The Localphone Blog

Many customers have written to us in the wake of the recent flood disaster in Pakistan asking for a temporary discount on our call rates so they can keep in contact with their loved ones.

After negotiating with our suppliers in the country they have generously agreed to reduce our costs, allowing us to immediately lower the cost of calls to Pakistan to just $0.079 USD / £0.053 GBP / €0.064 EUR per minute. I am also pleased to announce that despite only recently reducing our rates, this is not a temporary change but our new standard rate to Pakistan.

Recent United Nations estimates give the number of people suffering as a result of these floods at over 13.8 million, as well as causing billions of dollars of damage to infrastructure and crops. We hope these reduced call rates will go some way to giving comfort as the recovery process begins.

With the massive infrastructure damage there may be some call quality or connectivity issues, but please don’t hesitate to contact us and our engineers will work hard to find alternative routes for your calls.

Further information:

• 2010 Pakistan floods
• In pictures: Pakistan under water
• Red Cross Pakistan Floods Appeal

Hot on the heels of launching our service in South Africa, I’m pleased to announce that our most popular products are now available for users living in or travelling to Germany. As of today you can now use Localphone access numbers in Berlin, Dortmund, and Frankfurt.

With Direct Dial we’ll give you a different German landline number to call for each of your contacts. When you dial these local numbers you’ll be connected straight through—no need for account numbers or PINs.

With our Virtual Calling Card you can call one German number to manage your Localphone account and to dial any number in the world.

Don’t forget you can already purchase Incoming Numbers in Germany. These appear as normal landline numbers but can be forwarded to your landline or mobile anywhere in the world at our great international rates, or for free to a Localphone VoIP account.

Existing users can get German access numbers by clicking the “change” link next to “Your Location” near the top of the Localphone Direct Dial page. New users should select Germany as “Your Country” when signing up for their free test call.

Don’t forget to tell your friends and family in Germany and you can call and SMS for free!

We’re very excited to announce the availability of our most popular products for users living in or travelling to South Africa, with the addition of access numbers in Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg, and Pretoria.

With Direct Dial we’ll give you a different South African landline number to call for each of your contacts. When you dial these local numbers you’ll be connected straight through—no need for account numbers or PINs.

With our Virtual Calling Card you can call one South African number to manage your Localphone account and to dial any number in the world.

You can now also purchase Incoming Numbers in South Africa in any of the four cities. These appear as normal landline numbers but can be forwarded to your landline or mobile anywhere in the world at our great rates, or for free to a Localphone VoIP account.

Existing users can get South African access numbers by clicking the “change” link next to “Your Location” near the top of the Localphone Direct Dial page. New users should select South Africa as “Your Country” when signing up for their free test call.

We’re very pleased we can now offer these great products to users in South Africa, and to those travelling to South Africa for the upcoming World Cup. Don’t forget to tell your friends and family and you can call and SMS for free.

To help commemorate Memorial Day we’re giving completely free calls to landlines and mobiles in the United States for the entire weekend!

As of 9:30am GMT this morning and lasting until 12:00 GMT (noon) on Monday 31st May you can talk to the US for as long as you want, to as many people as you want, and we won’t charge you a cent!

New and existing customers can make free calls from your landline or mobile using Direct Dial or Calling Card, or from your PC, iPhone, or other VoIP-enabled device with Localphone VoIP.

You can also buy a number in any of our 45 Incoming Number countries and forward calls to your landline or mobile in the US for free throughout the weekend!

Don’t forget to tell your friends and family to sign up for an account of their own, and if they keep using the service after the weekend you can keep calling for free!

For full details, please see our Cheap Calls to USA page.

India has always been one of Localphone’s most popular calling destinations, and to say thank-you for your continued loyalty we’re going to be offering all calls to Indian landlines and mobiles at just 1p / 1.5¢ / 1.2c per minute for the rest of May.

Compared to our standard rates that’s a massive saving of up to 32%!

There has never been a better time to recommend Localphone to your friends and family. For example if they top-up just $15 you’ll earn enough for 100 minutes of talk time to any landline or mobile in India, and you’ll keep on earning more for any orders they place in the first 90 days of their account! For full details see our recommend-a-friend page.

For full details of this promotion please see our cheap calls to India page.

I hope you’ll enjoy this new low rate for your calls in May. Please take a moment to become a fan on Facebook or follow us on Twitter and let us know any suggests or feedback you have for the site or service.

One frequent request that we hear from our European users is to improve our access number coverage across the continent, and to offer more Direct Dial numbers in the cities we already serve.

To start this process we’ve contracted with a new supplier and I’m pleased to announce that we have expanded our coverage to 50 Direct Dial access numbers in the following cities:

• Amsterdam, Netherlands
• Dublin, Ireland
• Madrid, Spain
• Oslo, Norway
• Paris, France

If you are currently using access numbers in these cities please note that we have updated the numbers you’ll need to dial. You can get an up-to-date list on Your Dashboard. The old access numbers will continue to work for now but we plan to disable them within the next few weeks.

If you live in one of these countries but are not currently using access numbers in the above cities and would like to take advantage of the improved coverage, you can update your Direct Dial numbers at any time by clicking the “change” link next to “Your Location” on Your Dashboard.

I hope you’ll benefit from this first stage of improved coverage. Over the coming months we’ll be expanding our access numbers in more cities, as well as launching our service in new European countries.

As always, please don’t hesitate to let us know if you have any other suggestions or other comments.

Last month we reduced the cost of international SMS messaging to 30 countries, and now we’re ready for another round of savings.

Below are our new per-SMS rates to countries you have SMS’d or called. These new rates are effective immediately and you don’t have to change a thing:

To keep up to date with the latest Localphone news don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and become a fan of our Facebook page.

Thanks to the overwhelming response to our half price SMS promotion last month we’ve already managed to negotiate better rates with our suppliers. I’m pleased to announce that we’re passing these savings straight on to you!

Below are our new rates to countries that have been reduced:

These new rates are effective immediately and you don’t need to change a thing. I hope you’ll enjoy our new, even cheaper international SMS messaging.

It’s time for another big Localphone promotion. This time we’re offering calls to a whopping 43 countries for 1¢ / 0.5p / 0.8c or less throughout March.

This offer is available for all new and existing customers. For full details and a list of the countries involved please check the Localphone Promotions page.

Don’t forget you can even call for free by recommending Localphone to your friends and family with our Recommend-a-Friend scheme.

To keep up-to-date with this and all Localphone promotions you can follow @localphone on Twitter or become a fan of the Localphone Facebook Page.

At Localphone we’re all about helping people communicate, and when is communicating more important than on Valentine’s Day?

This Sunday 14th February we’re giving away free calls to 34 countries around the world, all day long.

For full details and a list of the countries in this promotion please visit our call promotions page.

Don’t forget to keep up-to-date with our latest news by following @localphone on Twitter and becoming a fan of the Localphone Facebook Page.