[mrbarlow]

I've just stumbled across this and I must admit it intrigued me so I thought I'd sign up and give it a go, especially since they are currently offering a 1month holiday on the $1 fees.

The UI via the web site is quite nice and it's pretty easy to use. Thus far I've tried it on UK & Estonian based people and it's worked fine other than on one Estonian call (the callback dropped) and one UK call (couldn't hear each other from the initial call).

In general the quality is pretty good: call volume is perhaps a little lower than a "normal" call and there does seem to be something of a delay effect but it's perfectly usable. I'm not certain what happens if you then added a new telephone number (i.e. when travelling) i.e. whether it automatically generates new local numbers for all your contacts or whether you'd have to do it manually - if so that would be a pain.

As others have pointed out, the rates and service are not the answer to everything. For one thing, it's cheaper to make overseas calls to landlines and mobiles from call through numbers (without the delay) and more often through VOIP services too.

Initially I thought it could be a good travel solution and could cancel my plan to buy an international sim (given that 1 and possibly 2 of this year's planned trips are now covered by 3). However, you have to do the maths beforehand on a case-by-case basis. E.g. I'm going to France for a 4 day trip in Feb and toyed with the idea of buying a local SIM and using Rebeltel.

However, such are the cost of making even local calls (€0.45 on NRJ) there, it would work out cheaper to make calls using an International SIM even if the recipient did call me back! Plus, I would effectively be paying for incoming calls ($0.20mob $0.02landline) since this would be a cheaper option than calling back @ €0.45 per minute.

Also, thinking about my Canada trip: Rebeltel could potentially save money for calling UK landlines, but given that Fido charges only $0.35CDN to call any UK number this would work out cheaper to use than Rebeltel for a UK mobile (as possibly would a good calling card). I've noticed also that the "local" number for Toronto is 647 whereas from what I can gather all the numbers in central Toronto seem to be 416?

I suppose from the pricing structure that the main appeal is calling between European mobile networks on which both parties have contracts with plenty of inclusive minutes. It would suit someone like my girlfriend since she is from Estonia and would be able to use her uk mobile to ring her friends/family on their mobiles (and vice versa) and providing they do the call back it will be cost effective.

It would also work out cheaper to use Rebeltel than an International SIM when I next visit Estonia so I suppose all this really is a case of different horses for different courses!