There is a terrific solution in the form of a third party add-on service that integrates seamlessly with whatever cellular service you have now. Technically, it’s called international dial-around. You are not changing providers. Instead, you use the dial-around service to literally “dial around” your current cellular service when you need to make overseas calls from the US and Canada.
TEL3Advantage is a leader in the international dial-around space. Take one look at the per minute rates to the destination of your choice and you’ll see why. Let’s just choose to call China, for instance. The Flex Plan rate is 1.32 cents per minute. You read that correctly. It’s cheaper to call your contacts in China using Tel3Advantage than it is to call another city with most landline long distance services. Actually, this service will work just as well from a landline as a cell phone, so it makes sense to get Tel3Advantage and use it from all your phones.
By the way, you can call China for 30 days at just a penny a minute using the special Promo Plan when you sign up for Tel3Advantage service. Compare quality and service with your current long distance service or the calling cards you get at the convenience store. You’ll be so impressed by the calling rates, connection quality and customer service that you’ll gladly continue after the 30 day introductory period is over.
Give it a fair test. The stated rates are impressive enough. But note that there are no hidden fees involved like you run into with prepaid calling cards. Did you know that you almost never get the stated rate from a calling card? There are connection fees, inactivity fees and so on that reduce the number of actual minutes you get for your dollar. The true rate is often several times what’s printed on the face of the card when you actually start making calls. With Tel3Advantage you’ll pay the stated per-minute rates. You only get charged extra for calls from a payphone, if you can even find one anymore, or if you call from Alaska, Hawaii or US territories beyond the 48 continuous states.
Also note that your cellular provider will probably charge you minutes for the time spent calling through Tel3Advantage unless you are making calls during the free nights or weekends provision of your plan. That’s probably not important for most users, since you are paying for a bundle of minutes per month anyway. It can be a consideration for pre-paid cellular plans. Even so, just where are you going to get cheaper international rates even including the per minute charges of a pre-paid cell plan?
So, how does this service actually work? It’s pretty easy. You dial a local or toll free access number to reach the Tel3Advantage platform. Then you dial the international number you want to reach. There are no long PIN numbers to remember. You register your phone numbers with Tel3 and the system recognizes your phone when you call. You can avoid even dialing the access number yourself by downloading a TEL3App for your iPhone or smartphone. Then it’s no harder to make an international call than to place a call to a business across town.
