How to buy a prepaid calling card?

If you are on the road traveling or studying abroad and wants to
keep in touch with your friends and family, you certainly
thought of the possibility of getting a prepaid calling card.
Calling back home has certainly become easier, but choosing the
right card is difficult when you are faced with so many options.
So how does one go about choosing the right calling card?

There is no best calling card, only the right calling card for
you. Before picking up your card, you should figure out how many
calls will you make, how often do you make them and the
destination.

After you find the website of a company which has a remarkable
business reputation, you can choose the destination and see the
products available. Each calling card has different rates
depending on the features of it. Do not go immediately for the
lowest rate, because some fees may be applied. Here is what you
should look for before buying a calling card.

The most frequent feature which many customers tend to disregard
is the maintenance fee. This is a weekly or monthly
charge deducted from the balance of your card. If you intend to
make many long calls in a short period of time, you will
probably use up the card before the maintenance fee.

Also, a connection fee can be applied every time you are
connected to the number you are calling. The charge is also
applied if you get a voicemail, an answering machine or you are
prematurely disconnected. Generally, this fee comes with lower
rates per minute so it is a good option if you will be placing
very long calls.

The talking fee can applied to some cards whenever the
call goes beyond a specified time period. This duration is
usually set at 20 minute, so it is better to hang up and
reconnect again to avoid it or choose a card without such a fee.

A frequent feature of prepaid calling cards is the expiration
date. This is a certain period of time beyond which you cannot
use your card even if you have some minutes left on it. The
expiration date can vary from 2 weeks to 1 year after the
first or last call placed. To make sure your balance will not
expire, use the card up before the expiration date or buy one
with a bigger expiration date.

Billing increments or rounding means that the time
you spent on the phone is rounded up to a certain amount of
minutes. That means that, with a 5 minute rounding, you will pay
the same, even if you talked for 30 seconds or 4 minutes. If you
want to avoid such an inconvenience, look for a card with a 1
minute rounding or less.

If you will be traveling and you will have to use the calling
card from a payphone, you might get affected by a payphone
surcharges. These charges are applied per call or per minute
to certain calling cards if you use them from such a phone. Some
cards also offer lower rates than the one advertised if you use
them from a landline or a cell phone. So make sure you keep all
these details in mind and you set your priorities before you
start looking for a prepaid calling card. With such a variety of
telecommunication products, you are sure to find the best card
to suit your needs. More information about href="http://www.phonecard.org">prepaid phone cards and calling
cards can be found on PhoneCard.org.



About the author:
Tom Blanks works as a consultant for NobelCom, one of the major
players in the phone cards
industry.