Shanavas dot Com » General

Localphone – Call India at 70 Paisa/min

Shanavas — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 08:51:47 +0000

There are plenty of players now a days to offer cheap calling cards and cheap calls to India and worldwide. I found one website Localphone which I think is the cheapest and most reliable among other players. The call rates to India are as low as $0.015 which is equivalent to 70 paisa at Rs 47/dollar. Call charges to US, UK and Singapore are cheaper than this. There are many ways you can make calls such as PC softphone and Wi-fi mobile. You can call from any part of the world to India and the rates are same.

How to make calls:

Register an account at localphone and recharge your account. Select the voip tab and upgrade to voip. You will get SIP settings from this page. You can use these settings to configure your systems such as PC softphone or Wi-fi mobile. How to configure the devices is explained in detail in the website. To make a call just dial the number in international format. Eg 0091+ STD code+ xxxxx to India landlines and 0091xxxxx format to mobiles.

One thing I liked about Localphone is that when you save an International number to your Localphone account Localphone gives you unique local phone numbers that directly connects to your international numbers. So basically you just dial your local phone number and it will ring your international number. For e.g. your friend lives in India and you are living in Bahrain. You add your friend’s number starting with 91xxxxxxxx and Localphone will give you a local Bahrain number e.g. +973-xxxxx. So when you want to call your friend in India, you just dial +973-xxxxx number.

You can make free mobile to mobile calls if both of you are using wifi mobiles and in a wifi area. You need to configure your SIP settings in your mobile. Another good thing about Localphone is that if you are using a VoIP phone, you can configure your ATA device to make international calls directly from your phone and not worry about any calling access number.

Recharging Your Account:

You can pay via credit card and paypal. If you don’t have credit card you can use Entropay card. Please note that you CAN’T use netsafe card as they try to charge the amount as two different transactions and netsafe card can be used only once.

I have tried Localphone and the voice clarity is excellent. Start making cheap international calls with Localphone.

PayPal India Conforms to Government Regulations

Shanavas — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 07:37:01 +0000

Paypal India account holders can now withdraw money to Indian banks. When you try to withdraw money to a bank account, it ask to declare a purpose for the proceeds received through PayPal. This is a great move as the online income earners need to comply to government rules and regulations while making money.

The purpose of withdrawal of money needs to be declared only when you withdraw funds. The following are the available options now and they have a description of the same.

In addition, each PayPal India account holder needs to provide the following information to keep your PayPal account active:

1. Your Mobile phone number
2. Your PAN Number

At the moment you can skip this screen but they can made it mandatory at any time. The mobile number will be used for clarification by banks as how the money was earned and the Income Tax PAN (Personal Account Number) id will be used to track your income records and financial transactions.

If you don’t have a PAN card you can apply for a PAN card online and it costs Rs 94 at present. You need an ID proof and address proof to get a PAN card.

PayPal Suspends Service in India

Shanavas — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 06:42:28 +0000

Online payment service provider PayPal said that it has suspended certain types of payment transaction in India. When I logged in to my paypal account I found that there is no option to send personal payments.

In a blog posted on its website, PayPal spokesperson Anuj Nayar wrote “personal payments to and from India and transfers to local banks in India have been suspended while we work with our business partners and other stakeholders to address questions they have about the service”.

Without giving any further details for the unusual suspension, he added that the company is working to resolve the situation as quickly as possible.

During this time, customers can still make commercial payments to India but merchants cannot withdraw funds in rupees to local Indian banks, he said.

And here is what Paypal has to say:

Your payment of xxx has been sent back to the sender of the payment. We reversed this payment because we have stopped allowing personal payments to be sent to or from India.

If this payment was a personal payment such as a gift, then we have requested that the sender find another payment method until we restore personal payments to and from India.

The move is reportedly related to the Indian government’s crackdown in November 2009 on international banking transactions, when it instituted new reporting and verification requirements on all banks and financial institutions to prevent international money laundering.

Withdraw Funds from PayPal to Indian Banks

Shanavas — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 06:22:55 +0000

PayPal allows you to withdraw money directly into your Indian bank account for free if you are withdrawing more than Rs.7,000. If it is less, it charges Rs. 50 as fee. This is the better way than requesting cheque because it takes few weeks to deliver, a month for realization, and more over PayPal charges $5 fee and your bank charges approximately Rs.150 to Rs. 250 for clearing international cheque.

Log into PayPal and click the link “Withdraw” Then, select the option “Withdraw funds to your bank account” and click “Add Bank Account” It will ask First name, Last name, Bank Name, IFSC code, and Account Number. The thing in question here is IFSC code.

IFSC is Indian Financial System Code assigned by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for every bank branch for easiness in transferring funds and communication. If you have an ICICI account, you can see the IFSC code printed on the cheque book itself. Get the list of participating banks and its branch codes in an xls sheet by clicking here. This is the link to the main listing page where you can find the updated list in case if it is updated by RBI and you are not able to get the XLS sheet. IFSC code is an 11-digit character and numeric code and looks like FDRL0001464, which is an IFSC code for Federal Bak, Infopark branch, Kochi in Kerala. 1464 is the branch code and FDRL is the bank code. Enter the appropriate IFSC code for your branch followed by your account number. You can also confirm it with your bank branch. After that you can select the amount to withdraw into your bank account, which readily converted into Indian rupees and showed to proceed with withdrawal.

Once you are done, you will get the money directly into your bank account in three to seven business days.

Paypal Expained

Apply for your Passport Online

Shanavas — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 06:22:45 +0000

I have seen very long queue in front of the passport office. Now you don’t need to stand in a long queue as you can apply for a passport online. You can apply on line for a fresh passport (if you have never possessed a passport earlier), re-issue of passport (if your present passport of 10 years validity has expired or will expire in next 12 months), duplicate passport (if your present passport is lost or damaged).

2- Only the residents falling under the jurisdiction of the respective Passport offices are eligible to apply on-line through this website.

3- Through this site you can register your application with the respective Passport offices. After registration, the system will ask you to Open / Save your application form. After Open / Save, please print the application form. (If you are not able to print the application form for any reason, you must note down the application number. With the help of this application number and date of birth you can re-print the application form later. You can also print the application if you have Saved the application.) There are still some columns in the application form which you will have to fill by hand. You will have to visit Passport office to submit the completed application form along with fee, supporting documents such as date of birth certificate etc. on the appointed day and time. The date and time of appointment at Passport office will be informed by the on-line system and will also be printed on the application form.

4- Please visit Passport office on the appointed date and time. You should arrive at RPO about 15 minutes before the appointed time and proceed to the respective counter. On line applicants do not need to obtain a token number for submitting their applications. You will not have to wait long in the queue.

5- Before you register your application on-line, please read the information on the website of respective Passport office(passport.gov.in) carefully, particularly regarding fee structure, instructions to fill Form No. 1 and How to Apply. Through this information, you will know the documents required, number of copies of application form required etc. Apply on-line only if you are sure that you will be able to produce all the necessary documents on the date of appointment.

6- If for any reason you are late in reaching Passport office on the day of appointment, we will try our best to accommodate you on the same day as soon as a slot in the queue becomes available.

https://passport.gov.in/pms/OnlineRegistration.jsp

Shanavas dot Com » General

Localphone – Call India at 70 Paisa/min

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