Staying connected with family and friends across borders is one of the most important things you can do as part of a diaspora community. International calling is the lifeline that keeps those relationships alive, no matter where in the world the people you care about happen to be. But how does it actually work, and why does it sometimes cost so much? This guide answers the most common questions clearly and honestly, so you can make informed choices about how you stay in touch.
From the basics of how international calls are routed to practical tips for keeping your phone bill manageable, we cover everything you need to know about making international calls from Europe.
What is an international call?
An international call is a telephone call made between two people in different countries. Unlike a local or national call, an international call crosses borders and involves routing through multiple telecommunications networks, often across continents. International calls can be made from a mobile phone, a landline, or an internet-based app.
The defining feature of an international call is the use of a country code at the start of the phone number. When you dial that country code before the local number, you’re signaling to the telephone network that the call needs to travel internationally. This triggers a different billing structure and a different routing path compared to a domestic call. For example, Nigeria’s country code is +234, Ethiopia’s is +251, and Eritrea’s is +291.
International calls matter enormously for diaspora communities. For millions of Africans living in Europe, these calls are not a luxury but a necessity, connecting them to family, community, and culture back home on a daily or weekly basis.
How does an international call actually work?
When you make an international call, your voice is converted into a signal that travels through a series of interconnected networks to reach the recipient’s phone. The call leaves your device, passes through your local carrier’s network, is handed off to an international gateway, travels across undersea cables or satellite links, and finally arrives at the recipient’s local network in their country.
Here is a simplified breakdown of what happens step by step:
- Your device sends the call through your mobile or internet network.
- Your carrier routes it to an international gateway or exchange point.
- The signal travels through undersea fiber-optic cables, satellite relays, or internet infrastructure to the destination country.
- The destination country’s network receives it and routes it to the correct local number.
- The recipient’s phone rings, whether it’s a mobile or landline.
This entire process happens in seconds. The quality of the call depends on the strength of each link in that chain. If any part of the route is congested or poorly maintained, you may experience delays, dropped calls, or poor audio quality. This is one reason why calling certain African countries can sometimes feel unreliable when using traditional carriers.
What’s the difference between VoIP and traditional international calls?
The key difference is how your voice is transmitted. Traditional international calls use the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), a circuit-switched system in which a dedicated physical connection is established for the duration of your call. VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) calls, by contrast, convert your voice into digital data packets and send them over the internet, just like an email or a message.
Traditional calls
Traditional international calls rely on physical infrastructure such as telephone exchanges, copper lines, and dedicated circuits. They are reliable in areas with strong telecom infrastructure, but they are significantly more expensive because carriers charge for maintaining and using that dedicated connection. Charges are typically per minute and can be very high for calls to certain African countries.
VoIP calls
VoIP calls use your existing internet connection to carry voice data. Because they piggyback on internet infrastructure rather than dedicated telephone circuits, the cost is dramatically lower. Apps that offer international calling services typically use VoIP technology under the hood. The trade-off is that call quality depends on your internet connection speed and stability, though modern VoIP technology has become remarkably good even on mobile data.
For diaspora communities calling Africa from Europe, VoIP-based solutions represent a genuinely practical alternative to traditional carriers, offering comparable call quality at a fraction of the cost.
Why are international calls so expensive?
International calls are expensive because they involve multiple parties, complex infrastructure, and regulatory costs that all add up before the call even reaches the person you’re trying to reach. Every network that handles your call along the route charges a fee, and those fees are passed on to you as the caller.
Several factors drive the cost up:
- Interconnection fees: Carriers charge each other for terminating calls on their networks. The more networks your call crosses, the more fees accumulate.
- Infrastructure costs: Maintaining undersea cables, satellite links, and international exchanges is enormously expensive.
- Regulatory fees: Many countries impose taxes or regulatory levies on international call termination, which carriers pass on to customers.
- Profit margins: Traditional telecoms have historically charged high margins on international routes, particularly to developing countries where competition is lower.
- Currency and settlement rates: Calls between countries with different currencies involve settlement agreements that can inflate costs.
Calls to certain African countries tend to be among the most expensive globally, which creates a real financial burden for diaspora communities who call home frequently. Understanding this helps explain why dedicated international calling apps can offer such dramatically better value by cutting out many of these intermediary costs.
How can you make cheap international calls from Europe?
The most effective way to make cheap international calls from Europe is to use a VoIP-based calling app that routes your call over the internet rather than through traditional telephone networks. This approach can reduce the cost per minute dramatically compared to standard mobile carrier rates.
Here are the most practical strategies for keeping your international calling costs low:
Use a dedicated international calling app. Apps built specifically for international calling negotiate better rates with local carriers in destination countries and pass the savings on to you. Look for apps that charge per second rather than per minute, so you pay only for the exact time you spend on the call.
Look for weekly calling deals. Some providers offer time-limited promotions on specific destinations. For example, calling Nigeria at a low per-minute rate on a Saturday, or calling Ethiopia and Eritrea on a Sunday, can give you significantly more minutes for your money. It pays to check what deals are available for your destination country before you top up.
Choose transparent billing. Hidden connection fees and rounding-up charges can quietly inflate your bill. A service that bills per second with no connection fee ensures that every cent you load goes toward actual talk time.
Top up in your local currency. Good international calling services support multiple currencies, including euros, British pounds, Swedish kronor, Swiss francs, and more, so you don’t lose money to currency conversion when you add credit.
The difference between a good and a poor international calling service often comes down to how many minutes you actually get for your money. Always check the per-minute rate for your specific destination before committing to a service.
Do international calling apps work without the recipient having the app?
Yes, the best international calling apps allow you to call any phone number directly, including landlines and mobile phones, without the recipient needing to download an app or have an internet connection. This is a crucial feature for calling family in countries where smartphone adoption or internet access may be limited.
This works because the app uses VoIP to carry your voice from your device to the provider’s servers, and the provider then routes the final leg of the call through the local telephone network in the destination country. From the recipient’s perspective, they simply receive a regular incoming phone call. They do not need to do anything differently.
This is particularly important for communities calling older relatives or contacts in rural areas across Africa, where asking someone to install an app or have reliable internet access is not always realistic. A good international calling service bridges that gap completely, making the technology invisible to the person on the other end.
When choosing an app for this purpose, confirm that it supports direct-to-phone calling rather than only app-to-app calls. The two are very different in terms of flexibility and real-world usefulness.
How FroggyTalk helps with international calling
We built FroggyTalk specifically for African diaspora communities in Europe who want to stay connected with family and friends back home without paying excessive prices or dealing with unreliable connections. We want everyone who uses our app to feel heard, seen, and valued, and that starts with providing a service that truly works for your needs.
Here is what makes our international calling service different:
- No app needed on the other end — call any mobile or landline directly, wherever your family is.
- Per-second billing with no hidden fees — every second of credit goes toward your call; nothing is wasted.
- Weekly calling deals on destinations including Nigeria, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan, South Sudan, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Zimbabwe.
- Support for multiple currencies — top up in euros, pounds, Swedish kronor, Swiss francs, and more.
- Full app translation into your local language — everything in the app can be used in your preferred language, including Tigrinya, Hausa, Amharic, Arabic, French, and many more.
Whether you are calling Lagos on a Saturday or Addis Ababa on a Sunday, we make sure you get the most minutes for your money. Check our latest rates and deals, or reach out if you have any questions. We are here to help you stay connected.
View our current international calling rates or contact us, and we will help you find the best option for your destination.