link did number -->pbxes.org-->voipcheap-->UM mobile

[bbob]

looks great but very complicated.

I would still prefer pbxes using callback.

Reason is simple. If you buy local prepaid cards you think that you get a good deal, but for example here in europe most simple prepaid cards do charge a minimum of 0.20 euro per minute.

If you would have a united-mobile card you can make a callback using betamax for around 0.10 to 0.15 euro per minute. When doing this in roaming free countries it's cheaper than a prepaid card.

When in countries where the there is no free roaming you could indeed use callthru.

This just saves you buying all different sim cards and keeping track of them.

[andy]

Originally Posted by bbob

If you buy local prepaid cards you think that you get a good deal, but for example here in europe most simple prepaid cards do charge a minimum of 0.20 euro per minute.

There are an increasing number of mnvo providers with cheap int'l calls from a few cents.

But if they don't list good rates for all countries, or for calls to the same country, then callthrough via a foreign access is worth looking at.

It may indeed be that callback has similar rates, but sometimes just pressing one or two buttons to dial a saved entry seems a bit easier

[Grampa]

Originally Posted by bbob

looks great but very complicated.

I don't intend to actually use it; I'd just like to figure it out. As someone said in another forum, if I count my time, I've got my costs down to only a couple of hundred bucks per minute.

Seriously, when you say you prefer "pbxes using callback," are you referring to the callback feature of pbxes? If so, I don't believe that is available in the free version.

In any event, what I'm proposing does not preclude using United Mobile or any other card. I can set up pbxes so that one DID rings whatever cards and/or landlines I choose, a second DID allows me to change those target numbers remotely, and a third DID provides callthrough dialtone using any of several cheap outbound trunks (maybe there is a way to do this with fewer DIDs, but I haven't got that far yet). The only cost would be the outbound trunk, which is often free to landlines, plus the cellular connection which is often free inbound. But the system would work the same for both international and local cards.

I do agree with your point about buying and keeping track of lots of different cards. Any savings are likely to evaporate once the minutes expire.