Buytel, who have recently set up in Ireland have OK rates. 2.48c/minute to landlines in Ireland, 4c/minute to many foreign countries. This isn’t too bad.

You pay up-front, but it’s on the credit card, so who cares? Also, they give you some discount if you buy a larger amount of credit. That brings the cost of my calls down by 6 or 7 percent further, so I can call a UK mobile for around 24c/minute (as against the 31c eircom is hitting me for).

They also have a neat deal for regular mobile phone roamers. It brings the cost of a call down to around 49c/minute, which is pretty decent.

The only niggling doubt I have is that buytel have had a tough time in some other countries. Still they’ve got to have as much to offer as Smart Telecom.