could someone please explain to me the pros and cons (and of course the costs) of the various ways of making calls from Cairo to Europe? In other words: What's the best, most convenient and cheapest way of phoning from one's home. I would also need to do some faxing. Thanks a million!
I use an internet phone service (PC Phone) as I only have to pay local call charges from here and then the rates from the US (the service I use is US based) to wherever I am calling as the US rates are usually cheaper than the Egyptian rates. Although as I have a dial-up line the line isn’t always clear and we sometimes get cut off. Some have people recommended ICS service in Cairo (tel. 02-338 1129/02-3381089) as being very cheap and reliable too. They connect you to your number and bring the bill round next day to your house for payment. If you haven’t got an international line on your phone, then you could buy a phone card from Telecom and call directly or on your mobile, but I believe the latter options are much more expensive for regular use.
Sorry can’t help with the faxing, I do it through the office and pay the charges.
posted
Hallo klausjonas (sounds very german to me)
for me the best way is to buy the 20 E.P. phone cards at any "Kiosk". With 20 E.P. you then have 5 Min. to call e.g. germany. Otherwise there are communicationcenters in different areas, where you can call from and also send faxes from. Good luck.
posted
I researched all the options when I first came here and found all of them rather pricey. The only exception was the internet phone service. I met a few people who used it and were quite happy with it. Had to give up on that idea, though, because it turned out to be quite complicate due to the computer system I'm using.
I made arrangements with some of my friends to call me from Germany and we would split the cost, that worked very well for me. Calling Egypt from Germany costs about 1,5 cents per minute depending on the provider you chose (look under www.billiger-telefonieren.de for current rates); that's very cheap and you can talk for hours without feeling bad about it.
posted
hello, I also use the internet to make calls. check this out: www.skype.com if you talk to somebody who has the program, its free. If not, you can buy "minutes" and call a regular phone or mobile from your computer. Its about 2 cents per minutes!
Posts: 370 | From: Montreal, Canada + World expat | Registered: Apr 2004
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posted
I checked the SKYPE site and it appears to be a good idea. I'm definitely going to check it out further.
Posts: 25 | From: Christianstand, St. Croix | Registered: Aug 2004
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posted
Thanks to all helping out with the phone query. Annie_89, the Skype svce sounds good, what's the quality? Will be having ADSL. Is it worth subscribing? Klaus
Posts: 8 | From: Cairo | Registered: Aug 2004
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