China Romance
General Discussion and Useful Links => Newbies Corner => Topic started by: Oiler1 on March 10, 2010, 11:53:01 pm
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In case I am still felling unwell. How do I call collect to my medical insurance company from China? I may have to call Canada,
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In case I am still felling unwell. How do I call collect to my medical insurance company from China? I may have to call Canada,
Not sure about calling collect, however, I would recommend using skype to get in touch with the insurance company.
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you just have to bite the bullet and call direct they dont
have collect here in china
12593 before the number lessons the pain of the cost
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I will call the insurance company and tell them to call me back.
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A call using the 12593 code as Ted mentioned is not to expensive.
It is going to be a very good insurance company that calls you back. You must be paying hefty premiums to tell them to call you back. Most people would have to ask them if they would call them back!!!!!
Willy
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The insurance company has called me back before. In fact it is cheaper for them to call me than receive a collect call.
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The insurance company has called me back before. In fact it is cheaper for them to call me than receive a collect call.
You missed my point Oiler - it was the attitude - 'I will tell then to call them em back'
Willy
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be nice willy lol
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In case I am still felling unwell. How do I call collect to my medical insurance company from China? I may have to call Canada,
Oiler1,
I agree with Mustfocus the best and cheapest way to call home from China or anywhere else for that matter is to use Skype - if you have a computer available.
I run a business, and when I travel to China, I use Skype for all of my calls to US, and elsewhere. This runs about 2 cents (USD) a minute. The reception is crystal clear and absolutely no problems.
There are other options as well to avoid racking up expenses telephone bills while in China.
Alton
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Speaking of calling back home. Does anyone have any thoughts about having a phone where the sim card can be activated to the country do you can call home and loved ones back home can call you on your regular number? Has anyone tried it? Is it expensive?
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Shaun,
Mustfocus can probably explain the systems to you best. Google unlocked phones and start reading. You will need an unlocked phone for what you want to do. I had found a very informative web site on this but I don't remember what it was. If I find it again I will post a link to it.
Dave C
Shaun,
This site looks like there is a lot of information in it. www.unlox.co.uk/nokia-unlock-faq.asp
Dave C
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Shaun i have tried that and it is way to expensive to
call and recieve calls. my family in the USA now calls
my home phone here in China using one of those calling
cards they buy in the USA that is like 2 or 3 cents a minute
but they do charge a connect fee of like 1.00 dollar i think
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Thanks Dave. :icon_biggrin:
Shuan, sim cards are locked to the phone company that issues them because that's how the phone number is entered into the system. As Dave said, you want an unlocked GSM phone if you want to take it to China. I'm sure you could pick one up in your local TigerDirect or Overstock or Newegg... But make sure it's a quad-band phone (it will operate on 4 frequencies) as China may use different frequencies than they use in the US. The phones need to be unlocked because many of the phone companies like AT&T or Verison lock the phone down with software so they can't accept a sim card from their competitors (otherwise they wouldn't subsidize the phone on a contract)
What a lot of people do is if they're staying in a region for any extended period of time, they'll just pick up a sim card from the local phone company. I suggested to Dave he do that in Singapore as it'll be cheaper than using his phone there (assuming he's got a Rogers/Fido phone).
I know many of the ladies I have talked to in China switch sim cards/phone numbers on a regular basis depending on where they will be staying as the benefits change.
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I talked with Verison this afternoon and they told me that it would cost me $1.99 per minute. :icon_eek:
I told them that Rebtel charges me $0.03 per minute. They did say that if I text it would cost $0.50 per text message and $0.05 per text received. I can get GPS for $19.99 a month. The GPS might be a good idea because I can plug in the addresses I need and I can find my way home if need be. There isn't any way I will pay $1.99 per minute for phoning.
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Shaun It depends if you are talking long term or short term.
Long term I use skype - anyone can call a UK number and be connected to me in China for the price of a local call which is sometimes free depending on your phone company.
I also can call any landline number in the UK at no extra cost.
For short term skype to skype is free if both parties have it on their computers. It is free and easy to hook up to. You can also buy credits on skype that give you cheap calls to anywhere in the world.
Willy
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Verizon is a CDMA carrier so you can take your phone there, however, you will not be able to insert a sim card into your phone (sim card technology is GSM based or 3.5G based). Best bet if you want a local phone is to do as I suggested with a quad-band GSM phone and get a sim card from there. Your lady can help you with that part.
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Verizon does have phones with removable sim cards but I think it might be best as Willy said and use yahoo messenger for pre-determined times. If there is an emergency then I will have the texting ready to go.
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That's true. It's also usually used if you have lots of friends or relatives in that area you'll be in. Case in point, when I visit Singapore or Hong Kong, I would need one. But that's not necessarily a good thing either...sometimes you don't want to be found. :icon_biggrin:
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Verizon does have phones with removable sim cards but I think it might be best as Willy said and use yahoo messenger for pre-determined times. If there is an emergency then I will have the texting ready to go.
But then if it is real emergency then would cost matter? Just get on the phone.
Willy
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Thanks Dave. :icon_biggrin:
Shuan, sim cards are locked to the phone company that issues them because that's how the phone number is entered into the system. As Dave said, you want an unlocked GSM phone if you want to take it to China. I'm sure you could pick one up in your local TigerDirect or Overstock or Newegg... But make sure it's a quad-band phone (it will operate on 4 frequencies) as China may use different frequencies than they use in the US. The phones need to be unlocked because many of the phone companies like AT&T or Verison lock the phone down with software so they can't accept a sim card from their competitors (otherwise they wouldn't subsidize the phone on a contract)
What a lot of people do is if they're staying in a region for any extended period of time, they'll just pick up a sim card from the local phone company. I suggested to Dave he do that in Singapore as it'll be cheaper than using his phone there (assuming he's got a Rogers/Fido phone).
I know many of the ladies I have talked to in China switch sim cards/phone numbers on a regular basis depending on where they will be staying as the benefits change.
I always do that. You can even get a DOUBLE-SIM card phone in China, which I think is pretty hard to find in US or Canada. But beware - I used to have SIM cards for Shanghai, Kunming & Tianjin. After some time they took away my number AND unused stored value/airtime for the first 2 SIM cards, so now I only still keep my Tianjin SIM card.