (www.onesuite.com). They have international rates to a lot of countries. I don't pay anything on my home phone for long distance. OneSuite is like a calling card w/o the actual card, and you can use it on any phone.

[vinrej]

You can try Onesuite, which you can have two options, a VoIP service and Phone Card. Both services has good rates and can be use within a single prepaid account. All prepaid so no worry about monthly plans or anything.