International calling plan?

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@praptis wrote:
Justanother, AT&T's rates are downright awful, even with the discount plan. You can find many services that allow you to call a domestic number and then dial out internationally (many not even requiring a PIN, they recognize your number), that cost a fraction of AT&T's rate. Not as convenient as being able to dial directly, but the rates AT&T charges are highway robbery and not worth the added convenience in my opinion. Google Voice is an option, if you can find an invitation (even allows calls to Canada for free), Startec is another one I've used (not prepaid, they bill you for the calls you make), and I'm sure you can find many others. Google Voice charges 2 cents/minute to most countries in Western Europe (landlines only, of course), and you can find comparable rates elsewhere. The lowest rate I see for AT&T with the discount plan is 8 cents/minute to the UK. I don't know about you, but I don't like the idea of paying a monthly fee for the priviledge of paying 4x the rate I can find elsewhere.

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AT&T's international calling rates are competitive with other cell providers.  The options you described are completely different types of services, so you are comparing apples to oranges.  Maybe AT&T and other carriers are charging more than they should, but that's a different issue.  Its tiresome hearing people complain about how ATT is such a terrible cell provider.   But then their complaints are about things which all the carriers do.

Sorry to tire you redpoint73. The original poster was asking about calling internationally from his AT&T phone. I thought it would be helpful to point out that there are easy ways he can bypass the very expensive rates AT&T is charging, as he may not be aware of this option. Note that I didn't suggest he should change carriers to get better international rates; I'm well aware that all of them have similarly expensive rates. Just because everyone is doing it doesn't mean that I'm not going to point this fact out. As for comparing apples and oranges, I would say that using one of these services achieves the same end result, so they are in fact very comparable. It's not like I suggested that he pulls over and uses a payphone rather than using AT&T.

All the AT&T apologists here always suggest, in response to even the smallest issue, that you should vote with your wallet rather than complain. Well, this is one case where you can easily vote with your dollars with minimal inconvenience. Should we not try to help others by offering this option because other carriers are equally expensive?

I never said anything about AT&T being terrible. This is an AT&T forum and presumably we are all AT&T users, so there is not much point in me saying that Verizon's international rates are awful. We're talking about AT&T. If I was a Verizon customer and was responding to a similar question on a Verizon forum my response would be exactly the same.

I was browsing the net for international calling cards and services with cheap rates to make international calls and I came across this site www.intermarvelous.com. They offer a service where you can make calls straight from your cellphone without a PIN. If you have nationwide calling like I do, this is great. The website looks a bit cheap, but I took a chance and tried the service anyways. I find it's less of a hassle then using calling cards. I started using this service a few weeks ago. They also provide an incentive for referrals and accumulated credit. Just wanted to pass the word.