Is Rebtel really what it seems?

Question

I will be traveling to Sydney, and while abroad I still want to be able to keep in contact with my family and friends in the United States. At first I was considering vonage because it claims that I could keep a US phone number so my family and friends can call me while I am in Australia for a local rate. However, I have heard not so great things about Vonage's service.

I have looked into skype as well but as of now Rebtel really seems to be the most affordable solution. My only question is if it is really as easy to make calls as it claims. The website even suggests making international calls for free! This just really seems like a scam but I have not been able to find anything negative about it online.

Does anyone know if Rebtel is everything that it claims to be? If not, what is the cheapest alternative which allows my friends/family to call me while abroad in another country?

Answer 1

I do use Rebtel for calls from Tokyo using my mobile to my friends and family in the US. When I make a call to someone in the US that I have registered on the Rebtel site I dial a local Tokyo number that has been assigned to that contact in the US. Their phone rings and we talk. At this point in the call I am paying for a local call from my mobile to a Tokyo number (in Japan that is about 25 cents a minute, mobile calls are expensive) plus about 2 cents a minute for the international portion of the call. If right after receiving the call in the US, the called party hangs up and calls back on the local number that was displayed on the screen, the charge for the international portion of the call is then free from that point on.

It does work. But you have to remember that you will still have to pay your local phone company for the local call that will connect you to your friend overseas and that rate depends totally on your local phone company and their charges and/or any free minutes you get with your contract. Take time to go through the information at the Rebtel site. There is a  lot of information there.

I don't work for Rebtel. I just use their service and it works.