Is a phone card the most cost-effective way to call the U.S. from Aruba?

[WelcomeHome]

Would any international phone card I purchase in the U.S. work or should I wait until I arrive in Aruba to buy one? Is an international phone card the most cost effective way to call the U.S. from Aruba or are there any better suggestions? (I'll be making 2 to 3 calls to the U.S. each day for a week).

Best wishes,
Dave

 

[Carlsbadguy]

The phone cards you buy in the US will only work on cetain phones located on the island. I had a Verizon card and I thnk there were only 4 phones it would work at. There is a local card you can buy that works at more places, but it didn't work a the Marriott.

 

[OCsun]

Since my mom is ill, I rented a cell phone for $50 (week) during a November trip to Aruba which came with 84 minutes of airtime. I believe the company I used was called Fast Phone but there are several companies who rent phones in Aruba. Pam

 

[billymach4]

If you have a laptop take it and use skype. This is the most cost effective option, and it is worth the hassle to lug your laptop. Skpe is literally pennies per minute to call the US. The voice quality is excellent as well! :whoopie:

 

[MikeM132]

Ditto for Skype. I use it all over from a laptop to call landline phones. I have "Sype Unlimited" in the US/Canada for a few more days until it becomes "Skype Pro". For 30.00 a year this gives you unlimited calling US/Can to US/Can, plus Skype international rates, which are currently 2.1 cent/minute from anywhere to US plus a 3.6 cent connection fee per call. There is no way anything comes close to this price. I really works great, too. Most people have no idea I'm on Skype. Even more amazing is I use the built-in microphone and speakers in the laptop, which I was sure would be terrible and have echo---nope, perfect. Skype is too good to be true. I am waiting for something to happen to them, but since EBay owns them, I guess they are here for at least awhile. Might as well use it while you can. You can call US using Skype without joining any annual plan, too. You just buy "skype credit". Put in 20 buck or so and you should be all set to talk away from Aruba. IF you can get your US contact to install Skype, the call is totally free (and superb quality---the weak link in Skype is the landline). You can also make free video calls skype to skype. You don't even need that fast a connection---just about 128kbs is probably going to work OK. Dialup speed will not work, however.

 

[WelcomeHome]

Thanks for the great info!

Thanks MikeM and Billymach,

I just checked out the Skype website and it looks like the perfect solution. I'm also going to Aruba this year so Skype Pro looks great. Thanks so much, I never even heard of Skype until you guys were kind enough to reply!

Best wishes for a great 2008,
Dave

 

[andypoole]

Skype is great. I'm in the UK and use it for as many international calls as I can.

This is just an observation as a non-US owner, but when we exchanged into Hawaii a couple of years ago, we were interested to see the high percentage of people spending their first few days on the beach (if not all of their stay) on their cell phones. Last year in Aruba, there were far fewer people doing this. Is this because Hawaii is still domestic for Americans but Aruba International?

Sorry if this is too simple a question but it did intrigue me.

 

[billymach4]

There is no question that the cell and land line service in Aruba is extremely expensive.

In Hawaii there must be a wider choice of networks and plans that the locals and tourists can leverage.

 

[ajlm33]

Skype in Aruba

I used Skype in Aruba from the Surf Club last October. Excellent connection during several calls back home to California and even used the built in webcam on my laptop to show them what they were missing. LOL. Didn't cost me a dime.

 

[billymach4]

Skype .... Its a beautiful thing.

Last I heard Skype was owned by Ebay. However as a business entity Skype has not earned any money. Lets hope they can turn a profit from their business model.

 

[MikeM132]

Last I heard Skype was owned by Ebay. However as a business entity Skype has not earned any money. Lets hope they can turn a profit from their business model.

Yeah, Ebay stills owns Skype and I have to wonder how they can do what they do so cheap (or free). Until the "other shoe drops" I'll keep using it. The best deal is to get everyone you want to call to download free Skype and then call "skype to skype", which I have found to be better call quality than landline and totally free (including video, if you want). I do get the occasional drop-out or echo on a Skype landline call (I use it all the time), but 95% of my calls are perfect.

 

[MikeM132]

Skype is great. I'm in the UK and use it for as many international calls as I can.

This is just an observation as a non-US owner, but when we exchanged into Hawaii a couple of years ago, we were interested to see the high percentage of people spending their first few days on the beach (if not all of their stay) on their cell phones. Last year in Aruba, there were far fewer people doing this. Is this because Hawaii is still domestic for Americans but Aruba International?

Sorry if this is too simple a question but it did intrigue me.

The two huge US Carriers, Verizon and ATT, both have excellent coverage in Hawaii and nearly everybody is on one of their "national" plans now, so calls are not roaming. I'm not sure about Sprint, T Mobile, etc. in Hawaii. I'd bet this cheap calling home is why people use it. Go down to the hotel lobby at 4 AM sometime and watch all the business people on the phone from Hawaii (hey, I was one last time I was there). I'll bet you don't see so many cell calls in the afternoon when it's night back East.

 

[riverdees05]

Skype

Is Skype still the best choice for calling the USA from Aruba?

 

[m61376]

Skype is still the cheapest. You can get rental phones there as well. If you rent a car from Royal you can get a free phone to use and then buy a Setar card to put minutes on the phone. It is around 14.50 for about 45-50 minutes.

The Surf Club has a new offer- for $9.99 a day you can make unlimited calls to North America. So if you need to make a lot of calls for business that can be a convenient, although not cheapest, solution.