Most cost-effective way to phone the UK?

[200bhp]

My wife has, until recently, had a Vodafone pre-pay SIM that allowed her to call the UK for $1 per hour as long as she topped up by $20 per month. This was an obvious bargain for us but seemingly not so great for Vodafone who have now dropped the deal in favour of a significantly more expensive arrangement that means its now cheaper to get a contract.

She's also in need of a new phone as her 7 year old Sony Ericsson is rather tired which swings it further in favour of the contract options.

In the apparent absence of a comparison website, I was hoping the PH members could share their thoughts ont he best was to get cheap phone calls to the UK?

We've tried 2 VOIP providers and the call quality is terrible. Skype is OK but the in-laws back in england prefer a good old fashioned phone call.

[200bhp]

Our internet connection at home isnt that great and skype/VOIP quality is variable at best. How much data does VOIP use if we were to use 4G? That may be a better option.

[200bhp]

Well in the end my wife upgraded to an iphone on pre-pay and has used Viber to call her parents a couple of times. Call quality has been excellent and costs just over $1 an hour.

Shes happy as a pig in poo with the phone and wonders how she ever managed without a smart phone - welcome to the 21st century haha!