Foul Odor of Decaying Prepaid Calling Cards

Prepaid calling cards have become popular for international calls, primarily because of their jaw-dropping low advertised rates. They’ve probably caught your eye in the store with their large numbers of very small cents per minute. You may think that you’re going to call around the globe at will for a couple of cents, but you won’t be calling anywhere when the card goes bad.

Goes bad? You mean like milk and fish? Yes, exactly. You see, most prepaid calling cards decay once you start using them.

Think I’m kidding? Get out your magnifying glass and read the small print on the back side of the card. What will you see? Horrible things. Things like connection fees, minimum call times of 10 or 20 minutes, and weekly service fees.

What’s a weekly service fee? Hold your nose. You’re not going to like the smell of this.

A weekly service fee is a charge placed against your card every week after you first start using it. Buy a prepaid calling card and sit on it for a month. You’ll still have all the minutes you paid for. Buy a prepaid calling card and make a short call on it. Then put the card back in your wallet. Make another call a month later and you’ll probably find that some of the minutes have magically disappeared. They’ve been eaten up by those nasty service fees.

That’s the decay I’m taking about. Your minutes start to go bad as soon as you open the card. You don’t even have to stick your nose in the refrigerator and sniff. After a year or so that card that you thought was good for a few cents per minute has just run out of minutes. Add up the minutes that you’ve actually spent on the phone and you’ll find that you’ve paid over a dollar a minute. Not so cheap in the end, is it?

There are two ways you can avoid the stench of calling card decay. First, when you start using one of these cards use it up as fast as you can. Preferably, just make one long call. That way you’ll only pay one connection charge, not be affected by a minimum call charge, and be done before the service fees start.

What’s the other way? Use a service that gives you the cheap international rates that you want from a prepaid calling card, but doesn’t have the small print and seamy side to using it. A good choice is TEL3Advantage.

What’s different about TEL3Advantage is that there are no little paper cards involved. You order the service online for $10, $25 or so. Then you use it from any phone, including your cell phone. The process is similar to using any calling card. You dial a local access number or toll free number to reach TEL3Advantage. Then you dial the international number you want to reach from the US or Canada. You’ll pay the low per minute rate but no connection, hidden or monthly fees. You only need to avoid letting your account go inactive for a year.

But what about the rates? They can’t beat prepaid calling cards, can they?

What if I told you that you could make calls to China for 1 cent per minute right now? Is that cheap enough? OK, that’s a limited time promotion rate. The standard rate is 1.7 cents per minute. I’ll bet that’s cheaper than most of the calling cards you’ll find at the convenience store.

Here’s a bonus. Depending on how much service you choose to sign up for, you can get free bonus minutes added to your account. How many? Oh, how about as many as 900 free minutes to China? Does that sound reasonable?

Of course, there are low rates to all of Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and so on. You don’t need a special card to maximize your savings to any particular part of the World. Just sign up for TEL3Advantage international calling service and the world is at your fingertips. Call all you like. If you run low on minutes, just recharge your account. Best of all, there are no service fees draining your account. Oh, that does smell sweet.

Lower Rate Long Distance Options

Want to save money on your phone bill quickly and easily? Simply switch to a lower cost long distance service.

What? Didn't that ship sail years ago? How can you expect to save money on phone service without buying a bundle or changing to VoIP?

Surprisingly, the newest technology options aren't always the cheapest. Good old analog telephone service works just fine for many users. It's especially good if you have only one or two phone lines and your Internet service is a bit flaky.

Not everybody needs unlimited local and long distance calling. That's because not all of us hang on the phone all day. You may think you're getting peace of mind by having no limits on how much you can talk and not change your monthly phone bill. But how much of a premium are you paying to have that luxury?

Try this. Keep a phone log for a week. Just write down every time you pick up the phone to make a call and how many minutes you talk. Don't worry about incoming calls. With most standard landline plans incoming calls are free.

So who did you call and for how long? Are most of your calls local? How long are they? Or, do you mostly call out of state? This isn't just a game. Your calling pattern really makes a difference.

Here's a suggestion. Check out the cheapest service from your local phone company and see what it costs. Now, use the domestic long distance rate finder tool to price out competing long distance plans. You enter the first 6 digits of your phone number, which identifies the phone company office you are using. Then, from your log, enter the number of minutes you call in-state long distance and state to state on a monthly basis. If you logged for a week, just multiply those numbers by 4 to get a monthly estimate. Click the "Get Long Distance Rate Now" button and you'll see the results.

Since I'm not a big caller, I entered 60 minutes for in-state minutes and 120 minutes for out of state calls. The best deal for this arrangement on a residential line is Pioneer with a total bill of $6.22 for long distance service per month.

You see correctly. It's $6.22, not some enormous bill. That's with 3 hours of calling. There are months when I'm not on the phone calling long distance numbers even that much.

Click on the total bill amount (it's a link) and you'll get a breakdown of the cost. For the search I just ran, it's $3.24 for the 60 interstate minutes (state to state) and $1.14 for the 30 intrastate (in-state) long distance minutes. Add the federal taxes and fees plus a 99 cent monthly and the total adds up to $6.22. This doesn't include state or local excise taxes, which are too many and varied for this tool to deal with. These tend to be the same for every service, so comparisons between carriers will still be valid.

What's with the 99 cent fee? That's due to low usage. If you spend more than $15 a month for long distance calls, that fee disappears. Some carriers charge these fees. Others don't. It doesn't matter, because what you are looking for is the lowest total cost each month. A competitive carrier like Pioneer has such low per minute rates that it often makes them the best deal.

So, do you have a local landline phone service you like, with reliable service, good voice quality and a low monthly bill? You don't have to give it up to save money. Just switch to a different long distance provider. You can order quickly and easily online and the long distance carrier you choose will make the change in conjunction with your local phone company. See, it is quick and easy. Now, find out how much you can save on your long distance phone bill.

Cheaper Alternatives to Prepaid Phone Cards

You see them displayed in racks in the drug store, grocery or retail store. Out of the corner of your eye something flashes "2 cents" and you have to turn and look. What can you possibly get today for a couple of pennies? Why, it's a prepaid calling card and the rate screams 2 cents per minute. You're tempted to pick one up just to have on hand for your next business trip or that call you need to make to Mexico. But, wait. Before you impulse buy what seems like a bargain phone card, find out why it might be the most expensive call you ever make.

Prepaid telephone cards are really popular, especially for anyone who wants to call overseas and can't bear to pay the extra charges from their long distance provider or cell phone carrier. The problem with the ones you find in stores is that their really big selling point is their convenience. Convenience to buy, that is. It's easy to grab an attractive looking plastic or cardboard card out of the rack. The big advertised rate sure looks good. There's lots of really small print on the back, but how important can that be?

You'll find it's really important once you start using the calling card. The advertised per minute rate is usually only the beginning of what you are going to be charged. In addition to depleting the balance of your card by the minutes you actually talk, you will also likely be dinged a connection fee, a minimum charge per call even if you only leave a quick voice mail, and a steady draining of your card's value after that. You see, once you start using a card it is common practice to charge a service fee per month thereafter. If you make a short call today and then put the card back in your wallet and don't use it again till next year, you may find that all your minutes are gone. They've been eaten up in maintenance fees. Suddenly that supposed 10 cent call to Mexico actually cost you $10.

Well, if prepaid calling cards you find in stores aren't such a great deal, what is? Try buying your calling cards online instead. You still have to be careful to understand the rates and fees, but a good online service such as SpeedyPin will make it easy to compare offers. With no teeny-tiny print to deal with, you can make a much better informed decision. Plus you can order and recharge your cards online at your leisure. There is often no physical card. The numbers are delivered to you via email as soon as you place your order.

Why not use a post-paid card instead? A post-paid calling card is something like a credit card for phone calls. You dial the access number, enter your pin, and make your call. There's no worry about running out of minutes mid-call. The charges are put on your credit card. Post-paid cards may charge you a billing fee of a dollar or so in months when you make calls. Otherwise there are no charges if there are no calls and no costly maintenance fees. Rates to U.S. and international destinations are very good and highly competitive with the real cost of using prepaid calling cards. Have a look at the AccuGlobe for international and domestic calling.

Another approach is to avoid calling cards completely in favor of a prepaid long distance and international calling service you can use from any phone, including your cell phone. What distinguishes Tel3Advantage is really low rates starting at 2 or 3 cents a minute to overseas destinations along with a Web-based control panel and special software for your cell phone. These features let you assign desired phone numbers to your account so that you don't have to remember access codes and pin numbers. This service is as easy to use as simply picking up your phone and dialing a long distance number. The difference is the big cost savings.