International phone cards: any recommendations?

[soyabean]

Does anyone use a calling card that has good rates to China? Or know how I can compare prices? The sites I have found were not at all clear to an ignoramus like me. And related: can all m0obiles be used from all countries? I know it wd be expensive but in case of emergency only.
Many thanks. I am confident that someone out there will be able to help!

Does it have to be a card, soyabean?

Onetel charge 19p a minute (BT's rate is 108p!!!!) (www.onetel.co.uk)
Equitalk (www.equitalk.co.uk)charge 14p a minute.

With both you have to register and set up a direct debit, and then dial an access code before dialling the number you want.

All mobiles can't be used from all countries but most can from most. I just checked Virgin's site and China wasn't on the list of countries needing tri-band.

Mobile calls to/from China on Virgin :

Cost of making a call from China to the UK £1.80 Cost of receiving a call whilst in China £1.00
Cost of sending text messages from China to the UK £0.45
Cost of receiving text messages whilst in China
£0.00

The call charges are per minute - I made 13 calls of 3 seconds or less (hung up on answerphone) from Spain and was charged 50 p for each one - total 6.50 for about 20 seconds. Ouch. Texting is best!

www.virginmobile.com/mobile/services/abroad/abroad.jsp shows which countries need triband phones (American mostly) and has a link for looking for individual charges.

HTH!

Wow thanks janh, thats so helpful. No it doesnt have to be a card, its just that I had heard they offered best rates. My dh phones China a lot from home and Im sure there have to be better rates than what hes on. The mobile question is because he is probably taking ds 1 aged 11 with him to visit his family in the summer and tho I think its a fab idea I suddenly realis I want ds to be able to ring whenever he feels he needs to. He probably never will but you never know.

I use a long distance company called Primus. They have very good rates to everywhere (3p to usa). I think their china rate is around 15p/min. The good thing is that you get an itemized phone bill (something you don't get with a callingcard) so that you can charge it back to clients/taxes. They set it up so that you just have to dial an access number from your house phone and then the phone number and then they give you a calling card number for travelling. I have used them for years. Their lines vary from very good to so-so, but their rates have always been the best. Their phone number is 0500.789.800. Also if you decide to use them and give my name (Sofia Ames) as the referral I get a discount on my bill .

You should have no problem in theory using a uk mobile in china as they are on the same standard as the uk. However, make sure that your mobile company has an agreement with a company in china. Roaming abroad can be very expensive. What I would recommend is getting your phone unblocked before you go (this isn't illegal) and buying a local sim card in China (probably relatively cheap). I can give you the name of someone in London who can do it if you're interested. I did this with my triband phone in the usa and in italy.

Thanks sofiaames. I am so uninformed about mobiles etc. I do have one but only use it for real basics and emergencies. Have been looking on the tmobile website and trying to understand the whole single/dual/triband thing, and sim cards. Also realise that as dh family live in a pretty remote place they may not be able to use the phone there anyway. More research needed, but thanks for your time!

I am known as the mobile phone queen in my family. single/dual/tri band phone concept is simple...it was designed by men and therefore there is no single standard for the world. Thre are three basic standards and they use different bandwiths (like a radio) for transmission. A single band phone will only work in the uk (not many of these around any more). A dual band phone will work in the uk and most of the rest of the world except usa. A triband phone will work everywhere (I think) including the usa.
The sim card is the little memory card (like a mini floppy disk) that holds all the information for the phone including the phone number. If you take your triband phone to china with your uk t-mobile sim card your phone will work with your english phone number but it will be roaming and you will pay lots to both send and receive calls.
If you take your triband phone to china and buy a chinese sim card, then you will have a new chinese phone number and only pay to make calls, not receive them. However, if you are planning to do this it is important to make sure that you "unblock" your mobile before you go, as almost all mobiles are blocked by the provider (like t-mobile) as they subsidize the cost of the phones in this country.
Your dh's family should be able to tell you what chinese mobile phone companies get reception in their area. You then need to pick one that is a gsm network (ie based on sim cards that will work in your gsm phone).