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Title: Phone Card Warning-Nobelcom.com Post by: SteveM on March 13, 2002, 05:00:00 AM Hey Folks,
Thought I would post a warning about recent bad experiences with Nobelcom.com. We have been using them for more than 6 months, and the rates are great (9 cents/min.), but the service no longer works. We have not been able to get a connection for nearly a month, and have an unused balance of nearly $48. Their customer service has been totally unresponsive, offering only store credit or an exchange. If you are going to use this service, I would recommend buying only the minimum ($20) each time to protect yourself against these types of service discontinuations. We are now 100% 10-10-335 (15 cents/min.) and 10-10-220 (18 cents/min.), but are always interested in something cheaper... Steve M. Title: From ~OUR TEXAS~...10-10-719 Post by: tfcrew on March 14, 2002, 05:00:00 AM ... in response to Phone Card Warning-Nobelcom.com, posted by SteveM on Mar 13, 2002
Texas Russkie weekly ad (new) ....$0.11 min to Moscow ...Odessa Title: ~OUR TEXAS~...10-10-719 ?? Post by: Drew on March 15, 2002, 05:00:00 AM ... in response to From ~OUR TEXAS~...10-10-719, posted by tfcrew on Mar 14, 2002
Do you have to sign up for this ? or just dial the 10 10 719 prior to dialing the phone number ? ( like you do with 10 10 220) Thanks Title: Nyet ! Post by: tfcrew on March 15, 2002, 05:00:00 AM ... in response to ~OUR TEXAS~...10-10-719 ??, posted by Drew on Mar 15, 2002
We use phone cards. Svetlana blew my 10-10 credit to blazes. It's $0.089 to Moscow 10-10-719 Title: netinternet dot net Post by: Rags on March 14, 2002, 05:00:00 AM ... in response to Phone Card Warning-Nobelcom.com, posted by SteveM on Mar 13, 2002
$0.10/minute to Ukraine... Good sound quality but tough to get through on weekends and holidays. 1-888-635-0154 Title: Re: Phone Card Warning-Nobelcom.com Post by: apk on March 14, 2002, 05:00:00 AM ... in response to Phone Card Warning-Nobelcom.com, posted by SteveM on Mar 13, 2002
We have been using WDT for the past 5 months without any real problems, except for the usual busy signal on the big holidays. WDT is 9 cents per minute calling Moscow, I am not sure but I think it may be 15 cents /minute calling Ukraine. This program requires an informal questionaire and a short waiting period before you are hooked up, they do not charge to your credit card but send you a monthly billing by mail. try calling: 1-888-353-0808 (free call) Title: What was the sound quality and connection quality? n/t Post by: John K on March 14, 2002, 05:00:00 AM Title: Re: What was the sound quality and connection quality? n/t Post by: apk on March 14, 2002, 05:00:00 AM ... in response to What was the sound quality and connectio..., posted by John K on Mar 14, 2002
The sound quality is the same as direct calling through ATT, but as I said before...sometimes you get busy signals. My wife calls Moscow every weekend, spends 2 hours on each call and my bill is never over $15.00 per month. I wish I had known about it when I was calling her every day! Back then I was using ATT international access service which added $7.00 per month to my phone bill, 30 cents /minute but I had her on speed dial and never had busy signals except when she was trying to call me! Title: Echo on the line??? Post by: juio99 on March 14, 2002, 05:00:00 AM ... in response to Phone Card Warning-Nobelcom.com, posted by SteveM on Mar 13, 2002
Last year I used worldxchange.com and it was excellent. Now it appears to be out of business. Anyone know the scoop on them? Now I am using linqtel.com which is OK except my voice echos back to me. When there is this echo, does that indicate they are routing via computer lines? Do some of the other calling cards also have these echos? JR Title: I don't know the exact cause, but I have Post by: tim360z on March 14, 2002, 05:00:00 AM ... in response to Echo on the line???, posted by juio99 on Mar 14, 2002
had echo connections sometimes on ATT and MCI and Net2phone. I recently had the worse echos ever on a local call and when I called my local phone company...it was fixed in 3 minutes. The phone person told me it was a line problem corrected in-house. Title: Any Monthly or Connection Fees ? N/T Post by: RickM on March 14, 2002, 05:00:00 AM Title: lol... Post by: BrianN on March 14, 2002, 05:00:00 AM ... in response to Phone Card Warning-Nobelcom.com, posted by SteveM on Mar 13, 2002
I guess, it's a matter of economics. Ever since I've been reading this board, nobel has always seemed to rank tops as the one and only. But, yet... to call novosibirsk, or any other city/wherever outside of the majors as st pete, moscow.. etc, you still pay, one way or another. I've NEVER had a bad connection using 1010-220, at .16 per minute. (Somebody make a liar out of me.. ok ok... well, nobody's perfect). Why bother with this crap if you don't have a good, clean phone line? This ain't a boy scout camp-out for God's sakes. The only problem that I've had to deal with using 1010-220, (in the last six months) is that after an hour, the line just dies, dead in it's tracks. Happened tonight again after talking for about an hour. Phone just "quit". Just called back, and resumed the conversation. If I've ever had a problem with telephone svc to Russia, it's always been at L's work telephone, on which, her extension phone is a piece of crap; (ie, she breaths or moves and it generates noise, but the agency phones, her aunts and brothers place, it's always perfect). Why not pay a few bux extra and just get the good stuff and enjoy the conversation that much more? This phone card thing, (and every other CHEAP service) crappy connections that everyone talks about on other LD plans, is for the birds. jmho. Title: Phone Quality Post by: SteveM on March 15, 2002, 05:00:00 AM ... in response to lol..., posted by BrianN on Mar 14, 2002
Brian, I was never suggesting using low quality services to save a few dollars, but for people who call a lot (me then, my wife now), saving $50/month is important. We too have had good luck with 10-10-220. Our only problem is that they have a higher rate (at least for us) for the first 10 minutes, so it clips us for more when the person we are calling isn't home. We use cards only when they do sound decent, but it was nice when nobelcom.com's 9 cents/min. worked. Now, all I am getting from them is a letter saying that their "terms and conditions" do not include providing services that they sell. Oh, for the days when I had Econophone cards (the company is now out of business). They were less than 3 cents/minute to Moscow (and my wife's city 3 hours away from Moscow still counted). We had hour and a half long conversations every other night, for less than $4 a call including the connect fee. Title: Re: Phone Card Warning-Nobelcom.com Post by: Ramblin on March 14, 2002, 05:00:00 AM ... in response to Phone Card Warning-Nobelcom.com, posted by SteveM on Mar 13, 2002
I bought $40 worth of cards from Nobel in December of 2000 and they never did work! Title: also Post by: Ramblin on March 14, 2002, 05:00:00 AM ... in response to Re: Phone Card Warning-Nobelcom.com, posted by Ramblin on Mar 14, 2002
Nobel's access telephone number 1-800-833-4058 now has a recording changing it to a 900 number. Aren't 900 numbers those $3 a minute services? Anyone know a toll free access number for Nobel that currently works? Title: Re: Phone Card Warning-Nobelcom.com Post by: rojak on March 13, 2002, 05:00:00 AM ... in response to Phone Card Warning-Nobelcom.com, posted by SteveM on Mar 13, 2002
I found Leancard.com from someone on one of these boards. It is just right--ten cents per min. to Ukr. Quality is normal phone. Only drawback is having to load card # into speed dial. But it works virtually every time. It comes in $10 and $20 denominations. Title: Sounds better than what I'm using... Post by: John K on March 14, 2002, 05:00:00 AM ... in response to Re: Phone Card Warning-Nobelcom.com, posted by rojak on Mar 13, 2002
We've been using Cognidial for almost 2 years now. We tried cheaper rates, but we had a lot of connection and reception problems. Cognidial was a flat 21¢ per minute, but the quality was so much better it made up for it. I'll have to take a look at LeanCard... Title: Re: Same experience here! Post by: Quasimoto on March 13, 2002, 05:00:00 AM ... in response to Phone Card Warning-Nobelcom.com, posted by SteveM on Mar 13, 2002
None of the internet connections I have been using have worked since December. Steve Title: We are using Discall.com Post by: RfB on March 13, 2002, 05:00:00 AM ... in response to Phone Card Warning-Nobelcom.com, posted by SteveM on Mar 13, 2002
We used Nobel.com until a few months ago when they goofed on their rates and charged us .25+/min to St Pete, they fixed it and credited the account, but the quality also went down the tubes at the same time. For the last several months we've used Discall.com for about .04/min to St Petersburg using the local access number here, or .12/min to the rest of Russia. The 800 number access is bit higher, but still not bad. We have been happy with the quality, and I like the option to 'recharge' the account with fresh money on the same PIN#,, no need to change the speed-dial on the phone. Title: I used to use Nobel Post by: greg2 on March 13, 2002, 05:00:00 AM ... in response to Phone Card Warning-Nobelcom.com, posted by SteveM on Mar 13, 2002
However, I found the fact that the time on the card being a set amount was a problem. The call would end when you reached the allowed amount or if you only had a little left on a card it was not practical to even use it sometimes. I figure that for what I saved relative to other services that it was not always worth it. I had a problem of getting shorted once by a large amount - can not rememeber circumstances. I tried get the problem reversed and get a credit but, they were non responsive. That loss alone made their service almost double the expeceted expense for the time I purchased. Title: Two cans with a string is cheapest but reception no too good Post by: greg2 on March 13, 2002, 05:00:00 AM ... in response to Phone Card Warning-Nobelcom.com, posted by SteveM on Mar 13, 2002
:) I have had troubles with 10-10-335 - with poor reception having to call back several times to get a good connection and calls dropped while in progress. I have not tried 220 - how do you compare it to 335 for quality? Title: Don't waste your time with a crap service. Post by: BrianN on March 14, 2002, 05:00:00 AM ... in response to Two cans with a string is cheapest but r..., posted by greg2 on Mar 13, 2002
Use 220. After reading this phone card and phone service stuff for six months now on this board... It's obvious that the winner is going to be quality, not quantity. It's worked for me to novosibirsk for many months... and no real problems at all. Perfect connections (maybe because sombody pays for them!). If a guy can't afford $10.99 for a full QUALITY hour of calling the fsu, then he's wasting his friggin time. ymmv Title: Reception Quality Post by: SteveM on March 14, 2002, 05:00:00 AM ... in response to Two cans with a string is cheapest but r..., posted by greg2 on Mar 13, 2002
Most of the time, 10-15-335 is pretty decent. There are dropped calls, but it is still cheaper than most other options. I know this is the equivalent of grandpa sitting on the front porch telling stories, but for six months in 2000, we had a card in the DC area called EconoLo from Econophone. It was 2.9 cents/minute to Moscow, and treated my wife's hometown (3.5 hours away) as part of the capital. Cut our monthly phone bill from $500 to $50, with us talking for an hour and a half every other night. We have tried a few other cards at various times, but not had great success. Nobelcom.com was decent until they stopped providing service. Oh well ... Title: is it 10-10- or 10-15- 335 ? N/T Post by: Mike on March 14, 2002, 05:00:00 AM Title: Re: is it 10-10- or 10-15- 335 ? N/T Post by: Clay on March 14, 2002, 05:00:00 AM ... in response to is it 10-10- or 10-15- 335 ? N/T, posted by Mike on Mar 14, 2002
They appear to be the same service.. Mebbe someone gobbled someone up, or they are just switching to the 15, don't know. However, www.10-10-335.com takes you to the exact same site as www.10-15-335.com. They're rates are a skosh cheaper than 10-10-220 (about $.01 - $.02 on average it appears). I haven't used it extensively. I did experience a dropped call, but dialed again in a few minutes, got through, and have 0 complaints about the quality of the call (I would actually say it was excellent). Mebbe further experience will irritate me as well, in which case I would try 10-10-220, but .01 is .01, unless/until the hassle becomes too much... Clay Title: Try net2phone.com, I have had good Post by: tim360z on March 13, 2002, 05:00:00 AM ... in response to Phone Card Warning-Nobelcom.com, posted by SteveM on Mar 13, 2002
good results with them and their Bill History and records and recharging online are effortless. Also you can print out your telephone bill for possible future K-1 use. Title: Question Post by: greg2 on March 13, 2002, 05:00:00 AM ... in response to Try net2phone.com, I have had good, posted by tim360z on Mar 13, 2002
what about quality of connection? Title: Re: Question Post by: Richard on March 13, 2002, 05:00:00 AM ... in response to Question, posted by greg2 on Mar 13, 2002
I have been having some problems lately with Net2Phone: bad connections and not getting connect. When it goes through, it's great. If you are like me and sometimes call on a whim, it's worth risking a bad connection to see if your party is home and then calling back for a better connection. |