Comments on: Expat Travel Technology: VoIP Phone Solutions

By: MvdCanuck

MvdCanuck — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 13:51:30 +0000

Do you have any experience with Vonage from Uruguay? I need to be able to field a small number of business calls from my Canadian phone number for as low a cost as possible. What would you suggest? Arrive in MVD in exactly 6 weeks!

By: Inga

Inga — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 04:13:40 +0000

Thanks for the advice Brad. I’m thinking we will start with Magicjack and skype and we can always add RingCentral later if we need an upgrade. October 20th is our arrival date so much to do between now and then!

By: Brad La Nasa

Brad La Nasa — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 17:48:51 +0000

Hi Inga,

magicJack and Skype are enough if you don’t need business quality. You will need your computer on in order to receive calls. We use Skype Video the most with family. The magicJack is great for family if you don’t mind a dropped call here and there. It seems to occasionally have a delay when you’re speaking–more so than RingCentral. RingCentral still hasn’t dropped a call, which is very important for business and with the IP phone you don’t need it hooked to a computer. A nice thing about RingCentral is that you can have a home office with the US number for staying in contact with colleagues elsewhere. What’s the big date for the move?

By: Inga

Inga — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 17:38:35 +0000

We are getting things set up for our move. Do you think that magic jack, skype plus a local land line will be sufficient for us to stay in touch with friens and family? Or do you think ring cental is also necesary? Diego will have a business phone at his office and a cell phone for work too I’m sure – but I want to make sure I can stay in touch with people from home. Also – do you have to keep your computer on all the time to be able to get calls through magic jack? Thanks for the help!

By: Brad La Nasa

Brad La Nasa — Fri, 29 May 2009 00:41:20 +0000

Hey Scott,

Yes, there are many great options for your US calls, but I don’t have a good alternative to make calls to UY. We didn’t make many calls to UY in advance of the move. A lot via email, a little via Skype both free to other Skype users and paid as you described. I took a look a poivY. You can be our guinea pig! Let us know how it works. I’m sure that rate is just to land lines as all the best rates are. So be sure to check the rate to mobile as well.

By: Scott D

Scott D — Tue, 26 May 2009 18:08:57 +0000

Thanks you for all of the great detail! This is actually a much simpler solution than I was imagining, thanks to the hosted PBX stuff.

Here’s a related question: before you moved, did you have a preferred solution to make calls TO regular Uruguay numbers? (I imagine that your solution now is to simply pick up your local phone and dial, but that only works if you’re there!)

I see, for example, Skype weighs in at a hefty $0.15/minute for calls to UY (versus $0.02 for Buenos Aires!).

Yahoo Voice is supposedly better at around $0.07, but I yet to try it.

Lastly, I’ve seen another service called poivY which claims a $0.025 rate to UY, and although this would otherwise be a great rate, the website looks a little fly-by-night-ish.

I’m curious if you had experience with any of these (or something else entirely).