Paphos Life

Good evening........I've heard that there is a number code you can put in front of the UK phone number you want to ring, to reduce the cost .....do any of you good folk know anything about this? This is mobile phone to a UK landline.

I don´t know about this but you can use voip services like dialnow.com or voipbuster.com and get dirt cheap prices (e.g. dialnow: 0,6 cent/min) from your smartphone.

Thanks jeba for the suggestions, I'll investigate this..
My reason for asking is that I have a Skype account with which I normally ring my mam. Her phone provider, BT, have blocked the nuisance calls she's been receiving recently, but this has also blocked my calls to her. They don't seem to be able to determine my number, as Skype have numerous lines, and every time I ring my mam a different skype phone number is used. I'm looking for a cheap way to ring her.

There used to be a code you could use from your CYTA landline for cheaper calls (1018?) but it didn't work for mobiles.

Maybe you could get yourself a VOIP number to use or if your mum has a mobile (?) you could both use Whatsapp to call 'for free' (as long as you both have internet (either WiFi or mobile data)

When I arrived in Cyprus, there were no WhatsApps & the like & I still have an account with www.localphone.com

Calls to UK phones are £0.05* per min.(*CORRECTION) You load your account with as little as £5 with no cut off. You call a Cyprus number (Primetel I think) as I never get any charge from PT for my calls to the few folk that still don't have smart phones.

The 1018 code was discontinued earlier this year.

In its place, Cyta offer another option. For €5 per month, you get 300 minutes of free calls within Europe (possibly other countries, too). The downside is you have to phone between 8pm and 8am, but you get used to that.

DavidatLWH wrote: ↑Tue Nov 12, 2019 9:11 am The 1018 code was discontinued earlier this year.

In its place, Cyta offer another option. For €5 per month, you get 300 minutes of free calls within Europe (possibly other countries, too). The downside is you have to phone between 8pm and 8am, but you get used to that.

How quaint! Just like BT 30 years ago

mike strand2 wrote: ↑Mon Nov 11, 2019 11:17 pm When I arrived in Cyprus, there were no WhatsApps & the like & I still have an account with www.localphone.com

Hmm, forgot about that.
We have an account with Localphone - basically we allocate a 'local' UK number to all our 'foreign' contacts and can then call them using our inclusive mobile or landline minutes.
I assume that you could allocate a CY number to a UK one, could you?
Or, maybe mum could have a 'localphone' number to call you???

mike strand2 wrote: ↑Tue Nov 12, 2019 9:13 am How quaint! Just like BT 30 years ago

The cheapest time to call your friends is after six and at weekends ....

Cheers everyone for your suggestions.....
My mam doesn't have a mobile phone or internet.....only her landline with BT.
I'll look into the www.localphone.com and see what I can sort out.

Happy in Cyprus wrote: ↑Tue Nov 12, 2019 12:17 am Customer called me the other day from the UK on WhatsApp. Excellent call quality and costs nothing (I believe).

Another one HIC is Duo, we all use it crystal clear and free.
https://duo.google.com/about/

Sipgate gives you a free UK landline number so your mom could ring you cheaply. Calls using sipgate to UK landlines are a little over 1p/min but they are quite pricey to UK mobiles at about 10p / min. I have always found the quality good. You can load an app on your phone or computer. Alternatively a Three mobile payasyougo account from UK gives calls from EU to UK at 3p/min but also the same rate across EU and some other countries like Israel, US, Australia, USA etc.
The Betamax range of voip services are cheap but quality can be variable. A price table for the different service brands is at http://www.voip-comparison.com/betamax . Again you can download an app, or you can use a local access number (includes Cyprus local access) which you can find from the 'ways to call' section of the home page of the particular service that you choose. I am using the Justvoip service but I think all of the services use the same network. Where the call price is zero they mean that you get free calls for so many months after adding credit. When the free period expires you are charged a different rate but it is still exceptionally cheap.

A few options to think about....I'll check them out and see what suits us best......thanks everyone for your suggestions.