Miscellaneous Card
Tips
Look
for a calling card that doesn't charge a connection fee
or monthly fee, or tax.
Fees take away minutes from your calling card. You can still
take advantage of the low rates on these cards by using them
up in "one lick" to avoid loosing minutes.
Try to use your phone card
up in one or two long calls. Why? Because minutes are rounded
off, so too many calls on
one card adds up quickly or should I say takes away from
your balance. Also, some cards do not charge an initial connection
fee, but some cards will after you use the card after two
or more times Phone Card Tips.
Some cards round to the nearest second, minute ,others 3
minutes etc. Rounding means they measure your talk time in
increments. For example if a card is advertising 3 min rounding
and you talk for 1 minute the telecom company will round
up to 3 minutes and charge your card for 3 minutes of talk
time. If you talk for 5 minutes the company will round up
to 6 minutes and take away 6 minutes from your card, if you
talk for 20 min the Telecom company will take away 21 minutes
from your card and if you talk for 12 minutes they wont take
away any additional minutes because 12 minutes is an exact
increment of 3. The lower the rounded minutes or seconds
the better the value of the pre-paid calling card.
Do you want to keep your calling card for longer without
loosing minutes in the form of fees? People who love to chat
for endless hours (and that is now possible with calling
card rates getting cheaper every day) with their folks usually
buy the cards with the cheapest rate and use up their cards
in one long call, so they don't have to pay a weekly or maintenance
fee. However, you want to keep your card longer and not pay
any additional fees while you keep your card. For your situation,
you need to buy a card not with the cheapest rate/minute
but one with a higher rate/minute but one that doesn't have
any maintenance, weekly, or other fees. You will pay a higher
rate/min but in the long run you still save because minutes
(in the form of fees) aren't being taken away from your card
while you sleep. Do remember that most cards expire in 90
days.
Don't use your calling card at a pay phone. If you can,
call from home instead because payphones have a surcharge
(about 50 cents). Of course this doesn't apply if you are
at the airport trying to reach someone.
When you buy your card online choose delivery method by
email vs. postal mail. Why? Because there will be a shipping
charge added for postal mail (about $2). Email delivery is
free.
Most people will want to use up their
phone cards down to the last minute and you are no exception.
Let your party
on the other end know that you are using a phone card, therefore, "just
in case" you run out of minutes before you can say goodbye,
then tell them 'bye ahead of time and "just in case" you
do get disconnected then let them know ahead of time, that
you will call again some other time. I mention this because
while some cards will let you know ahead of time when there's
only one minute left on your card, but some other cards won't.
Don't use your international
phone cards for domestic long distance. Why? Because your
international card is optimized
for international calls and may not have the best rate for
domestic long distance. Instead, use a pre-paid long distance
card with the best rate for your particular situation.
More
Phone Card Tips on Page 4
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