Talk:Phone service

Valid article?

Hmmm, this is an interesting Project:What is an article? issue. Maybe if we can edit and format it a little more like Discount airlines in Europe? Thoughts?

I tried to get that process started by moving it to Telephone service for travel. We can maybe talk about options for calling, options for receiving calls, etc. I'm not really sure what the rates that are referred to on this page are -- then again, I don't have a cellie. --(WT-en) Evan 18:49, 28 Jan 2004 (EST)

This really looks like a commercial blurb and not a helpful travel topic. It'd be nice if someone would edit it into a more general and helpfull article. I'm not sure if I should reword or just remove what's there now. Thoughts? (WT-en) Majnoona

Telephones

Moved from travellers' pub by (WT-en) Evan

You can get a phone that accepts SIM cards, allowing you to get a local number wherever you go. I think that's very cool, but is it the best option? A page that reviews all the alternatives for phone service while travelling would be useful. Especially for me, as I know basically nothing about this. -- (WT-en) Tim

It may help to ask your question about Telephone service for travel with a broken link. Someone will follow it and get an article started, I bet! --(WT-en) Evan 09:34, 24 Dec 2003 (PST)

I lose again! No wonder I don't have anything to add to Las Vegas. Anyways, someone started an article on cellphone service at Call home? At what rate? and I shoe-horned it into Telephone service for travel. It's now on the Travel topics rump directory page, which, hey, might inspire some contributions. --(WT-en) Evan 18:44, 28 Jan 2004 (EST)

Commercial mentions?

(I also edited under the IP address 69.178.40.95 -- I forgot to log in first)

I debated whether to post the specific mentions of companies (Vonage, DialPad, Net2Phone, Costco, etc.), but since the article already mentioned several other specific commercial products by name, I decided to follow that lead. After all, from what I understand, this is a site devoted to helping travelers find the best and most up-to-date information and isn't supposed to be a timeless encyclopedia. (Is Wikipedia's NPOV an ideal around here?)

Another note: I think the Internet Phones and IP phone companies either need to be combined or the differences need to be explained more clearly. Or maybe I'm just not thinking clearly--it's about that time of night here when I should be looking at the mattresses.

Yes we should select companies most useful for travelers. E.g. you can sign on from any net-cafe and make the first call immidiately without being forced into a subscription. The "investment" should be low, e.g. less than €10-20. Some companies are experimenting with web-based phones (Java or Axtive-X) which means that you can call from most computers with a microphone and speakers. Companies that let you call free (including no subscribtion) to other IP phones from other companies (eg using E164) should also be preferred. I think SIP-based companies are most useful to travelers because you can both use software programs and bring a hardware IP-phone. When travelling you can often not install software on the computers you use.-- (WT-en) elgaard 12:19, 19 Apr 2005 (EDT)

(WT-en) Cluth 02:43, 19 Apr 2005 (EDT)

We do aim for a NPOV tone (you might want to take a look at Project:Welcome, Wikipedians btw) but we're more about being timely than timeless and travellers at various points are going to need "commercial" information. Of course it can be a slippery slope between "commercial information" and "ads" or "product directories" but so far we really haven't had much trouble... (WT-en) Majnoona 08:20, 19 Apr 2005 (EDT)

Needs some reorganization

Love this topic - wish I'd found it years ago - and there is a lot of really good information here. I've updated some of it. That said, I think this really needs some reorganization and an introduction that covers the options overall - unless there's some objection I'll be working on this. (WT-en) mr_Handy 16:51, 24 July 2010 (EDT)

This almost needs to be three separate articles, payphone, cellular telephone and Internet telephone, with just a summary left as the main article. It's possible to fill an entire wiki with just the Internet 'phone info: http://www.voip-info.org is exactly that. K7L (talk) 19:13, 13 December 2013 (UTC)

A terrible experience

Back in 2011, I made a hour long call to my home in Pakistan from Lion's Garden Hotel in Budapest without realising it can cost me a lot. Next morning, I was told that my photo bill is 175,000 HUF for an hour long call. After a small fight (not physical) and negotiations, they agreed on 65,000 HUF and I paid it. --Saqib (talk) 19:21, 18 February 2014 (UTC)

Almost €600? Unless you dialled the wrong number and got connected to the International Space Station or at least to the South Pole I suspect that was some sort of a scam so maybe you should add it there (or rather here: Budapest#Stay_safe - that section is already quite depressing). ϒpsilon (talk) 20:03, 18 February 2014 (UTC)

Yes some €600 but as I said I only paid 65,000 HUF. I've been told later that it is something like a scam and I should had reported it to police but I was already left the country until then. They even gave me the invoices of both the 175,000 HUF and receipt invoice of 65,000 HUF. --Saqib (talk) 20:25, 18 February 2014 (UTC)

Yeah, it's like the restaurant mentioned in common scams where they have a separate menu for people they want to con with ten times higher prices printed out... I'm pretty sure that nowadays the real cost for an international phone call in most parts of the world is never higher than about €1 per minute and that's why they could easily give you a "discount". I remeber a story of a friend of a relative who was pulled over by the police in Hungary because they were supposedly "speeding" on the highway with their Finnish registered car. However when his Hungarian wife started to ask the police (in Hungarian of course) what the heck this was supposed to be the police let them go without any fines! ϒpsilon (talk) 20:44, 18 February 2014 (UTC)

Do you think we should add a line to this article something like "you can try a discount if the bill exceeds your limit". --Saqib (talk) 20:54, 18 February 2014 (UTC)

Lol. "...and remember to bring your own cell phone the next time or use Skype" ϒpsilon (talk) 21:04, 18 February 2014 (UTC)

Well, I had my own mobile phone at that time but it stopped working when I entered Hungary from Austria. --Saqib (talk) 21:08, 18 February 2014 (UTC)

I added a warning box. Comment or improvements solicited. Should it be only an infobox?

There was recent incident where an American kid visiting Canada used his dad's cell phone to play some online games and the bill was $20,000-odd. Pashley (talk) 21:01, 18 February 2014 (UTC)

Thanks. Warning box looks appropriate here. --Saqib (talk) 21:04, 18 February 2014 (UTC)

ϒpsilon and Pashley: I was looking for some old files and see what I found. --Saqib (talk) 10:29, 23 February 2015 (UTC)

Worse than outrageous, taking into consideration that the original price would be almost one month's median wage in Hungary! That phone bill could very well work as illustration or part of it as banner for common scams. ϒpsilon (talk) 12:12, 23 February 2015 (UTC)

Definately the bill can be used to illustrate this page as well. BTW, As you can see in the bill, at one point, the hotel receptionist decreased the bill to 81,000 HUF but at the least, 65K was decided. A similar case was about to happen in Greece as well in 2013. I was staying in Holidays Inn, Athens and rather than using my home mobile number which cost too much in Europe due to high roaming charges, I asked receptionist what would be call charges to Pakistan. They told me they don't know call charges for Pakistan. But they may only know once I made a call. It reminded me of Budapest and I decided to make NO calls. --Saqib (talk) 12:43, 23 February 2015 (UTC)

Provider listings

The provider listings currently in this article (at least for Internet phone) are very uneven in geographical coverage. Nothing in Australia, nothing in Asia but plenty of North America and Europe coverage to the detriment of basically every other region. I've tried organising SIP by region but it only makes the issue more visible. K7L (talk) 17:21, 19 March 2014 (UTC)

I've split out mobile telephones and Internet telephony, moving the whole mess there and keeping this page as an overview. That doesn't fix the issue, just moves it. I'm also wondering if we still need (or even want) "Call" and "Receive" as separate sections as most of this (with the exception of pay phones, payphone cards, pocket pagers and phones on aircraft) is inherently bidirectional and duplicated in both categories. K7L (talk) 22:48, 30 August 2014 (UTC)

Pre-paid phone cards

I think the section about pre-paid cards is confusing, as there are pre-paid SIM cards, prepaid cards to operate a payphone and prepaid cards that allow you to call via an operator (human or not) on a toll-free or low-cost number. The first is mentioned as an option for mobile phones (and may be somewhat expanded in that context) and the second should be handled in the section on payphones. I think the section is about the last ones, but that should be clarified. --LPfi (talk) 08:25, 25 October 2016 (UTC)