Why use an international calling card when you now can use "Calling Card."
When traveling abroad I typically purchase a local cell phone. Sadly, these phone plans tend to be somewhat limited and very commonly don't include any data. If I want to communicate with folks back home I'm forced to wait until I'm near my computer and have Internet access. This application allows me to call a local number and have my call forwarded elsewhere.
It is a server, written in Python and Flask, that forwards Twilio voice calls to the number of your choosing. It also allows important numbers to be added to a "Speeddial" for quick calling.
This being said, using a traditional calling card might be slightly cheaper, though not as convenient. As an example, claiming a Twilio number in Mexico costs $3 a month, and each call is about 2.15 cents/minute.
- Purchase a Twilio number located in the country where you'll be. This will be the number that you will call and will forward you onwards.
- Update this Twilio number's voice request URL to point to wherever callingcard is being hosted. It must point to the connect path. For example, http://callingcard.heroku.com/connect
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Create a Python virtualenv.
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Install callingcard and it's dependencies.
pip install -e . -
Run the development server by running the command:
development
The WSGI application context can be loaded from callingcard.production. Currently, I've included configuration to run the server on Heroku.
Currently, two things are hardcoded in callingcard.defaults, the speeddial numbers and the permitted callers.
You can update this in one of two ways.
- Update the defaults file directly
- Set the environment variable CALLINGCARD_SETTINGS to be the file path of new configuration that will override the defaults.