I recently discovered Toolani, it is a fantastic way to get to speak to your loved ones across the ponds, the traditional way of using the phone. Not video calling or talking to a laptop, the normal “I think I will just give cousin Alec a call” kind of way.
Some of you may remember that 7 years ago I found my long lost family in New Zealand, on behalf of my Grandad. He had two sisters that emigrated to New Zealand in the war and whilst Grandad was in the RAF he used to visit them and write as much as he could. But 7 years ago, Grandad didn’t know whether they were still alive or still in New Zealand. I took it upon myself to investigate, I signed up to ancestry websites and I hunted the white pages in New Zealand and eventually there was success. I called one his sisters sons, it was a name match in the white pages, but I thought what the heck the worst that can happen is it is not him and yes, it would have cost me a lot of money to hear those words – but it was worth it. Fortunately for me, I got lucky, there isn’t many of my family name in Wanganui where Grandads sisters settled. The New Zealand accent on the end of the phone knew exactly who I was talking about and it was infact my Grandads nephew, yippee. Mike told me about the family over there and unfortunately I had missed out on both of Grandads sisters, one by not many years, which was so sad. But Grandad was stoked that he got to catch up with his nephews and family, who he had not seen for over 30 years. Mike put us in touch with Alec and that started a great relationship. We have seen them twice as they have come to the UK to visit, we catch up by email and Facebook but I hardly talk to them. That is about to change.
The costs
Well I suppose the Toolani app speaks for it self, but it screams out cheap international calls when you compare what the costs would be from my home phone to New Zealand.
UK landline: 41.8p
Toolani app: 0.9p
*prices are per minute.
You can clearly see the difference and I am in shock at how cheap the calls would be. You can go to the website and do a quick search for a price of the call www.toolani.com to get an idea if you have loved ones overseas.
The Toolani app
It is really easy to use, install the Toolani app from the appstore and sign up if you haven’t already. Registration is free and you have no contractual obligations, unlike a phone contract. I registered with my landline phone number. Once registered, add your contacts and away you go.
Who are you going to call?
