Want to know how to make free (and unlimited) national or international calls to friends and family? The answer is Talkster. Of course you’re probably thinking that they have to pay for it somehow, so “what’s the catch?” There is a catch, but it’s a small one and one that won’t take away from the usefulness or attractiveness of the service. To pay for operations, users will be required to listen to a ten second ad at the beginning of each call — that’s it! Once you’ve listened to the ad, you’re able to talk ad free for however long you’d like. I should also note that the ad is interactive. After you listen to it, they explain that you can press star on your phone to get more details about the sponsor. This service works for calls between one person, all the way up to calls between five people.
Here’s how it works – for every person that you want to talk to, you’ll get a local Talkster number for them after providing your mobile or landline number. Then they’ll get a local Talkster number for you based upon their mobile or landline number. Either your friend can receive the number via SMS, or you can give it to them. Then follow these steps:
- Call your friend using your Talkster number for them
- When your friend answers, tell them to call the number in the SMS they were sent or look at the incoming CallerID on their phone. You stay on the line, but tell them to hang up and call you back on that number
- Your friend hangs up and dials back, using the Talkster number for you.
- You are connected and begin talking for Free
I tried it, and it was very simple. Once I entered my phone number as well as the phone number for the person I wanted to call on their website, it sent both of us a text message with the number that we’d each need to call. Once we were connected, the quality was the same as any other call you’d receive.
While it’s simple and easy, there is a downside, and that is that there are currently only 26 supported countries like Australia, U.S., U.K., Mexico, Canada, Netherlands, and Germany. With nearly 200 countries globally, 26 really isn’t that much. The good news though is that they say they add countries all the time so the list will continue to grow.
Overall I’d say Talkster is a great free solution for making calls worldwide.
Source: CyberNet Forum (Thanks Pieter!)
That sounds pretty crazy…i’m going to have to look into this…
Thanks, it sounds worth checking out.
Another cybermark.
I was actually surprised at how well the service worked. I’m not sure if they will be able to afford it by offering just one ad, unless they limit the amount of time that you can talk. It will be interesting to see how it pans out though.
I tried it myself, so I know it works! It is pretty crazy — definitely a nice service.
“…I’m not sure if they will be able to afford it by offering just one ad,…”
could be they sell your phone/cell # and that of your friends to telemarketers
Doubtful, they will go down faster than a sinking ship if that’s the case.
If I start getting calls from telemarketers- I’ll let ya know! Currently I don’t get any calls from telemarketers — so this would be easy to determine.
Hi Ashley,
Thanks for sharing Talkster with your readers.
Some people that have heard about Talkster’s Free World Dialing have thought it’s too good to be true. It isn’t. We took a moment to address some of the most common questions from people who believe that free international calls just for listening to a 10-second ad can’t possibly be true. You can check out the Q&A here: [mobilitywire.com]
So it’s like Rebtel but you have to listen to an annoying commercial. Hm, I think I’ll stick with Rebtel
. But if you want to call El Salvador or Hong Kong then you have to settle for Talkster.