Calling from Somalia

[kingaira90]

My bother in law deployed recently to Somalia (Marines). He blew through his calling cards faster than ever expected, the rates to call from there are terrible. I found lots of calling cards online for calling from the US to Somalia but not the other way around.

From what I gather he doesn't have access to the internet long enough to use a VOIP phone or Skype etc. Just send out a quick email. And those sat phones are expensive (E-2, or E-3 income).

We were asked to include calling cards in our care box.

Any sources on calling cards for calling FROM Somalia?

Thanks in advance -kingaira90

 

[ec130e]

Just curious.....do they have access to satellite phones.

 

[satpak77]

SKYPE if you have internet access

hands down, the best way

 

[kingaira90]

Just curious.....do they have access to satellite phones.

don't think so, if he did is there a cheap way to call on those?

 

[kingaira90]

SKYPE if you have internet access

hands down, the best way

Thanks yep it would be, but he doesn't have internet access for more than a few min at a time. Long enough to send a short email. -kingaira90

 

[MarineGrunt]

Does he have DSN? If he does, he can call back to any operator on almost any military base in the states and they can patch him to an 800 number (phone card number). That way he will only be charged a US-US call rate on his card. Or if the person he is calling is within the local calling distance of said base - he can just ask the operator to patch him to the number directly.

 

[MarineGrunt]

don't think so, if he did is there a cheap way to call on those?

Some units issue those to individual flight crews and they are able to use them to call home. I don't think it would be worth getting one on his own.

 

[satpak77]

there are ways to configure Skype (or any other VOIP type service) to forward a call to another number.

In other words, whatever phone number he can be reached at in Somalia, you can get a "virtual number" in whatever area code, and when that is dialed, it forwards to the Somalia number.

of course, this costs, and somebody must pay. BUT, it is a work-around for not having calling cards in your pocket.

also, ask him to hook up with the marine guards at the embassy (if one exists). those guys know the system better than anybody, even better than the Ambassador. they will tell him the best way to do it.

 

[Mud Eagle]

The problem at some of these places is that either the gov't internet connection won't allow the user to get to things like SKYPE, or the commercial internet is so damn low on bandwidth that it just doesn't work worth a crap.

 

[Andy]

Somalia is one vacation destination that I haven't had a chance to visit yet, but I've been to other places that pose the same types of logistical problems.

Internet likely suks rox, so VOIP is out of there.

Access to DSN is likely limited to something like 15 minutes/wk and/or there's a line for hours just to use a DSN phone.

Sat phones are prohibitively expensive.

He probably is restricted to a small area, so visiting the US embassy is likely out of the question.

My recommendation may seem a bit off the wall, but you may want to send him an HF radio which would allow him to get a phone patch through a MARS (Military Affiliated Radio System) station. They can patch phone calls through commercial lines in the US, which will only be a US-US long distance call.
Before going too deep down this road, contact a local ham radio club to check on the feasibility of such a thing. It looks like you can pick up a good used HF radio fairly inexpensively.
Also, if your brother in law can get access to his unit's HF radios on a regular basis, he could simply call a MARS station.

Good luck; I'm sure your sister would be very appreciative to get a chance to talk to her husband on a regular basis. I will check into this a bit deeper before my next Southwest Asia TDY, so any information that you find out about this would be appreciated.