Help me out here. #2 son is going back to Japan to teach English in a couple of weeks. Communicating is hit or miss using Skype. Wondering if there's a way to do it better if the kid has my old Iphone? What's the deal with a plan over there, and what about calling each other? Will it cost us both an arm and a leg? Thanks! -- "Money Won is Twice as Sweet as Money Earned" ... Fast Eddie Felson JK www.MyConeyIslandMemories.com archived from misc.phone.mobile.iphone

JKconey: > Help me out here. #2 son is going back to Japan to teach English in a > couple of weeks. Communicating is hit or miss using Skype. Wondering if > there's a way to do it better if the kid has my old Iphone? What's the deal > with a plan over there, and what about calling each other? Will it cost us > both an arm and a leg? Thanks! It would cost an arm and a leg to make calls that way. If I were you, I would investigate why Skype is hit-or-miss for you. It works very well for a huge number of people. I sometimes use it for video chats with people in third-world capitals that have far less developed infrastructures than those in Japan and the U.S. Davoud -- usenet *at* davidillig dawt cawm archived from misc.phone.mobile.iphone

"Davoud" <star@sky.net> wrote in message news:260720092245504976%star@sky.net... > JKconey: >> Help me out here. #2 son is going back to Japan to teach English in a >> couple of weeks. Communicating is hit or miss using Skype. Wondering if >> there's a way to do it better if the kid has my old Iphone? What's the >> deal >> with a plan over there, and what about calling each other? Will it cost >> us >> both an arm and a leg? Thanks! > > It would cost an arm and a leg to make calls that way. > > If I were you, I would investigate why Skype is hit-or-miss for you. It > works very well for a huge number of people. I sometimes use it for > video chats with people in third-world capitals that have far less > developed infrastructures than those in Japan and the U.S. > > Davoud > It's not that Skype doesn't work, it's just hard for us to know when we're both available to use it. I'm looking for a way to connect at the moment one of us wants to. -- "Never bet on the end of the world because it's only going to happen once and how are you going to collect?" JK www.MyConeyIslandMemories.com archived from misc.phone.mobile.iphone

"NotMe" <a@a.com> wrote in message news:h4oet0$bj9$1@news.cn99.com... > > >> It's not that Skype doesn't work, it's just hard for us to know when >> we're both available to use it. I'm looking for a way to connect at the >> moment one of us wants to. >> >> > > You can use Skype to dial your son's cellphone number (pc to phone). It is > not free, but it is much cheapter than the international phone fee. Dad's in the US, Son is going to Japan. It doesn't cost Dad anything to call Son's roaming phone- it's a local call for him, so Skype for him is virtually useless (to call the iPhone). Son will be paying roaming rates for making or receiving phone calls in Japan, so ubiquitous Skype access for him would make Skype worthwhile, but that ubiquity doesn't exist. The only reasonable alternatives to AT&T's $1.69-$2.29/minute roaming rate, are (if they plan to talk a lot) to rent a phone with Japanese service for use in Japan (in which case, Dad using Skype to call the Japanese number makes sense to reduce int'l LD charges, but a cheap calling card would also do the trick) or, for less usage, relying on text messaging to communicate with each other until both can get to somewhere they can Skype each other. AT&T charges $0.50 for outgoing SMS from Japan, and the customer's regular rate (e.g. deducted from their messaging bundle) for incoming. So, assuming both Dad and Son have messaging bundles, texts from Dad to Son would be "free", and Son to Dad would be $0.50 (charged to Son) archived from misc.phone.mobile.iphone

> > It's not that Skype doesn't work, it's just hard for us to know when > we're both available to use it. I'm looking for a way to connect at the > moment one of us wants to. > > You can use Skype to dial your son's cellphone number (pc to phone). It is not free, but it is much cheapter than the international phone fee. archived from misc.phone.mobile.iphone

"JKconey" <theconeyislandkid@gmail.com> wrote in news:h4kogf$9t$1 @news.eternal-september.org: > It's not that Skype doesn't work, it's just hard for us to know when > we're both available to use it. I'm looking for a way to connect at the > moment one of us wants to. > > Buy a Skype Out yearly subscription. Set Skype to forward unanswered calls to your sellphone. You don't have to be on Skype to receive calls from either your Skype In numbers (up to 10) or from someone calling Skype-to- Skype. Once the call forwarding is saved, you're never offline on Skype unless you force it. I get Skype-to-Skype calls on my sellphone all the time...crystal clear. Skype runs continuously at home on a couple of Netgear Skype phones. You can have up to 10 simultaneous Skype connections on each account, unlike sellphones. They all "ring" at once. Pop one in your pocket and take calls without eating sellphone minutes in any self-connecting hotspot. -- Larry http://flightaware.com/analysis/all... Each tiny red dot is an airliner in this Quicktime movie, ONE recent day of air travel in the USA. What would happen if "they" found out this was the real source of air pollution or cancer or why all the bugs around my streetlight have disappeared? Would "they" tell us? Would "they" STOP IT?! archived from misc.phone.mobile.iphone