best voip app while traveling?

so after some research, it would seem the cheapest way to make some international calls while i'm traveling would be to find a wifi hotspot somewhere and use a voip app. with that said, which voip apps would you recommend aside from the usual skype? i do not have good experiences with making skype calls on free wifi networks as i get disconnected often and get charged the connection fee over and over again.

what are you recomendations?

I definitely would not recommend Skype myself. However, I have had good experiences with Viber and Rebtel. The rates are decent, and the call quality acceptable. I have also purchased some credits for Global Call as they are having a double credit promotion (e.g. you charge $10 and get $20 in credits; www.globalcall-1plus1.com if you're interested). I haven't tested out extensively yet, but from the 2-3 calls I have made so far, it seems pretty good. Keep in mind, however, that different apps will have different rates to various countries, look for cheap rates based on where you want to call. For example, Skype is cheaper than Global Call when calling UK mobile numbers, but Global Call is cheaper than Skype when calling Vietnam and Philippines.

A few years ago, I've used MagicJack that plugs into USB port, to call from Africa, Asia, Mexico, etc. Calling back to any device anywhere in US/Canada or from US/Canada to your device anywhere in the world is free as it uses your US based IP address.
Any missed call will be in your e-mail.
The call quality was better than Skype as many CA high school student volunteers in a remote village in Malawi, Africa had Skype but switched over to my free MagicJack call to call their parents/friends back in US because of the cost and voice quality.

Hi,I have Skype installed on PC, but I use it mainly to talk for free. Otherwise I use the Smartgroschen. They have a small top-up starts from 0.89 Euro, so just enough to use from time to time.

Since you are in the US you should look into setting up a google voice number and using that. Up until last month you could use apps like talkatone to access google voice directly and get free calling and texting to the US, but google just ended 3rd party support so you'll have to use the google hangouts app instead which I find usable but not as polished. Alternatively, talkatone offers other voip services that are reasonably priced.

i just wanted to correct you, gosuotaku. i use global call myself and the event that you mentioned is not for japan and taiwan residents.... japan and taiwan has a separate event where you get 20% extra credits and a chance to win some pizza and plane tickets. the website is different as well: www.globalcallevent.com

and to answer the original question, which app you should use depends entirely on where you will be calling. some apps have better rates than other apps to specific countries. but over all i would recommend global call or rebtel. they seem to have the best rates with no connection fees.

Th best way is to make the people you want to call install an app for VoIP as well so you can call them for free. They're probably more or less all on the same level, I'd recommend LINE because it's more convenient if you also need to contact Japanese people you want to meet since most of them (like 99% of the people under 25) have it and use it all the time.