<p>Did skype work well from there?</p>
<p>The telephone is ridiculous from there. Our cell carrier is almost 2 dollars per minute.</p>
<p>Craaazy!</p>
<p>My DS was in Auckland. There were a couple of times when there was a weak signal and our call was dropped, but overall, Skype worked well for us. And I was sooo happy to see his smilin’ face!</p>
<p>I have a son in South America - we have found Facebook chat and skype to work really well. Also - texting can be very cheap, check on that too instead of calling.</p>
<p>I believe anothermom-w-q’s D spent time in NZ. I know she was in Australia for the majority of her time, but I think she also went to NZ. You might PM her.</p>
<p>DD is actually at the Auckland airport on her way home to CA after four months at Massey University in North Palmerston. Skype worked fine. At her school they did have to pay for internet usage and so we did not turn on the video on Skype as it was too expensive and used up too much bandwidth.
She has an ATT iphone and we did pay for an international calling plan and data plan. She got a NZ cel phone when she got there and used it for the most part especially to keep in touch with her flatmates who became great friends, one girl from Germany, one from CA and several from NZ. The US phone was just for my comfort and luckily we can afford it…We did not speak on the cel phone more than about twice (mothers day) but we were able to text. I could text her US phone for free, she could send 50 texts per month back to the US at no charge. We used the texting to set up skype times. Skyped probably only about four times in the four months.
Honestly she had such a great time and I tried hard to give her space. We both looked at it as part of the growing experience as we generally speak every few days and are relatively close.
We didn’t use facebook chat too much but we are fb friends so I could see pictures being uploaded and keep track of her travels a bit. During their winter break she and friends flew to the south island, rented a campervan and went everywhere. They had a great time. She was a little anxious about the trip and it turns out it was one of the best experiences of her life.</p>
<p>thanks.</p>
<p>She has calling cards, and there are phones in the buildings where she is staying. And she plans to get a new zealand phone while she is there.</p>
<p>She will have an international plan on her cell for emergencies (for me since she’s going to christchurch “quakechurch”). </p>
<p>I’m just looking for some other solutions. So thanks for the feedback. She leaves in a week.</p>
<p>Poet girl. If you pm me I may be able to send you DDs NZ phone before yours leaves</p>
<p>D1 was in Sydney for a semester, so I am not sure if her experience would apply. We did find it challenging to get her the same level of service in sydney as in the US - unlimited internet and texting. I did extensive research online before she left and was able to get her a local cell plan (most of the time they only give pay as you go to students). Even with that she had limited calls and texting, but with very cheap international call/minute (worth checking into before she leaves). Her dorm had internet service, but with limit service, so it was very hard to for her to do streaming or skyping. We bought her a wifi stick ($30 or $40/month). She did by accident go over the limit by downloading movies and it cost quite a bit to resolve. She ended up going to cafes sometimes to use their free internet to skype us sometimes. While she was there, she never had to use her ATT phone, which was $2/min call, vs $.05/min using her local phone.</p>
<p>D1 did find students in Sydney didn’t text as much due to the cost, it wasn’t unusual for people to reply few hours later, and people still managed to have a social life.</p>
<p>ebeee! What a generous offer! thank you. I asked my daughter and she said there is a place to get a phone nearby and she already knows her plan. :)</p>
<p>
Talk about a culture shock! :D</p>
<p>Thanks everyone. I think we have a plan, now.</p>
<p>I really hope the skype works. We will already, no matter what, be talking a LOT less than our usual, but I suppose an adventure is more of an advanture without mom saying, “YOU ARE GOING TO JUMP OFF OF WHAT???” “You are climbing up what?”</p>
<p>:rolleyes:</p>
<p>Which is why she chose this place rather than anywhere else.</p>
<p>Just have to chime in saying that my D bungee jumped off Kawarau bridge and survived! I was there watching and it isn’t as scary as it sounds.</p>
<p>My D returns next weekend after spending a year in Sydney. Her local cell plan included a certain number of international minutes (use them or lose them) so she called us quite a bit. We also skyped, without video, and Facebook chatted.</p>
<p>During one of her breaks she went to the south island of NZ and had a fabulous time, including bungee jumping off that bridge the previous poster mentioned. My D did think it was terrifying and almost chickened out. She loved skydiving, however!!</p>
<p>This was the experience of a lifetime for our D and she is very downbeat about her return.</p>
<p>Lake Jr. is leaving for New Zealand this week and I am filled with trepidation. He’s a smart kid but a 10,000 mile around the world trip puts anxiety into any parent’s mind. I tell him about your suggestions about texting. I’ll also look into purchasing local phone service in NZ. Already I can’t wait until he comes home.</p>
<p>I’m sure he will have a great time. For us the worst part was the time difference. By the time she was up and about and ready to skype I was ready for bed!</p>
<p>Incidentally, I learned today that Lake Jr. will be taking his T-Mobile phone with him, as the other adult in this equation purchased a supplementary T-Mobile plan for Lake Jr.'s int’l roaming ($$$ OUCH!!!). As is often the case among spouses, my advice was shall we say…politely discarded. LOL</p>