Hi everyone!
Well, calling cards are a necessary evil for me - to call up home. Funny thing is in Korea( south) they have GPS and TV on their phones, but calling India is a big headache. It usually took me 5 minutes for the operator to understand that I cannot speak Korean. The network is sooo bad that I have not been able to call home at least 50% of the time - and I used to curse( I am excellant in this field) Airtel when in Delhi.
One day I saw the Tata Indicom calling card. I bought it online - they debited my ICICI bank - and got the card numbers etc by mail within 15 minutes. Tried calling home - Seoul to India was roughly Rs 10 a minute. You can recharge easily and the site accepts credit cards also - but the codes etc are sent after a day . Goodbye operator.
I was pretty happy with it and one day went to Itaewon - the american adda over here. Saw a shop selling Indian groceries and found this card - called " The Story" It is for 14, 000 KRW and gives a talk time of 150 minutes. Already through with my first 2 cards and luckily have got full talktime on them. But you can use it only from Korea.
While travelling to other countries, I now prefer to use the Tata card - a card of 250 rs gives you 25 minutes without any other charges and you can buy it online - the biggest benefit. I just have to access the site before lunch and buy the card and when I come back, the mail with the access codes is in the Inbox.
I have heard Airtel also has a card - but surprisingly there was no mention of it on their website.
Happy calls!