Calling collect is such a bad idea, and so unnecessary, I don't even know how to do it. You might as well just have your calling party grab fistfuls of cash and throw them out the window (or at the phone company.
A collect call from a cell will cost at least double what you'll pay by calling yourself (,55 cents / minute). It would be much cheaper to have them call you.
I would instead recommend stopping by the nearest tabbaccaio and pickup an international calling card for north america and use it either from your cell or a fixed/pay phone, collect or no. You'll pay pennies per minute and won't have to worry about how to make a collect call, nor risk ruining a relationship once your party sees the phone bill.
Originally posted by Nick z: I've found claims to use 172-1001. Doesn't work from my TIM phone.
Nick, I think those numbers date from the times of landlines. We found that using a phone with a TIM card to call directly to Canada was quite inexpensive. I don't recall the cost but it didn't break the budget. Sure, it depends on the length of the conversation, but it wasn't significant, all being relative of course...
It's only 30 cents a minute. But I'm irrated the consulate can't do something simple like take an address change. Instead they force me to call Ottawa and deal with phone hell.
Do you have access to a computer where you could use Skype? We had to call the States from Paris to straighten out a credit card mixup (another wait-on-hold-for-eons type of call), and it was easy and cheap with Skype. You have to pay something like $10 up front to set up an account where you can call from your computer to a regular phone, but that's good for hours of talking and can be used from anywhere.
Of course you need a computer with a fast connection and a microphone. I wonder if there are any internet cafes that provide that, if you don't have your own computer.
I think my connection might be too slow. But I've downloaded it and I guess Monday I'll pickup a headset. Worse case I can drive down to the beach. The speeds are faster there.
