<p>What are the option? Prefer to be able to call from the U.S. to my kid who will be in Moscow & surrounding areas, such as Vladimir…</p>
<p>I googled & found a Startec CellConnect plan which allows my kid to use her existing US number & cell provider to call us from Moscow at a very good discount. Has anyone had experience with it?</p>
<p>Appreciate any feedbacks on the best & most economical way to keep in touch with my kid…</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>Will she be bringing a laptop? If so, look into Skype. Very cheap.</p>
<p>My husband has been in Russia twice on business (Kamensk-Uralski near Ekatrinburg) and with our AT&T plan we found that texting was the best way to stay in touch. He went on international roaming (a small charge) and texts were only $.25 apiece. And with texting we didn’t have to worry about the time difference since we could retrieve the messages at any time. Of course it’s not as satisfying as talking, which we also did a couple of times. Sorry I don’t remember those rates.</p>
<p>Thank you both for the advice, we’ll definitely SKYPE if she gets an internet connection. She’ll be staying in a dorm & later with a host family I believe, an arrangement that I’m not sure if internet connections will be readily available. </p>
<p>Texting is a good way to go but I really want to talk to her on the phone…& she’ll be gone for 25 days!!</p>
<p>You know, yahoo voice is actually cheaper than skype. If you want to buy phone card, there are sites where you can buy them online and get a pin. They are usually cheaper than the cards you buy in store. Some site that you can use are comfi.com, pinonsale.com .When you are buying them online, you can choose to which country you are calling and they give you several phone cards to chose and the rate for each cards. You can compare them to the rate of skype and yahoo voice to see if you can find cheaper. I don’t have any experience with cellconnect. If you buy the card online, check for cellphone rate if you will call to a cell phone. They are more expansive than when you call to a land phone. You choose the country you are going to call, then chose the city your child is staying at then you check the rate</p>
<p>If you can call her, you can buy phone cards online – generally a $10 phone card is good for about 6-7 hours of calling time. My d. used to send me a text message when she wanted me to call, then I’d dial the phone for her host family.</p>
<p>Son in China has SKYPE but he doesn’t always have Internet access. We text occasionally but that adds up. We have a calling card through PINGO and rates are VERY cheap (although that depends on the country). I think you can sign up on line. Plus we’ve programmed our cells and land phones with PINGO Speed dial + his number.</p>
<p>Thanks your all for the great ideas, Pingo really appeals to me because of the low rates. They also have toll free # in other countries that we will use. My husband had called us by landline from his hotel in China using SKYPE, we heard a lot of echoes. Our conversations were short & he always used that call to arrange a time for us to go online to SKYPE (video & audio) with him.</p>
<p>It’s normal to hear echo when you use skype or other VOIP services.:D</p>
<p>If she has an internet connection, then you can skype computer to computer for free! Only when you call to a phone do you have to pay. My daughter calls us on skype all the time and the connection is great. If she uses her room mate"s Mac computer we even get to video chat, meaning we get to see her while we talk.</p>