Prepaid Phone Cards or Calling Cards can be a great way to stay in touch while travelling or with students in college. Here are some tips to make sure you have the best buy.

Some Advice on Choosing the Best Prepaid Phone Card or Calling Card

Prepaid phone cards can be purchased just about anywhere these days: over the Internet, at all sorts of retail locations, and via vending machines.

However all phone cards are not created equal. You can easily be fooled into thinking you have a bargain when you don't because you've failed to read all the terms and condition... aka "the fine print".

Before choosing a calling card, here are some tips to help make your choice easier.

Check the expiration date. Does the calling card have one? If so, you will lose all the time left on the card not used before that date.

Does the calling card have a connection fee? You can easily be fooled by low per minute fees. The reason? Most prepaid phone cards or calling cards with the lowest fees make up for the difference by charging a "connection fee", turning what you thought was an inexpensive call into a very expensive one... particularly if you are only making a quick one or two minute call. Calling cards with your local carrier typically charge high connection fees.

Other fees to watch for: Monthly fees, weekly fees, and tax surcharges, which can be as high as 20% can add even more to the ACTUAL "per minute" cost of your calls.

Billing increment: Many carriers will round their charges to 3 minute billing, so a one minute call costing 5 cents a minute would actually cost you15 cents. Contrast this with calling cards which bill in 6 second increments, and you see why it pays to read the "fine print".

Overseas calls to cell phones: Some companies charge more for an international call made to a cell phone.

Local calls. Calling cards can be found where the charges are lower for calling a local access number, compared to a toll free number.

Support/Help: Is there live 24/7 assistance if you need it? One of the most important and often-overlooked things to look for when choosing a calling card is: Do they have anyone you can talk to "Live." If there is not live 24/7 help available, then all kinds of
issues can arise which could potentially mess up a very important phone call. Recordings or "robot voices" trying to answer questions are no substitute for live assistance.

Renewable: Is the calling card renewable or rechargeable? Some folks prefer to use disposable cards. However, it can be a convenience to be able to enter the same code instead of dealing with a new one each time, so you might want to look for a calling card which is renewable.

TIP: NEVER dial 0 (Zero) to make call with calling card. The rate could be very high because of regulations where another carrier is used to connect call.

Some Example of Calling Card Offers with Free Minutes

PhoneHog.com "May earn pre-paid calling minutes (“Minutes”) for enrolling in PhoneHog.com®; taking advantage of Minutes-earning opportunities on the PhoneHog.com® and other third party web sites; referring new Members to PhoneHog.com®; responding to offers from participating advertisers and partners via email; and complying with the terms of other offers or programs from PhoneHog.com.com or other companies."

Tel3.com Up to 105 free signup minutes. One free week's talk each month.

Free AT&T Phone Card for businesses just for completing a survey.

Phonecards.com Has a couple of free minutes trial offers.

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