This is the most frequently asked question about cheap international calling cards. Remember: you will scarcely get a satisfactory answer from the outside. Even if you ask Yahoo! Answers, you’ll receive ten various offers. And a final choice will be yours as always. I offer you the following way.

Firstly, search for a good company selling phone cards on-line. If you need a help, visit International Phone Card Review.

Secondly, make a suitable request through calling card search box on a selected web site. In reply a seller will offer you, as a rule, a few phone cards for given destination and information on each card, including nominal prices, rates, options, extra fees, etc.

And thirdly, the rest of you need to do is to solve a small task of selecting with information available. Anybody cannot do it, instead you.

For a short-term, if you intend to make a lot of long calls, select the cards with the lowest rates. Usually they have a maintenance fee. The maintaining services allow you to trace phone calls. This fee will be taken from your phone card balance every one or two weeks. The more weeks, the more money you lose. An optimal duration of this short-term period is 3 – 12 weeks. For exact estimating the period for any given card, use estimating tool.

For a long-term and if you make phone calls just once in a while, select the cards without maintenance fee. These cards usually have higher rates, but you don’t have to worry about your phone card balance going down if you do not call.

You can choose phone cards even with connection fee. Sometimes they have the lowest rates. But at first, estimate this card with special tool. The lowest rates benefit may be illusory.

Pay attention if a card has local or toll free access numbers. Rates are usually higher in the last case. However, in the former case you need to call using only given local access number.

Pay attention to a rounding period as well. The higher this period and the more frequently you call, the more money you lose.

Calls made from or to cell phones are priced at a higher rate due to the extra technology involved in completing the connection.

If you place a phone call from a payphone, surcharges will apply by company owned public phone service. Read card’s terms carefully.

That will do. Now you can answer the main question competently.

Albert Popov
http://www.articlesbase.com/business-articles/what-is-the-best-phone-card-for-calling-from-to-117975.html

Purchasing a phone card without being tricked can be difficult since phone card sellers often advertise low rates to attract shoppers than charge cleverly disguised “hidden fees” which can more than double the cost of making a call. In many cases, the phone card with the lowest advertised rate also has low quality and is not the cheapest to use since it can be loaded with a variety of hidden charges. It is generally best to make a purchase from a reputable phone card website that discloses all of the details for each card listed. These details should include all charges for making a call (including taxes, fees and surcharges), a customer service phone number, customer ratings on quality and service and a money back guarantee. In addition, we offer the following 5 important tips to phone card shoppers.

1. Purchase a Minimum Denomination. Unless you are familiar with a particular phone card it is usually best to purchase a minimum denomination and make some trial calls with the card to the locations you wish to call before purchasing a large denomination. We suggest purchasing a phone card with a face value of $10 or less before making a large purchase.

2. Check and Compare Rates between Phone Cards. Most phone card websites include a rate finder which shows the cost per minute for making calls from one location to another. The rates listed in these rate finders are generally just the base rate. They do not show all of the added fees and taxes that can vary significantly between phone cards. Therefore, it is important to read the fine print before purchasing a phone card and be sure to include all fees and taxes when comparing rates between phone cards. There are a few companies that charge a connection fee for each call. These can significantly increase the cost of each call so we feel that calling cards that charge a connection fee should be avoided. Some other common fees are maintenance fees, pay phone fees, toll free access number fees, taxes, service fees and surcharges. Other less obvious hidden fees include rounding interval (the increment used in rounding off the duration of a call for billing purposes) and a long call fee. A card with a larger rounding interval is generally more expensive since the length of a call is rounded up to the next rounding interval for billing purposes.

3. Customer Reviews. Websites like Smart Global Call International Phone Cards include customer reviews for the phone cards they sell. We have found that these reviews are useful since they provide a good indication of calling card quality based on the experience of other users.

4. Access Numbers. Check for the availability of access numbers in the locations where you plan to use the card before making a purchase. Toll free access numbers are convenient but some phone cards charge a relatively high fee (more than one cent per-minute) for using them. In some cases toll free access is free or the charge is relatively small (less than one cent per-minute). There is typically no additional charge for using a local access number but some phone cards do not have local access numbers or they only have a few.

5. Phone Card Coverage. Phone cards typically have limited coverage so check the rates for making calls to the locations you wish to call before making a purchase. Also check rates to the type of phone (land line or cell phone) you plan to call. Some phone cards offer great rates to land lines but very high rates to cell phones in the same country. There are honest phone cards that offer high quality and good rates for making cheap international calls to almost any location in the world. However, there are others that advertise super cheap rates but load the product with so many hidden fees that the cost for making calls is actually much higher than normal. The purpose of this article is to help shoppers avoid some common pitfalls and make informed choices.

Bob Graham
http://www.articlesbase.com/communication-articles/five-phone-card-purchasing-tips-727034.html

The international prepaid phone card has come to the rescue of thousands of international travellers and immigrants who have taken advantage of the extremely low and cheap rates to stay in touch with family and friends.

Once upon a time, picking up the phone to dial overseas was almost a social event; it just wasn’t done on a regular basis given the exhorbitant costs facing consumers. Well, it seems consumers are having the last laugh over traditional calling methods.

Reuniting with Loved Ones Over The Phone

For immigrants, the international prepaid phone card allows new migrants to phone relatives for cents in the dollar. People who have lived in their adopted countries for 30 to 40 years have been able to contact friends and relatives they haven’t spoken to for a similar length of time.

The downside is the amount of options available to people. Options are usually a good thing but in the world of phone cards, it has created a lot of confusion. The phone card industry has received bad publicity over the years with “fly-by-nighters” and scam artists causing problems and while it’s cleaned up it’s act, there are still some well worn guidelines you can follow to ensure you find the right company and card best suited to your needs.

Phone Card Checklist

Here’s my shortlist of international prepaid phone card checks when I’m shopping for a card.

1. How long has the company been in business? You can check online and if the they’ve been plying their craft for any reasonable amount of time then they get a plus in my books.

2. Can the company be contacted? This is vital. Recently, I required a copy of my phone card records for immigration purposes. I rang my company and following a request, the information was provided to me within a week. The big factor here was I was able to call them.

3. Customer service was touched on in the previous point. It was excellent. Being able to talk to a real live person when you require assistance makes such a big difference.

4. Can the card be topped up over the phone? Being able to dial a central number when you haven’t got internet access is another plus factor for me.

5. Check for hidden fees… these can eat away your payments in no time. Avoid them.

This is a shortlist of things to look out for but in the end, the first three points are the most important in my book for shopping for an international prepaid phone card. When you find a phone card company you like and it works well for you, stick with it and resist the urge to change to a cheaper rate. Sometimes, cheaper is definately not better!

Dean Caporella
http://www.articlesbase.com/travel-articles/these-five-tips-will-save-you-money-on-your-international-prepaid-phone-card-purchase-110023.html

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