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 International Phone Calls - What Are Your Options? |
| We live in a world that our grandparents probably couldn't have even imagined. We can communicate all over the world at the speed of light. We can send e-mails, Complete with graphics and sound, to any corner of the earth. With all of this technology, why are international phone calls still such a pain in the neck?
If you have tried to make an international phone call to one of the more remote corners of Europe, you know exactly what I'm talking about. You would think that international telephone calls to Poland, for example, would be a snap. Much of Poland – especially the places where I was calling – is an extremely wired and high-tech place. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, they have more or less caught up with the rest of the world. Nonetheless, Although their international Internet access may be world-class, international phone calls there are not.
The other day, I bought an international phone card to call one of my friends in Poland. He is there for the summer, and I haven't talked to him in a couple of months. There were a million different ways to make international phone calls. All of the cards had long lists of rates for different countries, so it was difficult to figure out which was the best one. Nonetheless, after a few minutes of puzzling over them, I found the best international telephone card. I went home, ready to talk on the phone for a couple of hours.
When I tried to place my international phone call, however, nothing would work. I have heard that a lot of the cards for making international phone calls are actually made by the local mafias of foreign countries. Although I was skeptical of this rumor before, since I tried making international phone calls I am much more apt to believe it. It was absolutely impossible. The first time I tried, it told me that the number was wrong. The second time I tried, it told me that I had no money left on the card even though I had just purchased it. By the time one of my international phone calls connected, three hours had passed. When I finally did get my friend on the line, it was so grainy that I could barely hear him. Next time, I am going to try international phone calls with voice over IP. Anything that doesn't run over the Internet is too unreliable to be worth the effort!
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