Dial Some More Digits, Save Some More Money
In a Nutshell
If you make only a few long distance calls each month, say less than two hours worth, and if you are willing to punch in a bunch of extra digits for each call you make from home, you can save a lot with those prepaid long distance calling cards you buy in the drug store.
By using the prepaid calling card instead of direct dialing you may be able to avoid the monthly taxes and fees associated with long distance calling. These fees could add several cents per minute to your total long distance charge.
You will also have to sit through the recorded spiels every time you use the card, "Press 1 for a domestic call," "Enter the number you wish to call,",etc.
History
Some of us remember when there was just one regular long distance service, A. T. & T. Then in the early 1980's two new companies, MCI and Sprint, appeared to offer lower long distance charges. You dialed an 800 number as an access number. You dialed a personal ID number (PIN). Then you dialed the area code and number of the person you wanted to call. This is how today's prepaid phone cards work.
A few years later local telephone companies began letting subscribers choose which long distance company they wanted to get by dialing "one" and the area code and the desired number. To use other long distance companies on the spur of the moment, the subscriber prefixed the call with a (now) seven digit code. Today there are a few phone cards that don't require that you enter your PIN for each call although you still have to dial the 800 number.
Things to Look For in a Phone Card
1. A low per call or connection charge or no such charge in addition to the cost per minute for calls dialed from your home phone. If you make lots of short calls, the per call charges, if any, add up. (All phone cards have a per call charge for calls made from public phones.)
2. Being sure you will use up the minutes before the card expires.
3. Low per minute rates for the kinds of calls you make most. You might even want to have one card for domestic calls and another card for foreign calls and maybe still another card with a lower per call surcharge for pay phone calls.
So far we have found the best cards to be sold by stores like CVS or Walgreens as opposed to convenience stores. Advertised specials often result in rates as low as two cents per minute for calls made in the U.S. While we have seen one cent per minute cards, they have had surcharges making the first minute cost in effect 25 cents or more.
4. Prepaid phone cards can be a good deal for someone in the hospital or staying in a hotel where there are no surcharges for dialing 800 numbers from the room phone. Some hotels and doctors offices have free"local" phones for customers and clients that do not invoke the pay phone surcharge on prepaid phone cards.
"Recharging" the Card
Many of the cards can have more minutes purchased after or slightly before the minutes on the card run out. So far we have been able to buy a new card "on sale" for a lower per minute rate compared with recharging an existing card.
Some Examples of Standard Calling Plans
1. 35 cents per minute daytime weekdays, 25 cents per minute nights and weekends.
2. $11.00 per month for 200 minutes of domestic long distance anytime per month Five cents per minute if you go over 200 minutes. (MCI, 2007).
3. 15 cents per minute daytime weekdays, 5 cents per minute nights and weekends with a $6.00 minimum usage charge (MCI, 2005).
4. $30.00 per month for unlimited long distance anytime per month (MCI, 2007).
To each of the above, add $4.00 per month "access charge" plus 5 to 10 percent tax and "universal service fee" depending on your state.
As we mentioned at the top of this page, we are talking about persons and families who make only a few long distance calls per month so #4 would probably not be of interest.
We will assume that you do not keep changing your calling plan which would incur additional fees.. You would need to average about 60 minutes of long distance calls per month for #2 to be a better bargain than #1. We are talking about a rate of around 30 cents per minute.
For those who do most of their calling during off-hours, #3 is worth considering. It does take two hours of calling to achieve the nominal rate of 5 cents per minute. Except the access charge and federal taxes and fees have to be figured in which at the 120 minute per monthcalling level brings the cost per minute to just under 9 cents per minute for that month.
Some standard plan usage figures, cents per minute, 50/50 day/night calling unless noted:
Min./month 30 60
120 240
Plan 1 45.5
38.5 35 over 25
2 52.5
26.3 13 7.7
3 35
17.5 14 11.5
3 nights only 35 17.5
8.7 7
As can be seen, if you can get a prepaid phone card for 5 cents a minute let alone 3 or 2 cents per minute, with no per call surcharges, you can save some money.
All parts (c) copyright 2007, Allan W. Jayne, Jr. unless otherwise noted or other origin stated.
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