The Localphone Blog

Over the weekend we slashed our rates for all calls to Thailand landlines and mobiles by up to 25%!

Now, for just 0.6p GBP / 0.8¢ USD / 0.7c EUR per minute we’ll give you a high quality, reliable connection to Thailand with no connection charges, monthly fees, or other hidden costs.

Don’t forget that you can also call Thailand for free by recommending Localphone to your friends and family. It’s really easy to get started and you could be earning free calls within minutes. Find out more on our recommend page.

Thanks to your ongoing support we can continue to negotiate better rates with our suppliers, passing the savings on to you. The longer you call, and the more friends you recommend, the stronger position we’ll be in to negotiate in the future.

I’d like to thank you once again on behalf of everybody at Localphone for your continued loyalty and support.

Best wishes,
Paul Cusack, CEO.

We’ve spent a great deal of time listening to our customers’ feedback; finding out what services you would like to use, and what features could improve the Localphone website. If you haven’t noticed already, I’m pleased to announce that we have re-launched our website adding a whole host of new services.

The best way to explore our new features is to visit Localphone.com and look around, but here are some of the changes we’re most proud of…

Localphone Incoming Numbers

We can now provide you with your very own phone numbers in a growing list of countries. You can choose to forward Incoming Numbers to your landline or mobile, to a Localphone VoIP account (see below), or just let it go to your free Localphone Voicemail.

For example, if you live in the UK but have family in Australia, you could buy an Incoming Number in Sydney and forward it to your UK mobile. When somebody dials it you’ll receive the call on your mobile, and you’ll only be charged our standard rate to the UK. To the caller it will just appear to be a normal local landline number.

Get an Incoming Number wherever your friends and family live, and no matter where you go in the world you’ll always be just a local call away from your loved ones.

Localphone Incoming Numbers

Localphone VoIP

Localphone VoIP lets you make and receive cheap international calls over the Internet. It’s free to upgrade, and once you do you’ll be able to call from your PC or laptop, VoIP phone, or many modern mobiles that are VoIP-enabled.

We’ve made VoIP easy and fast to set up and it’s perfect for users where we don’t have local access numbers, or if you don’t want to use up your mobile contract’s free minutes.

Don’t worry—if you upgrade to VoIP you can still use our fantastic Calling Card and Direct Dial options. We want to give you the power to choose the most convenient way to make and receive calls.

Localphone VoIP

The Localphone Website

There are a few features that lots of customers have asked for; easier to manage contacts, a printable contact list, and simpler access to your account history. I’m pleased to announce that all of these features, and many more, are now available on the Localphone site.

Please take some time to familiarise yourself with the new dashboard layout as we continue to improve and simplify the interface.

Your Localphone Dashboard

We’ve received some great feedback from our customers so far, and I’d love to hear your thoughts on the new site and services, so please don’t hesitate to contact us with suggestions.

As always, you can keep up-to-date with our latest news and releases on The Localphone Blog and by following @localphone on Twitter.

Finally, don’t forget you can call for free by recommending Localphone to your friends and family.

I hope you’ll join the Localphone Team in celebrating the launch of our new website. We’ll continue our commitment to listen to your feedback and implement the features you feel will make your Localphone experience even better.

Pakistan and India are celebrating their Independence Days on 14th August and 15th August respectively, and to help commemorate the occasions Localphone are offering half price calls each day!

To mark 62 years of Pakistani independence you’ll be able to call any landline or mobile in Pakistan for just 2.85p / 3.95¢ / 3.25c per minute from 18:00 GMT on Thursday 13th until 18:00 GMT on Friday 14th August (midnight to midnight in Pakistan).

Likewise, India’s 62 years of independence sees our rate dropping to just 0.9p / 1.25¢ / 1.05c per minute for calls to any landline or mobile in India between 18:30 GMT on Friday 14th and 18:30 GMT on Saturday 15th August (midnight to midnight in India).

Customers don’t have to do anything to participate in this promotion - the rate will be adjusted automatically and will return to our standard low rates after the day ends (see our Call Pakistan and Call India pages for details).

Don’t forget to let your friends and relatives know about this promotion using our recommend-a-friend system, and you can call for free!

We have recently completed a thorough review of all of our call destinations and I’m happy to inform you that we have been able to cut the cost of calling hundreds of locations.

Our new rates came into effect at 12:00 GMT today (13th July) so you may already be saving even more when calling with Localphone.

Just a few of our more popular destinations that are now cheaper include:

Please check the international call rates section on the Localphone website to see all of our fantastic new rates.

Effective immediately we’ve slashed our rate for all calls to Bangladesh landlines and mobiles by up to 16%. For just 2.9p GBP / 3.9¢ USD / 3.5c EUR per minute we give you a direct digital connection to the Bangladesh telephone network — quality and reliability that cannot be beaten by any other provider.

Remember that at Localphone we’re up-front about our rates. We don’t hide the true cost of calling behind connection charges or monthly fees, and 2.9p / 3.9¢ / 3.5c per minute is all you’ll pay.

Get Free Calls to Bangladesh

Did you know that by recommending Localphone to your friends and family you can earn free calls? We’ve made it really easy to get started, and you could be earning free calls within minutes. Find out more on our recommend page.

I am pleased to inform you that thanks to your continuing support we’ve been able to reduce our rate for all calls to Pakistan.

Effective immediately our new rate will be 6.9p / 8.9¢ / 7.6c per minute to both landlines and mobiles. Find out more on our cheap calls to Pakistan page.

As we grow we’ll continue to negotiate better rates and pass the savings on to our loyal customers. Don’t forget that you can also earn free calls to Pakistan by recommending Localphone to your friends and family.

Hot on the heels of our recent price reduction (Jan 26th – “New Recession Busting Rates to Call India“) I am pleased to announce yet another drop in the cost of calling India. Effective immediately our new rate to India landlines and mobiles is a market-leading 1.9p GBP / 2.9¢ USD / 2.3c EUR per minute.

This is not just a short-term gimmick or promotion, and there are no terms, hidden fees, or minimum top-ups; just low rates and a great quality, direct route to India.

Thanks to the enthusiastic response to our most recent round of price drops we have already been able to return to our suppliers and negotiate a better rate; savings we are passing straight on to you.

Don’t forget; the longer you call, and the more friends you recommend, the stronger our position to negotiate even better rates on your behalf. I’d like to thank you once again on behalf of everybody at Localphone for your continued loyalty and support.

Best wishes,
Paul Cusack, CEO.

Customer satisfaction is very important to the Localphone team, and to this end our focus has always been on balancing low cost calling with high quality routes. It has traditionally been difficult to find reliable suppliers for calls to Bangladesh, and in the past your feedback has been that call quality hasn’t been clear and consistent.

I’m pleased to report that we have negotiated a partnership with one of the four new government licensed operators who can route traffic directly into Bangladesh. We have been testing this new supplier over recent weeks and are very pleased with the results we have seen; hopefully many of you will have already experienced the improved quality and noticed that we can now pass your Caller ID. We will be rolling out the changes to all routes into Bangladesh from February 1st.

Understandably higher quality routes come with a premium and as a result while the majority of Bangladeshi destinations will actually see a reduction in price, some customers may see their rates increase. When the new supplier goes live on the morning of February 1st our new rate for calls to all landlines and mobiles in Bangladesh will be 3.7p for UK customers, 4c for Euro customers, and 4.5¢ per minute for USD customers.

We believe that this is a step in the right direction for our users who call Bangladesh, and that you will be much happier with the Localphone service as a result.

We’d love to hear your feedback on these changes so please don’t hesitate to contact us if you’d like to discuss this or any other aspect of the Localphone service.

Update: 2009-02-13 - We’ve lowered our India rate even further!

I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you that the world economy has taken a hit lately, and people are looking to cut costs wherever they can. The good news is that thanks to your continued support Localphone is in a stronger position to negotiate with our suppliers, and we’ve managed to obtain a reduced rate for our calls to India; savings we are passing on to you.

Effective immediately our new rate to both landlines and mobiles in India will be 1.95p, 3.3¢, and 2.5c per minute for GBP, USD and EUR customers respectively.

Our Long-Term Commitment to Value

We have seen some companies offer a promotional rate over the past month at a price we feel they cannot sustain in the future. I believe our customers will not fall for short-term gimmicks and appreciate our consistently low rates and dependable, quality routes.

This is our new rate going forward and we hope to only reduce it further as our service grows.

No Compromise on Quality

It is also important to note that this reduction is the result of renegotiating with our existing partners in India who we will continue to work with. Localphone has a direct digital connection to the telephone network in India and you can expect to experience the same high quality calls you’re used to receiving from Localphone.

As always we’d love to hear your suggestions so please don’t hesitate to let us know if you have any thoughts about this reduction or any other aspect of the Localphone service.