Tips On Finding The Best Phone Cards
Phone cards are a great way to call your friends and family who live far away from you
, without spending massive amounts of money on international or domestic calls. But how do you know if you're getting the best value for your money when you buy a calling card or prepaid phone card? Read on for the top tips you need to know when searching for the best phone card.
Flat Rates
Many phone cards will charge more than just a flat rate per minute (we'll get to that later), but to start, you need to look at the rate that each calling card charges. There is a wide variety of options out there, so it's important to look at all your choices before making a decision. Obviously you will want to automatically choose the phone card with the lowest rate per minute, but this can be deceiving. Before you pick your calling card look at some of the other factors below.
Rounding
Rounding is the billing increment that phone card companies use to charge you for talk time.
1 Minute Rounding means that the billing increment is 1 minute. The companies generally always round up, so a call that lasts for 37 seconds would be billed as 1 minute, a call that lasts for 2 minutes and 15 seconds would be billed as 3 minutes.
3 Minute Rounding means that the billing increment is 3 minutes. So a call for 2 minutes and 50 seconds would be billed as 3 minutes, a call that lasts 4 minutes would be billed as 6 minutes, and a call that lasts for 7 minutes and 45 seconds would be billed as 9 minutes. 1+3 Minute Rounding means that for calls less than 1 minute, you will be charged for 1 minute, and for calls more than 1 minute, the first minute will be charged 1 minute and the following minutes will be at 3 minute increments. So a call that lasts for 50 seconds will be billed as 1 minute, but a call for 2 minutes and 45 seconds will be billed as 4 minutes (first minute billed as 1 minute and next 1 minute and 45 seconds billed for 3 minutes = 4 minutes).
If you tend to make a lot of shorter calls to people, you will definitely want to choose a phone card that uses 1 minute rounding. However, if you know you are going to be using the calling card for just one long call, you might want to choose a card with the lowest rate per minute, even if it has a really high rounding increment. You will only be using the card once, so it won't matter how high it rounds.
Additional Fees
This is the part that gets tricky. Some cards will charge you additional fees such as maintenance fees, connection fees, disconnection fees and more. If you're not careful, the fees can really mount up and you can end up with practically no minutes on your card after making little to no calls at all. When looking for a phone card, be sure to check if it charges any extra or unnecessary service fees, and then weigh the pros and cons of using that card.
Extra Benefits
Many calling cards on the market now offer great extra benefits that make calling even more quick, convenient and fun. These features include PIN-less dialing, speed dial, online recharge and online call details. The PIN-less dialing feature lets you register the phone numbers you use most often to bypass entering their PIN each time you make a call, while the speed dial allows you to store up to 98 phone numbers, including country and city codes for quick dialing. The recharge online feature allows you to add minutes to your calling card online without changing your PIN or losing your speed dial contacts, and the online call details let you look at all the calls you have made and how much you were charged for each one.
Location, Location, Location
Where you go to buy your calling card can be just as crucial as the card itself. Convenience stores, gas stations and grocery stores are third party sellers, and will mark up the price on phone cards by a lot. Go online instead, and find a direct provider. Find a website that offers compare and contrast features of all the cards as well as fraud protection and customer service.
What are you waiting for? Start looking for your phone card and start saving on your long distance and international calls today!
by: Sarah Simmons
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