As a Nigerian in Diaspora, one of the many issues i had is communication with my siblings, parents and friends back home – how to Make cheap Calls to Nigeria. This troubled me for quite a number of months for several reasons. Among the reasons were the fact that my income was very small which means I had to spend less, else I won’t be able to pay up my debt as well as extend a little help to my mum and siblings!
My name is Jonathan Angie, i am a Nigerian and resident of The United Arab Emirates and on this post today, you are going to be learning how to make cheap calls to Nigeria from wherever you are at a very cheap rate!
Before anything, i would like to say that In Dubai or Abu Dhabi or any other state making up the united Arab Emirates, there exists a lot of restrictions and the use of Whatsapp, Facebook messenger, etc for calls would only be possible if you had a virtual private network or what they call VPN Installed.
However, installing a VPN doesn’t mean you call will get to your loved ones back home especially as some of them may not even have a whatsapp compatible mobile phone.
In Dubai, calling a Nigerian Number with Du or Etisalat lines is often very expensive as you would be charged over N240/Minute. This is often a challenge because the job offers available for Nigerians in Dubai don’t offer much money, you have to be strict with your expenses or end up broke befoe your next paycheck
How Do Nigerians make Calls to People Back Home?
In Order to make cheap phone calls to your loved ones back home, here are a few things you got to do
1. Buy DU/Etisalat Hello! Card
Buying a Hello! Card is one of the cheapest means of calling your loved ones in Nigeria from Dubai. One of the several benefits is that it offers you 28 minutes to gist and share stories with your loved ones without interruptions. However, i found some issues with the package that made me run away.
i. Sometimes it is hard hooking up with the server
II. Sometimes 28 minutes isn’t enough time to talk and Gist
III .Calling means dialing several numbers which you won’t have to do if you were calling normally
iv. A Hello card sells for 15Dhs and sometimes you just can’t afford it especially if you receive anything less than 2400Dhs as salary
2. Calling With WowApp
WowApp is another wonderful app that allows you call Nigerians back home without depending on some VPN or Du Hello Card. It is an app you just have to install and do some registration, encourage your loved one at the other end to do same after which you guys share usernames and start calling as soon as you can or have the time. WowApp is free to use but using this amazing app means the person you are calling must be running some data bundle else the call won’t happen!
WowApp to me is actually a great alternative to whatsapp which is currently denied calling ability in the united Arab emirates, so if you live in Dubai or any other city within the UAE and would like to call your loved ones regularly, encourage them to sign up with wowapp!
Aside wowapp, Botim also allows users call without network restrictions, Botim is however very common with Filipinos, Indians, etc
3. The Ultimate way to Make Cheap Calls to Nigeria
The 3rd and best way to make cheap calls to Nigeria from UAE Or anywhere in the world is to opt for SmileVoice Package!
This is why i call it the ultimate, It is the Ultimate because whether you reside in United Arab emirates or Canada, United States, Iceland, so long as you are connected to WiFi or have mobile data, you can make calls and the price is very cheap
With N3000 package, you are offered 480 minutes to call as many Nigerian numbers as you wish and whenever you can. This means you just keep talking isn’t it?
This helped me a lot when I was building a house back home since I was always in constant communication with my mum and the contractor to make sure things go as planned
Are you trying to say it is expensive? No, it is cheap because as a first timer, you pay the N6000 for a sim and registration. On activation, you get N2040 balance on your account along with some 480 minutes to call Mama in the Village, Nene in UNIBEN and Ayo in Lagos for that important business!
Renewal of your Package comes monthly unless you exhaust the allocated minutes.
So if you really would like to keep that communication going at a cheaper price, smilevoice app is all you need because it can connect anyone so long at they have a Nigerian number and this is one of the cheapest packages I’d ever seen
Let’s not forget SmileVoice App also works for Nigerians in Nigeria which means if you are reading this, a Nigerian living in Nigeria, you can opt for this package especially for business owners who make a lot of voice calls with their customers
Requirements to Make Cheap Calls to Nigeria
In order to enjoy this cheap calls, you are going to have to provide a few details that allows Smile purchase and register a digital sim and i am going to list these below;
1. Full Name
2. Nigerian Number (You can use that of your person back home)
3. ID (International Passport, Driver’s license, Voter’s card)
4. Mother’s Maiden name
5. Email address (To Receive your activation Code)
6. N6000 Registration fee (You pay to Smile)
Note: You are only charged about N500 for the sim, you get a balance of N2000 on activation and this can be used when you exhaust your first 480 minutes.
You can also recharge your bundle using Bank card or bank transfer
4. Call Bundles
Whether you are subscribed to Du or Etisalat, you get cheap call offers, but the truth remains the cost for these bundles are quite high and as a result, it is in most cases too expensive when you really need to make call with your loved ones in Nigeria. Thus, Smile Voice offers cheap calls to Nigeria at a very low cost
Conclusion
While not forgetting the fact that a call serves different purposes for the initiator, I enjoyed wowapp calls with my parents back home because with wowapp, I get to enjoy video calls without restriction, with no charges at all. On the other hand, with friends who I can’t make video calls with, I limit it to SmileVoice app which offers me 480 minutes of call at a monthly N3000 Subscription.
Smilevoice which works globally is surely a better option and is available to any Nigerian anywhere in the world!
Whatsapp has been long in the game and is the best choice but sometime, network hinders beautiful communications and at the same time, the recipients in Nigeria may not have the data to get connected to you, thus, Smilevoice remains the best option for anyone that wants to make cheap calls to Nigeria
Any Special requests? Quickly Contact Me today
Any Special requests? Quickly Contact Me today
