[IMPORTANT UPDATE: Vonage has recently delisted Bangladesh from their Plan Look-up Table. But, Dhaka landline numbers are still shown as being under the "Call Asia" plan if you manually check a phone number. I am getting conflicting reports as to whether or not Vonage has cancelled their unlimited calling to Bangladesh and started charging 19 cents a minute. Customers such as myself whose family heavily relies on this plan have not received any warning or notice of its discontinuation. This is not how Vonage should be treating their loyal customers. I can no longer recommend Vonage in good conscience. More updates as I get more details.]
I wish I found this out before my parents spent hundreds of dollars a month calling me in Bangladesh. Vonage – the internet phone company with the annoyingly catchy song in its ads – now offers free calls to Bangladesh as part of its Call Asia international calling plan. My family already uses Vonage – I gave it as a gift to my mom and dad almost two years ago so they could keep in touch with me while I was studying at Notre Dame.
For ten bucks a month more, I just added the Call Asia plan which gives them unlimited calling anytime to all Dhaka and Chittagong landlines (but not any cellphones). I double checked to make sure it works with landline numbers in regions like Baridhara, Shantinagar, and Gulshan (where my relatives live). After setting it up for my dad online – I had him give me a call. The call was surprisingly clear – better than the phone cards my other relatives use. It was even better than many of my local calls to cellphones.
What’s really neat is that Vonage also offers things like free call conferencing. So, after talking for a bit my dad call-conferenced my aunt into the conversation who lived elsewhere in Canada. All of that at no additional cost or per minute charges. I spent most of the conversation going “wow”. This solution is also ten times better than my use of Skype – whose quality is heavily dependent on the bandwidth I get on my end. With Vonage, my family can take full advantage of the DSL line we have back in Canada and just call me on a Dhaka landline instead.
I know I am coming off sounding like a commercial for Vonage. I am not affiliated with them nor am I getting paid by Vonage for this glowing praise. I’m just completely amazed that something like this exists.
