I wrote to Rebtel about it. Here is their reply:
>Hi again,
>Unfortunately, this offer is not a valid Rebtel code, thus we are unable to grant the offer that this third party offered you.
>Rebtel is unable to help you with questions related to promises made by other companies without our knowledge. We suggest that you instead try to contact Customer support team from the website that offered the discount code. At our end we will report this misuse to them as well.
>Rebtel does not have access to the information of 3rd parties, please read our terms and conditions at this link: http://www.rebtel.com/en/Legal-information/Terms-of-service/.
>Thanks for your understanding!
>Best Regards,
>Fernando >Customer Team
If you can't find a dual sim phone and the difference in cost would not be too great, I would bite the bullet and pay a little more to avoid changing SIMs once a week. I really dislike the rigmarole of turning my phone off, taking the battery out, taking the SIM out etc., but that's personal preference, and depends on how much you save.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Rebtel primarily a VoIP system (so like Skype)? You need an existing local provider, even with the Access Numbers and Local Numbers system. I think you have to pay the cost of a local call to your normal operator, and then a small fee to Rebtel on top (it can be different if you have a smartphone and use the app to call over wifi, I think):
> No more paying for expensive long distance with your carrier, or impractical Nights and Weekend plans that just don't work with your schedule. When you make a Rebtel call, you're dialing a local number, so you pay only for the local call to your operator, if applicable, and a very small per-minute rate to Rebtel for the international part of your phone call. If you have inclusive local minutes, the call is even cheaper! You can call anytime, anywhere, at a great rate.
http://www.rebtel.com/en/Services/international-phone-calls/
Based on that, you'd still need a local SIM to use your phone to call / text either the UK or Sweden. Unless I'm misunderstanding?
I served in Mali and my parents used Rebtel. It ended up being cheaper than a phone card and slightly less than the rates Skype and Google wanted, and the calls were so much clearer compared to a phone card. Also, internet is not very reliable in Mali (don't know about Burkina), but I know we had trouble using Skype sometimes since we would get kicked off time after time. YMMV.
Rebtel ofrece llamadas desde España al Reino Unido por 0.008€/minuto. Lo único es que tienes que especificar el número de la persona quien te va a llamar. Entonces te dan un número local español que esa persona puede marcar para hablar contigo. Funciona bastante bien—lo he usado para llamar a Estados Unidos.
EDIT: Además, es posible hablar gratuitamente con el servicio, pero es un poco más complicado.
I agree with you if they weren't free, but that seems to have depended on your plan.
Here's a site with some good background that may or may not be relevant: http://www.rebtel.com/en/International-Calling-Guide/Calling-Cards/The-Complexity-of-Incoming-Call-Charges-in-North-America/
The O2 international SIM will let you call Swedish landlines for 4p a minute, you can get free international minutes for mobiles and landlines if you get a Vodafone international SIM.
Rebtel does seem the cheapest though, 3.9p per minute to mobiles and 1.32p to landlines.
I've just started using Rebtel, which isn't exactly what you're looking for, but might be something to consider if you can't find anything else. Basically it's a service that provides cheap sms and calling over internet/data. I love it. No, it's not free, but it's affordable and worth it, at least for me.
Thanks OP, this is pretty cheap, especially if I refer my partner.
A quick warning though, when you use the "create local number" feature, it will text your partner with your phone number and a local number they can use to call you. That number is way more expensive than if they signed up for the service themselves.
Edit: if you find this useful, my referral link is http://www.rebtel.com/u/?inc=5&utm_source=taf-web&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=5&code=03403440234
If you need to call back to the states (to phones) and don't have a cheap solution, you might consider Rebtel. When I traveled to Europe they gave me local numbers to call from my prepaid phone in the country I was in (local calls to the prepaid phone) and connected them to the US for 2cents/minute (local call for the recipient too). Was great for contacting not only relatives, but getting a hold of customer service (my bank wasn't a big problem, but I had their number in my phone with Rebtel since my family had a lot of trouble with cards getting frozen, even after notifying the bank of the travel dates/countries).
If you are traveling, I assume you've already called Schwab (if you do, they'll note when and where you're traveling to tone down the fraud detection for charges from the country you're in).
Rebtel lets you call internationally for free. Just make a account and add your SO's number, and they will give you each a local number. When you call each other, the receiver has to hang up and then also call the local number and then it will connect automatically.
For texting, I believe Twitter lets you send tweets and private messages via SMS, so you should be able to setup long distance text that way.
Not sure what all the nonsense is on here, but calling between Ghana and the U.S. is extremely simple. From the U.S., use Rebtel, it's awesome. From Ghana, it will never cost more than 10 U.S. cents a minute (sometimes can go as low as 7) to call the U.S.
This comes standard with any of the SIM cards you buy here, which require no plans and cost less than $1 to buy. There 4 cell phone companies at the moment, MTN, Airtel, Tigo, Expresso, and Vodafone. All except Expresso use GSM (Expresso uses GSM, like Sprint or Verizon in the U.S.). I prefer Airtel and MTN, between the two of those you are covered almost anywhere.
Hey,
if you want to call home (Japan), you can use a bunch of online services like Rebtel or localphone. I use both and they are quite good. You make international calls from your cell using a local number. I like rebtel better. good rates too
As for English schools, there are tons here, you wont have any trouble finding one. My friend hooks up people looking to learn English and work here. I can refer you to him if you are interested.