Free International Calls? Well, With an Ad Thrown In

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews

Free international calls?  Well, if you can call Iowa for free, that is (and with cell phones and free long distance, who can’t?)  What’s the catch?  There’s an ad you have to listen to.

Futurephone, a California startup company, has, for the last three weeks, been offering you the chance to call a number in Iowa, then enter a number you’re trying to reach in any of 50 other countries, and — bingo — you’re on the phone to Shanghai. Or Warsaw. Or Christmas Island.  

We tried it, and it works. You call 712-858-8883, and a recorded voice answers, inviting you to hear brief instructions in English, Spanish or Chinese. Then you dial 011, the country code (51 for Peru, for instance, or 359 for Bulgaria) and the local number. If someone is there and awake to answer at the other end, you can talk to the other side of the planet — for whatever it cost you to make a call to Iowa.  Source: ABC News

We Say: My mother-in-law is in France.  This might be a good test of it!