Internet is too slow, any alternatives to Skype for international calls? I don't have a landline, only cellphone. Is there anything like public phonebooths to call abroad on the cheap?

Use IP Phone on your cell. use the prefix 17951 followed by the numbers you usually dial.

if you use apple products: facetime! so much better than skype!

its true that facetime does work much better than skype (not sure if that will continue as it becomes more widely-used) but that's not suitable for most people and certainly not for voice-only calls to international landlines or mobiles, its for video calls between user of similar hardware. Even if you do happen to have a new macbook, ipad 2 or iphone 4 the chances of the person you're wanting to call also having one are slim.

If its real international calls you want to make (ie, you want to call a phone number rather than a username) then something you could try is jajah. I've been using it for years. The only time you need to rely on your own slow internet is to initiate the call, from then on it uses fast stable internet. The system stores your numbers (up to 3, home work mobile) and then it connects your phone to the phone you wish to call using VOIP, making the equivalent of 2 skype calls - it calls your phone first, tells you to wait and then calls the other phone. So its slightly more expensive than skypeout but cheaper than IP cards. It has mobile sites and iphone apps so you can even do it while not at home - it basically uses about 1kb of your data plan to initiate a call. So infinitely better than skype which would eat up all your data plan within minutes if it actually worked at all.

I've been using Skype in China for 15 months now to call back to Canada. I've had no problems at all with it (so far). I make most of my calls between 9:00 and 10:30 a.m. and don't know if that's just a good time or I'm just lucky.

I use Jajah for several years now and it works well.