Easy Call phone cards from The Resident

[mazza245]

We are property owners in Carvoeiro but to save money ringing home, we always buy Easy Call phone cards from The Resident office in Lagoa. They are 5 euros and are really good. If you get cards from normal newsagents, they are erratic and don't last the number of minutes they are supposed to. When I tried a card a few weeks ago, I got the message "Your card has been suspended" or something like that. I tried a different card and got the same message. We have been to the Resident office in Lagoa and it is shut up, no sign of where they have gone or what. The Resident is still being printed so presumably they are still in business somewhere and they may know what has happened to the Easy Call cards. Can anyone help me at all? At the moment it's costing a fortune ringing home all the time. Thanks.

[Ma-Ja's]

Hi, We also get these phone cards but from the Algarve Book Shop. The problem is not with the phone cards or the company but with PT who are blocking the calls to 882 500 121. We just keep on trying as sometimes PT release the number. Sorry we can't be anymore help than that. Maybe PT will stop blocking the number now the high season is coming to an end?!

But agree with you it costs a fortune to phone back to the UK. If anyone has any other solutions to phoning the UK then any help would be appreciated. We use Skype but sometimes you want to use a phone and not a laptop to make your calls.

[logicbob]

Put SKYPE on your computer and call to the UK via computer to computer for nothing, and if you have video on it you can see each other at the same time. We talk with friends and relative all over the world, and it doesn't cost a bean.

[mazza245]

Thanks for your replies. Yes, we have Skype and do use it to ring the kids but at the moment my husband is there with our laptop so we couldn't skype each other on the same computer!!! I will ask him to try the Algarve Book Shop for the cards - that's the one at the beginning of the in road on the left, isn't it?

[malrc]

If you have a smart phones then download an app called viber onto both of them and provided you can both connect your phone to a wifi service then you can use this to make free calls between the two.

[mazza245]

Sorry, we do not have smart phones or anything like that, just pay as you go I'm afraid which we don't use for obvious reasons. We haven't been able to get to the bottom of this at all. The cards are still unusable, the office has closed in Lagoa with no sign of where they have moved to, the Resident is still being published, presumably from an office somewhere else. I can only assume that the cards have been cancelled which is naughty considering they cost 5 euros each and I have two of them outstanding! You can buy phone cards in the newsagents but they aren't half as good, but better than paying full price for calls, I suppose. Thanks for your replies anyway.

[Ma-Ja's]

If the telephone number on the card you have to dial is 882 500 121, the problem is not with the Resident or the cards. The problem is that PT (equivalent of BT) are blocking calls to this number. We have the same problem, but keep on trying as sometimes we can get through. There is nothing that can be done about it I am afraid, just hope that PT unblock the number after the holiday season! The card companies are trying to sort it out, so fingers crossed!

[sod]

i use the monster card from cappi the newsagent in rua do barranco (out road) and never had a problem

[keela]

We were always having trouble with easycall cards. Sometimes they wouldn't connect and other times they told us that the card had been suspended. This happened one too many times and we stopped using them. We now use monster cards and haven't had a problem at all. The problem with the easycall cards is to do with the people who are running and own the cards inthe UK. They are not apparently paying what they should and this is why they keep getting suspended or unable to connect.