help with national and international phone charges

As long as you are in your coverage area (i.e. the USA on current plans), you can receive calls from anywhere at no additional charge (i.e. plan mins apply b4 9:01PM m-f free after that). As far as domestic long distance charges, there is none on the current plans. When did your dad get his plan? I ask this because some older plans have LD charges on the FS plans (usually the lowest priced local plans that is not offered anymore). Maybe you should ask dad (I know... it is a novel concept ).

Also, your dad can see all call details (sent AND received) online for all phones on the account; so when the bill prints, so there is no sneaking anything past him

 

Since he got this plan in Jan., there is no domestic long distance to the 50 states in the USA (I have a family share plan also), only your plan minutes apply (peak b4 9:01, free atfer that). There is no addl fees for receiving a call from anywhere; as long you are not making the calls (esp overseas), you are fine.

 

I've taken international calls without any werid charges.

you should be fine.

 

All incoming calls cost the same.

Assuming you have a recent (started within the last two or three years) plan, any call you make from the US to the US won't have long-distance charges, whether it's daytime or nighttime.

There's only three ways you can be charged:

1. Calling internationally.
2. Being in another country and using your phone (and the list of countries where your phone would even work is limited).
3. Texting internationally.

Your father would have to specifically allow options 1 and 2, which it doesn't sound like he would do, and as for option 3, just use e-mail instead.

There is a fourth choice, which is that if your father started his plan more than about three years ago, he may have a local DigitalChoice plan, in which case if you go out of the local area (New York, LI, SW Connecticut, Westchester and most of north Jersey) you'll be roaming and have to pay long distance.

If you need to call internationally, by the way, go to any bodega and buy a phone card. Read carefully -- some of them have a lot of bulls*** charges hidden in the fine print -- and pick one that offers the best deal for the country you're calling. Any one of them will have a local New York access number (which you'll probably need to look up online at their website) or an 800 number, and you can call it from your cell phone at night. You should be able to call Japan for no more than about a nickel a minute (plus whatever per-call charges there are, a buck or two).

Your night minutes are 9:01 PM to 5:59 AM.

9 PM New York = 10 AM in Japan (11 AM in winter)
6 AM New York = 7 PM Japan (8 PM Japan in winter)

 

I receive calls from Europe on a daily basis and there is no charge as long as you are in the United States. The call is billed just like any other call you receive.