phone plans for families to contact u in Grenada

[GradStudent]

Hi there

I'm finding that its really expensive if my family wants to get in touch with me in Grenada. Other than phone cards (which could get annoying to be constantly running out to get a phone card) does anyone have any info on other ways my family could keep in touch over the phone (no comp stuff here, parents just not into it) and still keep the long distance bills down?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

GS :roll:

p.s. We live in Canada, so if any canadian students have suggestions too that would be great. 75cents a minute via Bell or Sprint is just way tooo much!!!

[eggbert]

I was able to speak with my wife in New York every night for two years using my crappy old laptop for very cheap by using an internet dialup phone sevice, www.iconnecthere.com. There are several other companies to choose from. You just need to but a headset for about $30 (which you can buy in Grenada). The service costs about $10 per month. The quality of the phone line is extremely variable day to day - sometimes there is a delay of five seconds or more but very often it is a clear line without delay. On occasional nights when the line was no good I would have my wife call me direct (It's cheaper to call to Grenada than to call from it) Some people find it to be annoying but if you want to connect often with people at home and pay practically nothing for it, this is the way to go. You might also get a better connection if you get DSL on the island but according to some of my classmates the line was no better quality. All in all, it was a good option. We're still married! I should mention that it is totally unpredictable whether one laptop will work better than another. My old laptop worked great while my roomate's state-of-the-art, top-line laptop seemed to get worse connections. Good luck.
Eggbert

[snitzle]

I used both IConnectHere.com and Dialpad.com. Both are 4 cents/minute (US) on the pay-as-you-go plan, and both are similar in quality (I found Dialpad a little better usually, though). Your family/friends can also use these services to call you (rates may be different, but still dirt cheap).

[KatiTheCutie]

I don't know if you can get on Yahoo messenger or AIM messenger on the island, but if so then you can use the headphone and talk over the computer on the messenger for free.

[tabootabib]

Has anyone tried Vonnage or another popular VOIP?

[rokshana]

I've got vonnage, but until my DSL is hooked up, I can't use it. I'm hoping it works because if it does I don't think you can beat it. You have a US phone number so people calling from the states call a US number when they call you. Its $15 per month for 500 minutes and 25 for unlimited calls, so...
Will update once my service starts!