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Permalink Reply by Andrew Barbour on January 21, 2010 at 10:37am

I have a premium Skype account I use for all my international calls to landlines. You basically have unlimited calls to landlines worldwide. Calls to mobile phones are charged per minute, but I can't tell you if the pricing is competitive or not. I also have a Skype-in number, which is actually a Delaware (United States) phone number, but is routed to my computer or voice mail or even my local cell phone if I am away from my desk. I love it.

It also logs your call history and makes it rather easy to save contacts. If you end up doing a Skype-to-Skype voice call, the sound quality is crystal clear. Video calls depend heavily on the internet connections of the participants. My only complaint is that the user interface is a little clumsy.

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Permalink Reply by Dom LaVigne on January 21, 2010 at 11:03am

Similarly to Andrew, I also use Skype quite heavily. A webcam (if your laptop doesn't have a built-in one) is also a great investment.

I have found in some cases (such as when visiting Korea) that is more cost-effective for me to call Korean colleagues using Skype rather than a hotel phone or to get charged high roaming fees on my Malaysian/Singaporean mobile phones.

For some reason, I have had problems using Skype to Asia since back in the US, as I've found the connections to be very choppy. If you look at the bottom of the Skype bar, you'll see the numbers of users currently online. If the numbers top 10 million, chances are that the connection speeds will not be good. Video will also depend on the countries to/from where you are calling, and bandwidth capacity and connection speeds on both ends. If you find that you can video streaming on web sites pretty easily with your Internet connection in Korea, Skype will probably work well. When I was in M'sia, I had problems with both Internet and Skype video because of the oversubscribed IT infrastructure and lack of bandwidth.

That said, if there are some very good discounted IDD calling plans in Korea, you might find them cheaper than using Skype. If I am in Singapore, the discounted IDD calling plans are often cheaper (or no more than US$0.02 difference) than doing it with Skype.

---Dom

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Permalink Reply by Steven S. Bammel on January 22, 2010 at 1:05am

Skype is great and it's what we use in Korea. But another good option is Vonage. Just buy a box in the US, sign up for service and get yourself a US phone number. Then take the box to Korea, plug it in to your Internet and you've got a local US phone.

When we're in the US, we do the opposite. We bring our LG Powercomm phone box with us and plug it into the Internet here. This gives us a local Korean phone number while we're in the US.

The big issue with both of these approaches is you get telemarketing calls at all hours of the night if you're not careful.

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Permalink Reply by Anthoney Grigsby on March 22, 2010 at 4:57pm

I also use Skype for my international calls to Korea.

However, if you want to make international calls while away from the desk/computer, then visit http://www.tonazone.com. Their price-per-minute is very reasonable and if you read the instructions carefully on Tona Zone it is very possible for all of your international calls to be free.

I hope that helps you.

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Permalink Reply by Sean Brown on April 5, 2010 at 12:05pm

Google Voice has acceptable quality, excellent prices. Better quality and cheaper than Skype (in my experience). However, quality is still not as good as a normally-routed phone call.

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Permalink Reply by Joon Kang on May 25, 2010 at 7:01pm

I concur, I use Skype along with a Skype in number like Andrew (Los Angeles area code). They have an unlimited world subscription plan I believe it's about $20/month and you can call 44 countries or so like a buffet.

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Permalink Reply by Simon Hoggett on May 28, 2010 at 1:05pm

I use the Skype app on my iPhone to make calls using Wifi. I've found the quality of the calls to be much better than various calling cards that are available.

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Permalink Reply by William Sisson on May 31, 2010 at 3:02pm

Hi John
Due to the nature of my business - counseling multinational foreign companies in regards to doing business in Korea and/or talent search needs, I must have a line that will not become disconnected and offers good sound quality. Although for personal use I have used Skype and on my handphone use the dialing prefix of 00388 to receive huge discounts but for business I rely on an internet based land-phone. Great quality, cheap prices. I believe we have the contract with SK Telecom.

Cheers,
William

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