Free International Calling Guide

30 Minutes of Free Calling to UAE using Rebtel

2009-11-18T22:37:00.002+08:00

Rebtel is giving away 30 minutes of free talktime to UAE (United Arab Emirates) for existing users (No Strings Attached)

Follow these steps to gain this free minutes.

Login to Rebtel
Click on Add credit button on the left (See Picture)
Fill in the voucher code 'uae30' (without quotes), in the "Voucher Code" Text box (Right below "Redeem voucher") - See pic
Now, Click on the Apply Button
You will see the message "Your voucher has been redeemed. Hurrah!".
That's All! Enjoy free calling

Did it make my browser 'lil slow

2009-09-24T09:10:00.001+08:00

Otherwise a good feature. Crowd Powers

in reference to: Google (view on Google Sidewiki)

Snom VoIP Phones are now available in Singapore, India, Middle East

2009-05-09T16:53:00.004+08:00

Snom, the german VoIP Manufacturer has appointed Bymacht Group of companies for the distribution in UAE, India and Asia. Bymacht has warehouses in Singapore, India and Dubai.

Link: http://www.bymacht.com

For US Customers: Top up for 10$, Call India for 2.8 ¢/min and claim your free movie ticket

2008-12-02T23:22:00.003+08:00

This offer is valid only for US customers
You topup for 10$ and get the following

10 Minutes free calling to anywhere in the world
A Free Movie ticket from Sulekha
You can call India for only 2.8 ¢/min for the entire month.

Go here for this offer.

Terms & conditions:

Only for new Rebtel subscribers
Only for US users
Only one ticket per subscriber
All credits and payments made under the campaign are non-refundable and non transferable.
The campaign is open from the 20th of November 2008.
Rebtel reserves the right to reject or terminate the campaign at any time and for any reason, in Rebtel's sole discretion.

Make 40 Minutes of Free International Calls

2008-11-04T13:12:00.003+08:00

This offer is only available for new sign ups. So, carefully follow the
steps and enter the voucher code at the time of signing up.

Signup for the Rebtel account using this link(else you will not get additional 10 minutes)
Click on TRY NOW button
Fill in the new voucher code "ShanghaiDaily" (without quotes) (See Screenshot)
Note: Voucher codes freepctophone, freevcalls, Shukriya, talktomom11, India60min are no longer valid
Fill in the other details (Use a new email id always) and Click Join
That's It. Make free calls; Register using all the available numbers and enjoy!

Now what? Follow the steps in this post to make unlimited calls... Can't believe? .. Try Out!, Its True!!!

Points to Note:
The code has to be entered at the time of registering (sign up) and NOT after sign up. When you first become a member there is a link below the signup box that says "Got a voucher code?" and that's where new users should put in the voucher code.You will not get free 60 minutes if you enter the code after you have signed up, it works only at the time of signing up.

Rebtel allows registrations only from following countries: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech, Denmark, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Hongkong, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Poland, Romania, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom and United States. If you are living outside these countries, try this trick to make cheap calls.

Rebtel Hack: Making calls to Blocked Numbers

2008-09-25T14:17:00.004+08:00

Disclaimer: This trick is making use of a flaw in Rebtel to make unlimited free calls to same destination. I am not good in legal stuffs. If you feel that this is against any law, don't use it. USE it your own risk, and i cannot be held responsible or liable for the consequences of any use of these tricks.

Did you ever hear below message while making calls to India
"We are Sorry; But you can't use your free minutes to this destination. Please add some credit @ www.rebtel.com".

To avoid misuse of the free talk-time, rebtel tracks your call usage and once you exceed the limit to certain number, they simply block it. No matter which account you use. But there is a simple work around. It's similar to the unlimited minutes hack. Yet rebtel doesn't know the length of Cellular / Land line numbers in each country. So, once your destination is blocked by rebtel, just append a digit or more to it's end.

For example,
If Rebtel has blocked the Original Destination number 9123456789, that point onwards use the number 91234567890 through 912345678999 to reach 9123456789. Just simple as that.

How this hack works - the back-end?

Providers ignores any digits after the real number when relaying a voice call to the traditional network.
Yet rebtel doesn't know the length of Cellular / Land line numbers in each country allowing us to append digits to the real number

Cheap International Calls using Rebtel

2008-09-17T11:52:00.005+08:00

Note: This voucher has expired

I have been talking about making free international phone calls to India and Middle East using Rebtel. But this post has a twist, its all about 50% cheap international phone calls to Any Country. Its Any country!!!

How it works?

Login to Rebtel
Click on Add credit button on the left (See Picture)
In the voucher code field enter: freevcalls2 . Click on Apply button.
If everything is right, You will see this message Success, Your voucher has been redeemed. Hurrah!.
Now, if you purchase $10 credit you will receive $20 credit. If you purchase credit for $50 you will receive $100 credit. For whatever amount you purchase, rebtel will double the credit.

This is a true replacement for calling cards / phonecards that you buy.

Please note: This will work only for those users who haven't made a purchase from rebtel.

How do i know the rate to My country?
Go here, select the country where you reside and where you want to make a call. Optionally select the currency type. Now you will see the rate to that country. For example calls from singapore to UK landline is USD 0.019. ( With the use of above voucher, you are making a call to UK for .95 cents per minute )

Please post your comments / suggestions!

60 Minutes of talktime for Existing Rebtel Users

2008-09-16T11:29:00.006+08:00

Rebtel is giving away 60 minutes of free talktime to india for existing users (No Strings Attached)

Update (22nd September): This Voucher isn't working.

Existing User:
Follow these steps to gain this free minutes.

Login to Rebtel
Click on Add credit button on the left (See Picture)
Fill in the voucher code '1962302832' (without quotes), in the "Voucher Code" Text box (Right below "Redeem voucher") - See pic
Now, Click on the Apply Button
You will see the message "Your voucher has been redeemed. Hurrah!".
That's All! Enjoy free calling.

New User:

If you have not registered with rebtel, you are not left behind. You will get 140 minutes (80 Upon Signup + 60 Using the above voucher) of talktime.

Follow the steps in this post for signup bonus (80 Minutes) and come back here to avail the 60 minutes bonus for Existing users.

Free Calls to India is Back with the new Rebtel Voucher Code

2008-09-15T13:15:00.000+08:00

Check out this post

Call Middle East 30 Minutes for free

2008-09-04T00:25:00.004+08:00

Do you want to make free calls to Following Countries:

Albania	Chad	Kyrgyzstan	Saudi Arabia
Algeria	Indonesia	Lebanon	Senegal
Azerbaijani Republic	Iran	Malaysia	Sudan
Bahrain	Iraq	Maldives	Tajikistan
Bangladesh	Jordan	Niger	Turkey
Bosnia and Herzegovina	Qatar	Nigeria	Turkmenistan
Brunei Darussalam	Kazakhstan	Oman	United Arab Emirates
Burkina Faso	Kuwait	Pakistan	Uzbekistan

Yup, its true.. Rebtel is celebrating Ramadan too. They are offering 30 minutes of free calls for each number you register with them.

This offer is only available for new sign ups. So, carefully follow the steps and enter the voucher code at the time of signing up.

Signup for the Rebtel account using this link
Click on TRY NOW button
Fill in the new voucher code "rebtelramadan" (without quotes) (See Screenshot)
Fill in the other details (Use a new email id always) and Click Join
That's It. Make free calls; Register using all the available numbers and enjoy!

Points to Note:
The code has to be entered at the time of registering (sign up) and NOT after sign up. When you first become a member there is a link below the signup box that says "Got a voucher code?" and that's where new users should put in the voucher code.You will not get free 30 minutes if you enter the code after you have signed up, it works only at the time of signing up.

Now what? Do you want to make Unlimited Calls to Middle east? Follow the steps in this link, just that you have to use the voucher rebtelramadan each time you sign-up an account.

Rebtel allows registrations only from following countries: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech, Denmark, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Hongkong, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Poland, Romania, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom and United States. If you are living outside these countries, try this trick to make cheap calls.

Conditions of this offer:
• The campaign is open from the 1st of September 2008 until the 1st of October 2008 (00:00 GMT)
• Bonus minutes are to be used from the 1st of September 2008 until the 1st of October 2008 (00:00 GMT)

Rebtel Hack: Make Free Unlimited Calls to India and Middle East

2008-08-27T13:36:00.005+08:00

Disclaimer: This trick is making use of a flaw in Rebtel to make more free calls with a single phone number in hand. I am not good in legal stuffs. If you feel that this is against any law, don't use it. USE it your own risk, and i cannot be held responsible or liable for the consequences of any use of these tricks.

To demonstrate this hack, i chose 81234567 as your existing phone number. [All mention of this number has to be replaced with your own ]

Do you know that providers ignores any digits after the real number? Yes, that's the hack.

Go Ahead and register each of the below mentioned numbers in Rebtel. You can register any numbers, just that the numbers has to start with your existing phone number.
For the above mentioned number, the valid numbers can be
812345670 to 812345679
8123456700 to 8123456799
and a lot more.
Don't forget to replace 81234567 with your own number :)

Keep in mind that, you have to follow the steps in these links [for India, for Middle east] while registering each number, else Rebtel won't give out free talk time. For each registered number, you will get 80 minutes of call time to India.

To use these registered numbers, you have to verify it. You need to follow below steps for each registered number. Sounds tough?, but It's pretty easy :)

Lets go Step By Step.

Dial Rebtel Operator from any unregistered phone. [Rebtel Operator in Singapore is 31031020, For other counties, refer this list of Rebtel operator numbers ]
You will hear "Welcome to Rebtel, Please enter your phone number followed by the Hash key"
Enter the phone number you want to verify [eg: 812345670#]
You will then hear "Please enter your Rebtel pin number followed by the Hash key"
Type in your pin number [eg: 1234#]
Rebtel operator says "To start using Rebtel services, you need to verify your phone number. To verify this phone number, press 1; To enter another number, press 2"
Since we want to verify this number, press 1.
The operator replies "Please hang up now, and we will call you straight back with the instructions on what to do next"
== Hang Up ==
Wait for few seconds, and you will receive a call on your Real number [ie. 81234567], eventhough rebtel is thinking the call is made to 812345670.
The call says "This is a rebtel verification call. To verify that you want to use this phone with rebtel, press 1. If you do not want to use this phone with rebtel, hang up now"
Press 1
You will hear this message "Thank you, you can now start using rebtel services, at first you need to end this call"

And you are done. Now dial from any unregistered phone. Follow steps 1 to 5. Since the number is verified, you can make calls using this account. Press 2 and dial the destination number in International Format :)

Happy Calling!!!

Foot Note:
This hack won't last long [remember the 3-series pfingo hack, which lasted only for 1 week]. Once rebtel identifies the length of Cellular / Land line numbers in each country, its a matter of time for them to restrict registrations. Till then call smart!

Disclaimer: This trick is making use of a flaw in Rebtel to make more free calls with a single phone number in hand. I am not good in legal stuffs. If you feel that this is against any law, don't use it. USE it your own risk, and i cannot be held responsible or liable for the consequences of any use of these tricks.

Required links in this post:
Rebtel Registration steps to get 80 minutes of talk time
List of Rebtel Operator Numbers

Mobile Number Changed? - Here is a checklist for smoother transition

2008-08-27T11:33:00.006+08:00

Note: This post is not about free/cheap calls. It's all about updating your contact number with Banks.

To make the transition smooth, here is the checklist ;)

Now is the age of 2FA, and most of the financial institutions are using the 2FA (Two factor Authentication) system for enhanced security. This added security is a hassle, if your forget to update your mobile number with them on time. This is a summary of the systems that i updated when i switched to a new provider

1. UOB
I maintain a savings account with UOB. For 2FA, one can choose between a hardware token or SMS OTP (One time password). I opted for SMS OTP, just to avoid the need of carrying the token hardware.

Updating Your Number

Using ATM:
Register or update your local mobile phone numbers at any UOB ATM

By Post: Print this form [2 side], update your SMS OTP Number, fold and post it - Postage will be paid by UOB (Only in Singapore)

2. POSB
POSB has not given me a choice between a Hardware Token / SMS OTP. They right away send across this cute little device. But for adding a Fund Transfer payee, they send a OTP to the registered number. So, your mobile number has to be updated with them as well.

Updating Your Number

POSB has a nice article on this. Here is the extract

How do I apply for iB Message ?

To apply for iB Message, you only need to submit a one-time application online or at any DBS/POSB ATM. The service will be activated immediately.

To apply online, simply:
Login with your ATM/ Debit card number, card PIN, and other required information.
Select "iB Message Application/ Update" service.

Key in your local or foreign personal mobile number.

To see a step-by-step guide on how to apply for iB Message online, please click here.

To apply at the ATM, simply select:
iBanking, Cash Card & More Services
PIN/iB Message Service
Apply/Upd iB Message Service
Key in your personal mobile phone or message pager number

If you do not have internet access or access to our ATMs, you can apply for this service by completing the Application Form. Your application will be activated 3 working days upon receipt of your form.

3. Citibank

Updating Your Number

Online:
Login to citibank.com.sg, Click on this image on the right, fill in the details. Unlike UOB/POSB, It will take 2-3 working days to update.

By Post:
Here is the form

4. OCBC

Updating Your Number

No option update your mobile number online. Print this form [2 side], update your SMS OTP Number, fold and post it - Postage will be paid by POSB (Only in Singapore)

Updating your personal Profile: Login https://www.ocbc.com/internet-banking/
Click on Personal Profile and then Personal Particulars.

5. SingPass
Open https://www.singpass.gov.sg/sppubsvc/UpdateProfile.htm?mode=1, update your number.
[ This number is required when you use Forgot Password service ]

6. Google Calendar
Follow these steps: http://www.google.com/support/calendar/bin/answer.py?hl=en-ca&answer=41070

7. Other Websites

Phonecard.com.sg
pfingo.com
Job sites - Both the profile and uploaded resume

8. Notifying Friends

Email them
SMS them
Update your profile in Social Networking sites
In Orkut, Click on Edit Contact, Update the Cell Phone Number field. Don't forget to set the privacy to "all of my friends"
linkedin.com
geni.com

and goes on ... anything to add, let me know!

Choosing a right Singtel Plan for iPhone

2008-08-21T01:05:00.000+08:00

Getting Decent Data for iPhone

Rather than signing up for the iFlexi plans with bundled data, let’s look at signing up for a traditional/standard SingTel voice plan
Standard voice plans don’t have data, so we’ll add SingTel’s Broadband on Mobile (BoM) plan as a value-added service (VAS), tacked on to the voice plan

Choosing an affordable and suitable BoM plan to add to the standard voice plan:

The “Lite” and “Value” BoM plans are practically useless, since they offer only 2MB and 10MB free
The new BBOM Plus iPhone-only plan offers only 500 MB which is insufficient for most users
- 500 MB isn’t very generous compared to the cheapest iFlexi Value plan with 1 GB of data (if signed up before 5 Sep)
So we’ll skip them altogether and use the 50 GB “1000” BoM plan at $22.42 for iOne and iTwo

continue here.

Call China 88 + 10 Minutes for Free

2008-08-12T12:59:00.000+08:00

"98 Calling minutes to china" offer is only available for new sign ups. So, carefully follow the

steps and enter the voucher code at the time of signing up.

Signup for the Rebtel account using this link

Click on TRY NOW button

Fill in the new voucher code "888" (without quotes) (See Screenshot)

Fill in the other details (Use a new email id always) and Click Join

That's It. Make free calls; Register using all the available numbers and enjoy!

In Addition:

888 free minutes for new customers who credit their account

Every 888th new user gets 888 RMB ($130 credit) in their account

Points to Note:

The code has to be entered at the time of registering (sign up) and NOT after sign up. When you first become a member there is a box in the signup page that says "Voucher code" and that's where new users should put in the voucher code.You will not get free 88 minutes if you enter the code after you have signed up, it works only at the time of signing up.

Rebtel allows registrations only from following countries: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech, Denmark, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Hongkong, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Poland, Romania, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom and United States. If you are living outside these countries, try this trick to make cheap calls.

Call India 80 Minutes for Free

2008-07-17T14:04:00.012+08:00

Update (04th November 08): Voucher Code Updated
Update (14th September 08): Voucher Code Updated
Update (5th August 08): Voucher Code Updated

This offer is only available for new sign ups. So, carefully follow the
steps and enter the voucher code at the time of signing up.

Signup for the Rebtel account using this link(else you will not get additional 10 minutes)
Click on TRY NOW button
Fill in the new voucher code "ShanghaiDaily" (without quotes) (See Screenshot)
Note: Voucher codes freepctophone, freevcalls, Shukriya, talktomom11, India60min are no longer valid
Fill in the other details (Use a new email id always) and Click Join
That's It. Make free calls; Register using all the available numbers and enjoy!

Update (September 17: Now what? Follow the steps in this post to get an additional 60 Minutes of free talk time to India... Can't believe? .. Try Out!, Its True!!!

Points to Note:
The code has to be entered at the time of registering (sign up) and NOT after sign up. When you first become a member there is a link below the signup box that says "Got a voucher code?" and that's where new users should put in the voucher code.You will not get free 60 minutes if you enter the code after you have signed up, it works only at the time of signing up.

Rebtel allows registrations only from following countries: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech, Denmark, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Hongkong, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Poland, Romania, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom and United States. If you are living outside these countries, try this trick to make cheap calls.

Note: This is a re-post, original post is here

Cheap calls using Rebtel even if your's is not a Rebtel Country - How to

2008-07-09T17:55:00.005+08:00

You know, calls between rebtel countries are free. You need to pay only for the local part of the call.

How it works?

A is living in Australia
B in Japan.
A wants to make a call to B, A adds B in his Rebtel account and he gets a local Australia number for making calls to B.
A then dial B using the local Australia number for B, B picks up the call. A ask B to hangup and call to the number displayed in his caller ID.
B does that, and here on, this call is free. All that they have to pay is the local call rates; and this is called rebtel smart call.

What if you are living in India or any other non Rebtel country?. Though there are tricks to call these countries for free using Rebtel, but if you need to initiate a call from India, there wasn't a way.

Don't worry, You can make use of this hack to make cheap calls to any rebtel country.

Are you willing to pay 60 paisa (1.4 US Cents) per minute for calls to Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech, Denmark, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Hongkong, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Poland, Romania, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom and United States sitting anywhere in the world.

For this hack, you either need a Broadband connection or 3G/EDGE Connection if you are using Mobile Data Plan or a phone with WIFI. If you have that, you are ready to go.

Signup for a Pfingo Account (you will get 2$ IDD credit for free and a free Singapore virtual number - 3-series)
Configure your IP Phone / Soft Phone (click here for configuration tips)
Signup for a Rebtel Account using the Pfingo 3-Series number that you created in step 1
Credit your Rebtel account - This is required as Singapore Virtual Numbers are not given with joining bonus; just a small sum of 10$ will do.
Add a contact in your rebtel account, you will now get a singapore number for making calls to that contact. (Assume that he is in Bahrain and the singapore number to call him is 31031013)
From your IP Phone (or Soft Phone), dial the Singapore number for that contact. His phone in Bahrain will ring and the caller id will show some number similar to +973 XX XXXXX.
He will pick up the call. Ask him to hang up and call back to the number in his caller id. You must remain connected; wait for few seconds and he will join this call. Call as long as you want.

How much does it cost?
At caller's (your) end :

You are paying for the calls made to Singapore Number at 2 Singapore cents /minute, that is around 1.4 US Cents.
From the point your friend picks up the call and hangs up (I'm certain that wont last more than 20 seconds), the call will be charged at the rate rebtel defined. After that it's free.

At callee end

He will only be charged for the local part of the call.

Try it out today and start saving on International Calls.

Rebtel Countries as of 09 July 2008:
Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech, Denmark, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Hongkong, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Poland, Romania, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States.

Make 140 minutes of free calls to Dominican Republic

2008-07-07T14:22:00.003+08:00

If you are looking for 180 minutes of free calls to India, click here

How to Double Rebtel Call Credit to Dominican Republic

I love rebtel. They provide a convenient way of making international calls. Now they are offering promotions for new sign-ups. You can make more out of that promotion voucher

In this hack, 120 minutes of calls have to be made to Dominican Republic while the rest of the minutes can be used to make calls to any country.

Sign up for a new Rebtel account using your phone number, instructions can be seen here.
Sign up for pfingo using your phone number. You will then get 2 S$ IDD credit and a virtual Singapore number, instructions can be seen here.
~~Sign up for another rebtel account using your new pfingo virtual number (remember to use a new email address). This will give you another 70 minutes.~~ Rebtel Disabled Bonus credit/vouchers on 08th July 2008 for virtual number registrations. So you won't
be able to get benefits out of registration using virtual number.

Altogether you will get 140 for EACH number you register.
First phone number: 70 minutes
Virtual phone number: 70 minutes
and a S$2 balance in your pfingo account, which can be used to make calls to any country. For charges click here.

The good thing is that, you can register with pfingo using any phone number (it need not have to be in singapore) and get a singapore virtual number.

70 Minutes free calls to Dominican Republic

2008-07-06T15:18:00.005+08:00

Public have been making lots of calls to India using the 180 minutes free calls hack. Now you can make the same to Dominican Republic too, 60+10 free minutes for each sign-up.

In order to get free 70 minutes to Dominican Republic, you have to register with Rebtel, enter the following voucher code at the time of registering.

The voucher code to get 1 hour free calls to Dominican Republic is -: "Free60DR" (without quotes)

The code has to be entered at the time of registering (sign up) and NOT
after sign up (See Screenshot). When you first become a member there is a link below the
signup box that says "Have a voucher code?" and that's where new users should put in the voucher code. You will not get free 60 minutes if you enter the code after you have signed up, it works only at the time of signing up.

Once you are done with your free calls, you can make use of the slashed price to Dominican Republic.

Calls to Landline: 4.9 US cents/minute (UP: 6.9 cents)
Calls to Mobile: 9.9 US cents / minute (UP: 14.1 cents)

Click here to Sign-Up

Enjoy free calling with cheapcalls.priyan.name . See ya!

Those in Singapore, make dirt cheap international calls @ 2.6 cents/minute

2008-07-02T21:30:00.013+08:00

Now that I have posted few tips on gaining free calls using Rebtel. You can do more.

Get a new prepaid connection, at the lowest you need to pay only 8 S$ and the card comes with a credit of 10S$. Using this, you can make calls to Australia, Bangladesh, Brunei, Canada, China, Hong Kong, India, Laos, Macau, Malaysia, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, Russia, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, United Kingdom and USA for mere 8cents/minute. That gives around 125 minutes. Once that has got over you may top-up using hot 100/happy 128 (details below), which comes with 100$ local call credit and 28$ IDD credit. Then register the new sim card with Rebtel.

Just pay 8$ and get 305 minutes Talktime.
or pay 34$ and get 530 minutes IDD talk time and 1250 minutes local airtime.

What else do you need?

Here I will brief each of the prepaid connections; you can opt the one that best suites and start calling.

Singtel hi!Card

Prepaid card from Singapore Telecom.

Features:-

Cost for new prepaid connection : $8 (Including sim card)
Balance in this card: 10$ (You read it right! $10 for $8; believe me its a country where we pay 12cents for local call while international calls are rated at 8cents/minute, leave it! that's another story)
Free Incoming: No
Call Charges:
Local: 8¢ per minute during Happy Hour
16¢ per minute during Normal Hour (Mon to Fri, 8am to 7.59pm)
IDD: 10 cents to India (Free IDD calls to following countries: Bangladesh, Brunei, Canada, China, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, Puerto Rico, South Korea, Thailand, USA)

Wait, you have few more perks.

Have you heard of Singtel HOT 100?

It's a top up for hi! Card

Cost for Topup: 25$
Balance:
$28: IDD Calls
$100: Local calls
Free Incoming: ~~Yes~~ No - From July 11th
Call Charges:
IDD: 10 cents for first minute, 12 cents thereafter

For making IDD Calls from singtel, prefix 019 to the international dialing format ( country code + area code + phone number ), eg: to call a landline/mobile in malaysia, dial 019 + 60 (Malaysia country code) + area code + phone number.

Great deal right?

Now, register with Rebtel (don't forget to double your rebtel credit) to avail free 180 minutes air time for this new number you just bought.

Links:
Singtel hi!Card
Hot 100 Promotion Flyer

Starhub GREEN Prepaid

Features:-

Cost for new prepaid connection : $15 (Including sim card)
Balance in this card: 18$
Free Incoming: No
Call Charges:
Local: 8¢ per min (1st min 22¢)
IDD: Calls to India at 10¢ per min [Free IDD calls to following countries: Australia, Bangladesh, Brunei, Canada, China, Hong Kong, Laos, Macau, Malaysia, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, Russia, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, United Kingdom and USA (states in USA only, including Alaska and Hawaii)

Similar to Singtel hot 100, starhub launched a topup card,

Happy 128

Cost for Topup: 25$
Balance:
$28: IDD Calls
$100: Local calls
Free Incoming: No

For making IDD Calls from starhub, prefix 018 to the international dialing format ( country code + area code + phone number ), eg: to call a landline/mobile in india, dial 018 + 91 (India country code) + area code + phone number.

Links:
Starhub GREEN Prepaid
Starhub Happy 128

M1 M Card

Features:-

Cost for new prepaid connection : $15 (Including sim card)
Balance in this card: 18$
Free Incoming: No
Call Charges:
Local: 8¢ per minute during Happy Hour
16¢ per minute during Normal Hour (Mon to Fri, 8am to 7.59pm)
IDD: Free IDD calls to following countries: Malaysia, China, Hong Kong, Thailand, Taiwan, USA, Brunei, Canada, Macau, South Korea, India, Bangladesh and Vietnam

M1 too introduced the Topup card similar to that of Singtel and named it,

Super Top-Up

Cost for Topup: 30$
Balance:
$30: IDD Calls
$100: Local calls
Free Incoming: No, but Get Free Incoming Calls for 50 days by trading in $30 worth of IDD calls, which is not worth.
Call Charges:
Local: No exclusive offer for this topup
IDD: Get Free Incoming Calls for 50 days OR $30 worth of IDD calls/global SMS

For making IDD Calls from M1, prefix 021 to the internationaldialing format ( country code + area code + phone number ), eg: to call a landline/mobile in india, dial 021 + 1 (Canada country code) + area code + phone number.

Links:
M1 M Card
M1 Super Top-up

Rush 'n register with Rebtel (don't forget to double your rebtel credit) to redeem your free 180 minutes air time for this new number you just purchased.

Note: All the rates mentioned in this post are in Singapore Dollars unless otherwise specified

Last Updated: August 28th

Act fast - Free calls to India using Rebtel/Pfingo

2008-07-02T20:33:00.006+08:00

Update: Rebtel folks did see this, and now they have disabled joining bonus/voucher campaigns for those registrations made using Singapore 3-Series numbers. Hope many readers utilized this offer. and I congratulate rebtel for their prompt action in fixing this, They took only one week for implementing and rolling out the fix. Hope you will consider the OAuth issue that i mentioned.

Hope, by now you are much familiar with the "Multiply Rebtel Minutes" hack. The folks @ Rebtel will definitely notice this and will stop this usage soon. What they could do is to disable registrations with the Virtual Numbers in Singapore, which are the numbers starting with 3. So, go ahead and get your credits now.

To Rebtel folks, I wrote to you some time back in April about OAuth. You did not listen to it. This was the content I posted.

Hi,

Why don't you use OAuth to access web mail address books? Asking users, their credentials of other services has some concerns; even if you claim that you won’t be storing users account credentials in your server.

Flickr's recent "add contacts" has implemented OAuth. You can also do that.

Priyan

and Efe from their support team replied

Hi!

Priyan,

I will certainly forward your suggestion to our developers.

Best regards,
Efe
Customer Service

But nothing happened. Rebtel is still asking for password, instead of implementing the API.

At least take some action now. This will increase trust on Rebtel, I guess!

Love you Rebtel!

Update: Wordpress to use OAuth

Get 3 Singapore Dollars worth of International Calling and SMS, Free Virtual Singapore Number - Only in Pfingo

2008-07-02T17:03:00.002+08:00

Yes, you heard it right, just for signing up for this service, you will get 2 S$ worth of IDD, 1S$ worth SMS (Global / Local) and a free Singapore Virtual Number (Free Incoming) for each phone number you register with (not limited to Singapore phone number)

Goto Pfingo Signup Page
Click on Sign up now
Fill in your desired username and password and the details thereafter
Enter your country code and mobile number (This need to be valid as there is a sms verification for activating your account)
after filling up rest of the general details click on the Sign Up button.
You will get an email to the address specified as well an SMS on your mobile.
Click on the activation link which is sent to your email; when prompted, enter the activation code sent by SMS. Then click on activate button.
Now your pfingo account is activated
Click on the SIGN UP here now! link, login to your account and choose the plan pfingoBASIC 12 months FREE! (PROMO period: 12 June 08 to 11 Sept 08 only) - FREE and click on next.
Choose the number of your choice from the "choice number series" (which is free) and click next.
Fill in your billing address (which can be junk ;) ), click next
You will see a shopping cart summary with items pfingo basic and choice number and a total bill off S$0.00.
Click on Make Payment (No worries, they wont charge you)

That's it. Now what you got is a free Singapore virtual number, 3S$ worth of IDD and SMS. Enjoy free calling, mates. Don't forget to register using all available numbers that you have access to, where in the world it is.

How to make 180 minutes of free calls to India

2008-07-02T15:23:00.005+08:00

In other words, Multiplying Rebtel Call Credit.

I love rebtel. They provide a convenient way of making international calls. Now they are offering promotions for new sign-ups. You can make more out of that promotion voucher

In this hack, 120 minutes of calls have to be made to India while the rest of the minutes can be used to make calls to any country.

Sign up for a new Rebtel account using your phone number, instructions can be seen here.
Sign up for pfingo using your phone number. You will then get 2 S$ IDD credit and a virtual Singapore number, instructions can be seen here.
~~Sign up for another rebtel account using your new pfingo virtual number (remember to use a new email address). This will give you another 80 minutes.~~ #

Altogether you will get 180 minutes for EACH number you register.
First phone number: 80 minutes
~~Virtual phone number: 80 minutes~~
Pfingo idd (2$) to India: 20 minutes

The good thing is that, you can register with pfingo using any phone number (it need not have to be in singapore) and get a singapore virtual number. Each number in Singapore (Real/Virtual) will give you 80 minutes of call credits.

Want More?: Get a new sim card and make more out of that. Here is the hack!
# (Strikes)?: Rebtel Disabled Bonus credit/vouchers on 08th July 2008 for virtual number registrations. So you won't be able to get benefits out of registration using virtual number.

How did i reduce spending on calls to my Home

2008-07-02T13:10:00.003+08:00

I am Living in Singapore and my Parents are living in India. On an average, i purchase 3 calling cards a month, which came around 27 dollars. Now i am spending only 6 dollars for talking to my parents.

how did i do that? read on...

Back in 2007 pfingo launched. Pfingo is a VOIP service from Starhub, an ISP in Singapore. Once you register with them, you will get a free Singapore Virtual Number.

They were giving away following features upon signup:-

Free Singapore Virtual Number
Unlimited Incoming / Outgoing Calls for 6 Months (Pfingo Pro)
15 Dollars of IDD (International Direct Dialing) and 10$ SMS Credit
Referral Vouchers
Free Incoming Calls on Virtual Number

(you will fall back to pfingo Basic (12 Months validity) after the 6 months of pfingo pro trial)

That promotion got over and currently they are offering

Free Singapore Virtual Number
pfingo basic trial for 12 Months
2 Dollars of IDD and 1$ SMS Credit
Free Incoming on Virtual Number

pfingo is a SIP based service and its compatible with most VOIP devices.

It was an amazing offer on itself. I registered with all the available numbers I and my dear ones had and used up that credit.

After eating up all my IDD credits, i bought a VOIP Phone (snom 300) and installed it in my home back in India. I configured the SIP Identities and it worked like a charm. For the next 6 Months, my parents where calling me for free.

Lets see how much i saved on International Calling.

Total Damage:
snom 300 :- 190 S$

Total Savings:

Calling Card Usage per Month just for the calls to my Home: 27 S$
Total in 6 Months: 162$

Expense reduced by 40% within 6 Months and that was an investment on itself.

Now i am spending mere 6S$ instead of 30S$ per month.

That was a great deal! and now i am topping up my pfingo basic account and will continue using that unless they increase the price.

Calls to Singapore, whether its landline or Mobile, pfingo charge at 2 Singapore Cents / Minute. (They where charging only 1 Cent / Minute until April 2008)

Want further Savings?

Incoming Calls are Free

Ask your Mom to power up the phone
Call the pfingo virtual number. Your IP phone back in India will ring and you can talk forever

Calls Between Pfingo Numbers are free

Get another IP Phone / Use the Soft Phone

If you have broadband back @ ur home, just get an IP Phone and start saving on your International Calls.

Moreover, this service is legal. There are other SIP providers which offers cheap calls to US/Thailand/Australia and other destinations. If you have friends/relatives over there, configure that SIP in the phone and happily call them thereafter.

Pfingo SIP Settings

SIP Server: sip.pfingo.com
Username/DisplayName - Enter your pfingoTALK number (e.g. 31050000)
Password/Pin - Enter your PIn (can obtain it from talk.pfingo.com)

Configuring pfingo on

Snom 300

1) Open the Snom 300 web configuration page (eg: http://192.168.1.1)

2) Click on Setup -> Identity 1

3) Fill in the pfingo sip details

Display name: Enter your pfingoTALK number (e.g. 31050000)
Account: Enter your pfingoTALK number
Password: Enter your pfingoTALK pin
Registrar: sip.pfingo.com
Outbound Proxy: sip.pfingo.com
Authentication Username: Enter your pfingoTALK number
Display Text: Enter your pfingoTALK number

4) Click on Save

5) Click on re-register

6) Now you will see your pfingo number in the phone's LCD screen and you are ready to call.

for any further configuration reference, go through the snom 300 user manual and documentation.

Snom 300 Manual:

Data Snom300 en v130

Snom 300 can be purchased from Bymacht in Singapore, India and Dubai.

SJPhone

Download and Install SJPhone
Run the Application
Goto Menu-> Options-> Profiles (Tab)
Press New to Create a new profile. Profile Name: pfingo Leave the rest fields default and click ok
Goto SIP Proxy Tab Domain/Realm: sip.pfingo.com Check (Click/Tick) "Use Outbound Proxy" Proxy(URI):sip.pfingo.com
Goto STUN Check "Use discovered addresses in SIP"
Press OK to save the profile.
When Prompted Enter Account: 31050000 Password: xxxxxx
Press OK You will see the registration status in the dialer... When it shows registered, dial the singapore number without the country code. Or if its showing some error... "Not Registered", your firewall is blocking the VOIP session.

X-Lite

Download and Install X-Lite
Run X-Lite,
Right-Click, Sip account settings -> Add
Display Name - Enter your pfingoTALK number (e.g. 31050000)
User Name - Enter your pfingoTALK number
Password - Enter your pfingoTALK PIN (e.g. 123456)
Authorization User Name - Enter your pfingoTALK number
Domain - Enter "sip.pfingo.com"
For Domain Proxy settings, "check" - Register with domain and receive incoming calls
Set Outbound Proxy via - Choose "Target Domain"
Leave the rest of the settings as they are and you will be good to go!

If you have any trouble using pfingo, i will be glad to assist you. Post your queries in the comment section.

Introduction

2008-06-26T13:24:00.000+08:00

I am located in Singapore and I make extensive calls to India. I have friends living in Thailand, Australia & Middle East. Keeping touch with all of them is badly needed and that is costing much. I had done broad research on this area to spend the least required to make calls. I am starting this blog to share my knowledge on International Calling.

There are quite a lot of VOIP Providers; some are good; Most are bad and those players won't remain in the market for a long time. I'd spend lot of money on them and don't want others to spend the same just to experience it. I will share my experience on each service that I found to be good.

Occasionally, i will post tips/tricks to make most of the juice out of the provider.

Those who want to make cheap/free quality calls, subscribe to my RSS field.

Let’s make this world a better place!

Priyadarsan Venugopalan