Frequent Calls to the US from DR

[KyleMackey]

I do most of my calls through Skype and happy with the results, as long as the internet co-operates.

Occasionally use Whatsapp calling now too, and had similar issues.

However it is fairly new with the calling feature, so I imagine it will improve with a bit of time.

Had an excellent whatsapp international call yesterday, no feedback, very clear.

 

[TP666]

I use Skype to South Africa and China for 3 years with out a problem. Only problem is that Windows will screw it up!

 

[chic]

Eleutheria,
I live in Florida, but I am planning to go there for 45-60 days to test if I can work from there. But in order to perform my job well, I must have access to excellent internet connection and a phone to make calls to the US.


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i wonder what the big call centers use...??? claro might have a prepaid card,,,

 

[chic]

I did the exact same thing in 2013, here's what I found:

2.5-3mb internet is the bare minimum for reliable VoIP calling. Anything significantly less and the service will echo or drop on you

Claro's basic service is enough for basic VoIP. You'll want 5mb+ for video calling on a regular basis

WhatsApp is indeed unreliable for work, I would not trust it

Ooma is a decent alternative if you have to provide it yourself. I've never used Vonage. Bring a phone from the US if you use Ooma, my DR phone does not dial properly

For a short-stay, you cannot set up a contract with Claro, so find an apartment or condo that has DEDICATED internet to the unit. Shared wifi across the complex is not fast enough

Your other option to a dedicated internet link is a wifi hotspot from Claro or Orange. You'll get 3g pretty much everywhere, and 4g whereever they have coverage, for the price of a prepaid plan

Hope all that helps.

is verizon providing free calls on n.y.plans??

 

[MikeFisher]

for the ones who live here,
the best bet is a landline/homeconnection with claro.
i have the basic phoneplan and it includes 500 monthly minutes to almost every country of the globe,
including Canada, USA and Germany, the 3 countries i use most minutes on.
i pay monthly 3.300.- pesos(US$70.-) for the basic phone plan with 500 minutes intl plus 20 minutes to cellphones monthly, basic TV Dish with 79 channels and a internet connection 3MB down and 0.7 Upload.
and thats even relatively expensive for here, as i need that dish on the roof and can't get higher internet speed, it is specific for our lil town, the Claro connection down here can not provide more.
more and more areas are connected by Fiberoptic by Claro, they pay way less for several times the internet speed and several times the number of channels, of course no dish on the roof necessary.
such connection can be customized, you can include higher phone plans with many more monthly free minutes for even less than we pay here in Cabeza de Toro.
been promised we will get the Fiber connection by years end, but well, we know how such things sometimes go, so they may not be sure which year's end, lol.

as for calls to PR/USA/Canada, the Claro cellphone plans are also a good bet, as all those 3 countries and the DR count on the bill like one country, like local calls. you can use your included minutes for local calls and for those 3 countries equally. in case you use your plan up and produce extra minutes, the additionally consumed minutes are cheap.

Mike

 

[Cdn_Gringo]

Agree, Claro at this time, if fiber is available, is an excellent value. Claro without fiber may still be the best all around choice for internet/tv/phone or a subset there of depending on your location and service availability.

If only the process of opening your first Claro account was not so freaking difficult, time consuming and asinine...
If only the installation was not so fraught with stupidity. "What do you mean I have to run my own conduit from the connection point to mi casa?" Why didn't you tell me this weeks ago when I was waiting for you to come and do the installation. Yes, yes, see you again in two weeks...gracias.

The supplied voip phone works and thus far I have not been accidentally billed for any LD calls that should be included in my months charges. So far, the internet service is working well and at a much lower cost than the alternatives. I don't use Claro for TV and but if I ever do see them offering a Canadian channel or two, they'll get my cable business too.

 

[windeguy]

Claro lost my business until they potentially install fiber in my area. Perhaps the worst company in the DR.

I use VONAGE with the International add on to call DR phones with 250 minutes included monthly for DR cell phones, unlimited to DR Land lines. The price for Vonage is about $42 dollars monthly.

 

[MikeFisher]

Claro lost my business until they potentially install fiber in my area. Perhaps the worst company in the DR.

I use VONAGE with the International add on to call DR phones with 250 minutes included monthly for DR cell phones, unlimited to DR Land lines. The price for Vonage is about $42 dollars monthly.

that i pay, or to be precise $50.- per month,
for my small cellphone plan.
300 monthly minutes and very reliable great coverage 4G internet included.
the minutes can be used for cellphones here and also for calls to the USA, Canada, PR.
the speedtests on the cell show me constantly available download speed of 15-20MB and upload 9-15MB,
works superfast on the small Samsung.
i hate the big phones of the size of a small laptop,
so i only use the 4.5" displays, on this plan a Samsung S5 Mini.
i can pass the same speed with my phone as a "Hotspot" to up to 10 nearby devises at a time.
my neighbour, who is still using a freaki' worthless usb stick from orange for his laptop,
is always happy when we sit around the BBQ on our beach, so his laptop connects to my phone, lol.

Gringo,
yes, that is what i am waiting for since a very long time,
to get da darn Fiber Connection into town.
not only because it will make the bill well cheaper,
it provides several times the speed for less money, and tripple the TV channels on the basic TV package only.
it is promised to get it running before year's end(which year?, lol).
the hotel a few hundred meters aside my beach, is already connected to Fiber, so there is some hope out there at the far wide Horizon.
Christmas on 40MB, that would be my idea of da game.
other than the 3MB max speed to get, i am happy with their services.
there been times when the internet slowed down regularily in the evenings, but at the moment all is fine again.
to get a date with claro supervisors, so they can inspect your grounds to plan what ever wiring is necessary, is a pain in da arse for a private person.
when i moved down here, the manager of the property requested to get the needed stuff installed, so his renters can connect to phone and internet(TV is here only available over Claro Dishes, not by the usual cable).
it took months and nothing worked, they always changed on short notice their date, because they had something else to do somewhere in Higuey.
i then went there and filed a reclamation, mentioning that i am pizzed and want a solution the next days, or i will cancel my cellphone plans and the other 2 residencial TV/INternet/Phone plans.
it worked.
the "supervisor" for that "Crew" called me the same afternoon and we agreed on a day/time for a few days later.
they did not change date again.
they took a look, decided which way/how their cables will be wired in from the street down to the beachplace, where their connection poles on the property will be set up for each appartment etc etc.
sounded good at the time.
just that it took around 3 more fukcing months before the real working Crew showed up and di their simple job.
we have empty tubes all around the property, from the mainroad down to the buildings and between all buildings, all under ground, all easy accessible due access points every few meters all along the ways.
we have separated tubes under ground for the electricity, then where the water supply runs thru and then one for every additional purpose, like phone cables, to not interfere one with the other, as so usual when dominicans put a pack of tubes together and then run phone and eletricity and TV cables all together in the same tube, complaining to the service provider about the interferences between services, lol.
at least they got it done one day, it works fine since.

Mike

 

[WRM]

Lol. I am sick to my stomach reading how much you guys pay for your communication services. I am getting Ripped off here. Now I know why I feel that I only work to pay bills. For example, for the similar service you guys get, I pay about $370/mo; and my plan does not include international calls. What the heck am I doing here?


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[MikeFisher]

Lol. I am sick to my stomach reading how much you guys pay for your communication services. I am getting Ripped off here. Now I know why I feel that I only work to pay bills. For example, for the similar service you guys get, I pay about $370/mo; and my plan does not include international calls. What the heck am I doing here?


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if your phone plan is from claro and does not include intl calls,
then it must be the most basic under 500.- pesos per month cellphone plan.
for example my wife has the 2nd smallest claro cellphone plan, named habla claro plus2, no data included, it is phone only.
here's a copy of the inclusions, stated on the monthly Bill:
El Habla Claro Plus 2 incluye:
250 Minutos libres, (200 Mins. para Llamadas Nac., EUA o Puerto Rico, 50
Minimensajes a Nros. Claro), Acceso Larga Distancia Int'l., Acceso Roaming,
Buz?n Digital, Conf. de Llamadas, Dos Nros. dentro de la Red Claro con 5 Mins.
Libres por Llamada, Dos Nros. dentro de la Red Claro con SMS, Identificaci?n de
Llamadas, Llamada en Espera, Recibir Mensajes, Transf. Llamadas, Transf. de
Llamadas no Contestadas
----------------------------------------
costs with taxes around 900.- pesos/US$20.- per month.
my own one is the so named Smart Plan 2, the 2nd smallest they offer,
and includes the same calls to the same countries, but 300 minutes of that
plus it includes 3GB Data/Internet on a very comfy 4G connection,
mine costs with taxes 2.100.- pesos per month.
---------------------------------------------------
if you been talking about a homeconnection/Landline instead of cellphone plan,
mine is the most basic/smallest/cheapest available by Claro phoneplan,
it is the necessary basic plan needed to get any internet installed by Claro.
and that basic plan includes the following description copied from my phonebill:
El Multiplan Claro TPostpago incluye:
Internet Flash 3MB/768kbps, Antivirus, 520 Minutos libres, (500 en Llamadas
Locales, Larga Dist. Nac., Larga Dist. Int'l a 200 Destinos Fijos Excepto Cuba,
Alaska, Belice, Hait?, Honduras, El Salvador y Nicaragua, 20 en Llamadas a Cel.
Claro), Buz?n de Mensajes, Cancelaci?n Llamada en Espera, Conferencia, Conoce
Quien Llama Plus, Contrato Mantenimiento, Desv?o Llamada, Llamada en Espera,
Marcado Abreviado, Marcado Aut. N?mero Ocupado, Retorno Ultima Llamada
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
your $370.- Plan/connection, that's RD$16.650.- Pesos,
what does that include??
my above described homeconnection costs me including the 30% Taxes just RD$3.300.- Pesos,
and thats even expensive for here, as the Fiberoptic connections offer more speed for even lower rates,
hence i am desperately waiting for them to get da darn line of fiber over here to my place, lol.

all above mentioned Plans are of course PostPaid/on Bill and Open Plans, no limits on anything, if minutes on the cellphones are used up the phone keep working without loading anything, the additional minutes get billed at the end of the month and are darn cheap.

Mike

 

[Mysterious]

Nothing compares to Goolge voice service,

you can get the sms you recive directly delivered to your gmail so with the worst case with a very weak internet connection you are able to send a receive sms.

beside the phone calls of course