How to Choose a Prepaid Phone Card

Prepaid phone cards provide a great way to keep in touch
with loved ones, cheaply and efficiently. They offer the
following benefits:

1. Low, low rates

2. Call from anywhere to anywhere

3. Free sign up

4. Easy to use

5. Use while abroad, on business or on vacation

6. Use from home or office landline

7. Reliability

8. Convenience

Some factors to take into account when choosing a prepaid
phone card are:

Connection Fee. This is also known as a "bong" fee,
because the charge occurs when you hear a "bong" on the
line. It's essentially a hidden charge... an excuse to add
an extra fee over and above the charge per minute. I
recommend that you choose only cards with no
connection fee unless you plan to make very long phone calls
and the card has a very low per-minute rate.

Maintenance Fee. This is another one of those hidden
charges. Some companies charge a daily, weekly, or monthly
fee, for the life of the card, so you could actually use up
all of the time you've paid for without ever making a single
phone call. Unless you plan to use up the time very
quickly, avoid this type of card. However, these cards
usually have a very low per-minute rate, often as low as 1
cent, or even less, so they can be very cost-effective if
you're going to make a lot of calls in a week or so.

Multiple Minute Rounding Another hidden fee found on
some prepaid phone cards is multiple minute rounding, where
the time of a call is rounded up to the next higher minute
or even five minutes. In the latter case, a call that
lasted 5 minutes and thirty seconds, would be charged as ten
minutes. This type of card should also be avoided unless
you plan to make mostly very long phone calls.

For example, you would still usually save a lot of money on
a call that lasted 65 minutes and 10 seconds, even though
you would be charged for 70 minutes. But you would be
charged for 5 minutes on a call that only lasted 30 seconds,
so a 60-minute card would only give you 6 minutes of actual
talk time -- even less if there's a connection fee or
maintenance fee -- if you made 12 30-second calls.

Pay phone surcharge Most, if not all, companies
offering prepaid phone cards have a surcharge, usually about
50 cents, on every call made from a pay telephone.

Per-minute rates While not normally thought of as a
hidden charge, many prepaid phone cards, especially
those sold at airports and hotels, fail to disclose the per-
minute rate. Although many prepaid phone cards with hidden
charges, such as maintenance fees, connection fees, and
minute rounding, have very low rates, sometimes a penny or
less per minute, prepaid phone cards without hidden fees,
often have a rate of 5 to 15 cents a minute.

Prepaid phone cards sold in vending machines at hotels and
airports, however, typically have a per-minute rate of 50
cents per minute. If you plan to travel and wish to get a
prepaid phone card to use on your trip, be sure to purchase
it before you leave home.

Rechargeability Many prepaid phone cards can be
recharged, meaning that you can add more time after
purchase, by calling a toll-free number or going to a
website and giving your credit/debit card information. The
additional time is usually added instantly.

There are three easy steps in buying a prepaid phone card:
select the best card for your needs, securely order online,
and receive your card online instantly, then make immediate
calls using the prepaid phone card. Prepaid phone cards can
be delivered online, since you don't actually need a
physical card to make phone calls; you just need a toll-free
access number and a PIN number. These are either revealed
on the website after you pay for the card or sent to you via
email, usually within seconds of your purchase.

If you choose the prepaid phone card that's best suited to
your personal needs, you can save a great deal of money.

For more information, visit www.cheapcalls.com.

Dr. Rubinstein is a practicing psychiatrist and infopreneur.
He helps people find the best prepaid phone cards and major credit cards online.

For phone cards see www.phonecardsunlimited.info. You can apply for a wide variety of major credit cards at Credit Card Info Guide