Brother Serving in Korea. Any suggestions for calling?

[SirStev0]

At thanksgiving today the extended family was talking about sending out a ton of phone cards for my Brother, who is serving a year at Camp Humphrey's in Korea.

I never really used it but I have heard that Skype is a great option for people who travel overseas a lot. I was wondering if that might be a good option for him instead of phone cards, which in my experience are usually huge cash sinks.

I have been tinkering with google voice but as it is still in beta and US only I know it really isn't an option for him but might be a good option for my parents.

Anyone have any military family or traveling family that has any experience in this area? Would love to have some suggestions. Thanks all.

 

[sdifox]

err, it would be cheaper to buy phone cards there.

 

[rudeguy]

I have no suggestions for you...but next time you talk to your brother, can you tell him that I really appreciate him protecting me and the country I love?

 

[F1N3ST]

Skype? Dunno, or some video chat or other internet stuffs, webcam or mic?

 

[SirStev0]

I have no suggestions for you...but next time you talk to your brother, can you tell him that I really appreciate him protecting me and the country I love?

Will do.

 

[HappyPuppy]

Not to denigrate your brother's service, for which I am profoundly grateful, but Korea isn't exactly a hardship duty assignment. He probably has access to better deals there on just about everything than you and your family have here. He's probably getting more poon than you can shake a stick at and, have you considered this, he joined up because HE WANTED TO GET AWAY FROM ALL OF YOU!

 

[evident]

skype

 

[SirStev0]

Not to denigrate your brother's service, for which I am profoundly grateful, but Korea isn't exactly a hardship duty assignment. He probably has access to better deals there on just about everything than you and your family have here. He's probably getting more poon than you can shake a stick at and, have you considered this, he joined up because HE WANTED TO GET AWAY FROM ALL OF YOU!

True on most fronts, however, the phone cards were more to allow him to talk to his 3 year old son.

 

[Freshgeardude]

True on most fronts, however, the phone cards were more to allow him to talk to his 3 year old son.

wow happypuppy, you just look like an asshole now !

 

[lifeobry]

Skype. Or Gchat (Google Chat). Both parties need to be on computers but the voice quality is great and plus you get video.

 

[SirStev0]

Skype. Or Gchat (Google Chat). Both parties need to be on computers but the voice quality is great and plus you get video.

does gchat have video?

 

[sdifox]

does gchat have video?

it should... at least in my gmail it shows video option. really depends on where he is using the computer. If he is on leave and off base in an internet cafe, no problem. On base I don't know.

 

[Born2bwire]

Honestly, you should ask him what his options are because they may be cheaper to what you can get him Stateside. I know for Hong Kong the international service I have is cheaper than even Skype.

 

[Devine]

I have Skype with the subscription and had it when I was stationed in Korea last year. It was only a couple bucks a month for pretty much unlimited calling back to the states. IMO it was way better than a phone card because the subscription comes with a stateside number so people can also call you (granted getting called at 3am isnt cool when somebody doesnt realize the time difference). Plus it has voice mail if you're not home or your computer isnt on.

I travel a lot and it's way easy for me to connect to some random wireless network and call whoever plus my family and friends always see my phone number and my name pop up and not some weird number they might ignore. Now I'm deployed to the middle east and we have restricted phones to where we only get 2 15 min phone calls a week. HA! With Skype I can talk for as long and as often as I want

 

[vailr]

If he's got his own computer, there's computer-to-computer phone calls for free, using: Google Talk, MSN Messenger, Gizmo, Oovoo, and numerous others. S. Korea has excellent bandwidth, so video phone calls, using a web cam, should be do-able as well.

 

[Cattykit]

S. Korea is one of the most wired country in the world. Nation-wide wireless coverage is also damn good, with a wi-fi device, he should be able to contact you anywhere for virtually nothing.

 

[TallBill]

Skype. It even works sometimes in Iraq where I'm sure the internet is shittier. Even using voice chat on yahoo messenger worked.

 

[CptObvious]

I live in Korea and use Skype to call home. It's cheaper than any phone cards I've found here. The cheapest plan for me is to buy a local US number for $60/year and refill my SkypeOut balance every few months. Works out to less than $10/month.

Unfortunately, phone service is not cheap in Korea. There's an article in today's WSJ about the iPhone being released here today, and according to it Koreans pay one of the highest rates for cell phone service. Hopefully the iPhone will bring some real price competition here.

 

[sdifox]

Maybe MagicJack?

 

[SirStev0]

I live in Korea and use Skype to call home. It's cheaper than any phone cards I've found here. The cheapest plan for me is to buy a local US number for $60/year and refill my SkypeOut balance every few months. Works out to less than $10/month.

Unfortunately, phone service is not cheap in Korea. There's an article in today's WSJ about the iPhone being released here today, and according to it Koreans pay one of the highest rates for cell phone service. Hopefully the iPhone will bring some real price competition here.

Really appreciate all the info. I will pass it on.