Keeping in touch while living in Belgium

Priscilla · 2017-10-25T11:51:30+02:00

Explore tips on staying connected with friends and family from Belgium, including local apps, international calling costs, and managing time differences.

Priscilla ViP

Member since 30 May 2013

PriscillaViP25 October 2017 09:51:30

42358

Hello everyone,

What are the best ways you've found for keeping in touch with friends and family back home while living in Belgium? How frequently do you stay in touch with loved ones?

Are there local equivalents to common instant messaging and online video calling services that you prefer or are more widely used?

If there is a sizeable time difference, how do you manage this?

Do you make international phone calls from a landline or mobile phone from Belgium? What do you think of the cost?

Thank you for sharing your experience.

Priscilla

Another Sean Active member

Member since 19 March 2011

Another SeanActive member25 November 2017 12:41:23

I use mostly either Skype, Whatsapp or facebook voice to call family in South Africa and various friends all over the world no matter where I am. Belgium and South Africa are in the same time zone during the European summer/South African winter.

Skype also has some very good deals for calls to landlines and mobiles around the world. Depending on how much you actually need to call and where, a fixed amount (subscription) will get you unlimited calls to landlines and mobiles from your Skype account.

In Belgium, we have vastelijn, internet and mobile with Telenet, and when abroad, even in places like South Africa, we use the Telenet service called Triiing (yes, it's spelled with 3 i's) to call mobile and landline anywhere in Europe for free. This service works via an app on a smart phone or tablet when connected to wifi anywhere in the world. Over and above the EU, the Triiing service also allows free phone calls to mobile and landlines in places like Canada, USA, and some north African countries.

So yes, I do make free international phone calls from our Belgian landline and mobile phone, but I don't have to be physically present in Belgium to do so :-)

For more information about what I've mentioned, take a look at (in either Dutch or French)