The Localphone Blog

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.

I’m pleased to announce that we’re halving our SMS rates to all destinations from now until the end of February.

Just as we have done with cheap international calling, we’re going to drive down the cost of sending SMS messages abroad while maintaining a reliable, high-quality service.

Here are some of our new half-price rates to popular destinations:

All International SMS Rates

Sending an SMS with Localphone couldn’t be easier. Simply log on to your Localphone dashboard to enter your messages and start sending.

To keep up-to-date with this and all the latest Localphone news please become a fan of our Facebook page and follow @localphone on Twitter.

As you may be aware, from Friday 1st January 2010 the UK’s VAT rate is going back up from 15% to 17.5%.

Most companies will be increasing their prices to compensate, but to celebrate another successful year at Localphone we’re going to keep our rates as they are, effectively giving a 2.5% discount across all destinations.

Thank you for your support in 2009. We’re looking forward to some exciting new developments over the coming months.

Please note that this notice affects our GBP and EUR customers. Users with USD accounts do not pay VAT.

Recently a few Localphone users have asked for our thoughts regarding the packages offered by some competing services, where customers pay a monthly fee and receive “unlimited” or a fixed number of minutes per month.

In our opinion these rarely offer good value for all but a relatively small number of the most heavy callers.

For example, here in the UK Vonage offers “V-Plan 4i”, advertising unlimited calls to India and others for £18.99 per month. We’ve found that a typical user calling India does so for about 400 minutes per month, giving an effective rate of 4.75p per minute (versus our current GBP rate to India from as little as 1.3p per minute).

To match our rate with Vonage you’d have to be calling for more than three times the average—almost 1,500 minutes per month!

Another common feature of these plans is a “fair usage policy” which can really sting those users that do make significantly higher numbers of calls. In Vonage’s case their fair usage policy limits their “unlimited” package to 2,000 minutes per month.

For those few users who do fall in this 1,500 to 2,000 minutes per month range we feel Localphone’s advanced features add enough value to be worth the small rate increase.

With Vonage you’re tied to using their hardware (with up to £39.99 set-up costs), while Localphone lets you call from your existing landline or mobile, or from your broadband or mobile Internet connection with Localphone VoIP. You can also send cheap international SMS messages, or even get an Incoming Number in your destination countries so friends and family can call you back.

As I’m sure our customers will agree, Localphone’s per minute billing offers significantly higher flexibility and value for money than competing package offers.

(information sourced from Vonage’s website on 23rd November, 2009)

As part of our ongoing commitment to reducing the cost of international calls I’m please to announce that we’ve been able to discount our rates to Nigeria by up to a whopping 20%!

As of yesterday our new rate to Nigeria is just 6.9p GBP / 9.5¢ USD / 7.6c EUR per minute to both landlines and mobiles.

You can expect to see the same great call quality despite this reduction, as the price drop reflects the growing popularity of our calls to Nigeria. As we continue to grow we’ll keep re-negotiating our rates and passing the savings on to you, so don’t forget to recommend Localphone to your friends, family, and colleagues—you can even earn free call credit when they top up!

Thank you for your continued support and loyalty. With your help we’ll keep driving down the cost of calling Nigeria and the world.

Best wishes,
Paul Cusack, CEO.

Hot on the heels of our recent rate drop to Bangladesh I’m pleased to announce even further reductions in the cost of calling.

The response to our announcement on the 1st October was so overwhelmingly positive we’ve already been able to return to our suppliers to negotiate a further decrease, and we’re passing the savings straight on to you!

You can now call Bangladesh for just 2.25p GBP / 3.15¢ USD / 2.5c EUR per minute to all landlines and mobiles. Don’t forget that for this low rate you’re getting a direct digital connection to your friends and family, giving call quality and reliability that simply can’t be beaten.

As always, the more calls we handle the stronger our negotiating position so please continue to recommend Localphone to your friends—you even earn free call credit when they start to use the service.

Thank you again for your continued support and loyalty.

Best wishes,
Paul Cusack, CEO.

To celebrate the upcoming Diwali festivities we’re announcing our new low rates to India…

These fantastic new rates are effective immediately, and there are no expiry dates, no minimum top-ups, and no other terms or conditions required to participate. It’s also not just a temporary promotion - these are our new rates to India going forward!

This latest round of reductions reaffirms Localphone’s position as the best value for money international call provider in the market. Our direct digital connections to India’s largest carriers give us crystal clear call quality that is second to none. Our ongoing commitment to negotiating better rates and passing the savings on to you means the big brands simply can’t compete.

I’d like to thank you for your ongoing support and loyalty that has made great rates like these possible. Let’s continue to work together to drive down the cost of calling India and the world.

Best wishes,
Paul Cusack, CEO.

Update: Thanks to an overwhelmingly positive response we’ve already been able to reduce the Bangladesh rate further!

Thanks to your continuing support we’ve been able to discount our rate to Bangladesh to just 2.4p GBP / 3.3¢ USD / 2.7c EUR per minute, and our rate to Pakistan to just 5.3p GBP / 7.4¢ USD / 5.9c EUR per minute.

These new low rates apply for all calls to landlines and mobiles, and are effective immediately. We’ve partnered with the largest carriers in Bangladesh and Pakistan to provide a direct digital connection to your friends and family, offering unrivalled call quality and reliability.

Bangladesh and Pakistan have always been among our most popular destinations and as we continue to grow we’ll keep negotiating for lower rates on your behalf. The more calls we handle the stronger our position is when we work with our suppliers, so don’t forget to recommend Localphone to your friends and family — you can even earn free credit when they top up.

Thank you once again for choosing Localphone to handle your calls. With your help we’re building the world’s premier international calling service and we look forward to continuing to provide you with high quality calls at market-leading rates.

Best wishes,
Paul Cusack, CEO.

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.