Phone Card Credit

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.
About the Author

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