When researching Google Fi, I came across a blog post written by member Behan Gifford about voice communications. It has a great summary of options and what to takes to make them work.

I also found a comparison of Google Voice (connected to Project FI) and MS Skype. I guess Google Voice is currently only available via the US but presumably will be expanding.

On Aleria, Alex and I have Irish phones with unlimited data through mobile provider 3. Our phones now work all over Europe without roaming charges. Presumably, it won't apply in GB after Brexit. We also have a Skype US phone number that is VOIP but redirects to our mobiles so our family can dial a US number to reach us on our mobiles for pennies. We've given up our global coverage US phone with provider T-Mobile which worked great for the first couple of years in the Caribbean but then got to be ridiculously restrictive and expensive. We've also activated the 'call to phones' feature on Skype which lets us call anyone's phone anywhere in the world for pennies, whether or not we are connected to them via computer. It works like an automatic top up phone.


Increasingly, we rely on What's App and Messenger to communicate internationally, but the person has to be subscribed for it to work.

What's everyone else doing? And do you find Google Fi significantly superior to Skype?
edited by DariaBlackwell on 3/15/2019

Vice Commodore, OCC 

Bill,
Any sim bought in Europe should roam throughout Europe keeping the data and voice allowances in the host country. The U.K. ‘might’ exit Europe on April 12th ( or it might not). You should be able to roam in Iceland without additional charge. I am not sure about the Faroes. Greenland roaming is hideously expensive and It is very difficult to get a sensibly priced SIM card there as there is a local rate and visitors rate.

An EE SIM bought in The UK can be upgraded to MAXPLAN for a fee which means that calls and data allocations a kept in NZ, Canada and USA.

I hope this helps. Brexit May change things if and when that happens.

Simon
edited by simoncurrin on 4/7/2019