Whether it’s for personal or business purposes, it’s very likely that you will be making long-distance or overseas calls to your family, friends or colleagues. There are various ways to make direct international call when in Singapore. This guide will provide you some tips and a few different options to make international calls from Singapore more affordable.
Overseas Calling Options
- Skype
If you have Skype, use it. Skype is an excellent VoIP app that provide excellent value for your money in making calls to anywhere in the world. The premium prices are very affordable and transparent. Most importantly, there’s no need to waste your time figuring out how to use the cheapest rates by combining various promotions and marketing gimmicks used by most telco companies. - Independent Service Providers
There are numerous independent service providers in Singapore that provide overseas calling services. Most of them offer S$10 to S$20 calling cards that you can buy at convenience stores. However, using these cards can be cumbersome—since you’re required to dial a special number and key in a long pin code—and can be expensive over time. This may be an option for personal uses and to small businesses that rarely need to call overseas, but a costly communication method for bigger companies. - Telephone Companies
There are three different telephone operators in Singapore: Starhub, Mobile One and Singtel. If you’re subscribed to their line or any mobile phone service, you will have to use their international dialling prefix to make overseas calls—whether PSTN-based or VoIP based calls.
- PSTN-Based Calls: Making international calls using PSTN offers the best quality of voice call, but can be quite expensive. A PSTN-based call is best used for making important calls where voice quality is of great importance. If otherwise, consider the next option.
- VoIP-Based Calls: Overseas calls using telcos’ VoIP dialling prefixes are a popular option for many businesses in Singapore because it’s much more convenient than making international calls through PSTN, acceptable voice quality and the rates are much more affordable especially if you can use any of their promo rates.
Regardless of whether your business is big or small, chances are you will be making overseas calls to colleagues, business partners and potential international transactions. There are several ways to make direct long-distance calls from Singapore. The bottomline: if making a very important call overseas, your best choice is PSTN for best voice quality. If voice quality is no big deal, VoIP is your most affordable solution.