Cheapest Calling Cards For Long Distance Phone Calls

There are lots of cheap calling cards available to consumers nowadays. Whether you are going on a vacation or on a business trip, making long distance calls is no longer an issue for the budgeted buyer. But in order to get the best prepaid calling card for yourself, you need to know a little bit about how to choose the best calling card.

The Three Big Companies in the USA

In the USA, there are three large companies which sell calling cards. These are AT&T, MCI WorldCom and Sprint. These companies are quite expensive and their call charges range from 69 cents to 89 cents per minute plus a surcharge. The surcharge can go upto $1.25 for every call that you make. However, these companies provide monthly plans for which you can sign up and thus reduce the surcharge which will be charged to your account. For example, if you pay $1 every month, then the calling charge rate on AT&T cards will drop to 25 cents per minute. Other companies also have similar plans.

The Cheaper but Smaller Companies

In order to provide competition to these biggies, there are a large number of small calling card companies whose calling rates are much cheaper. But choosing which card is the best for you can be an uphill task due to the wide choice which is available. You also need to be careful about the marketing gimmicks which these companies undertake in order to sell themselves to the consumer. For example, the Wild Card from Bluewater Telecommunications promises a 1 penny per minute charge if you purchase a $10 calling card. But what they do not mention in bold is that this rate is valid only if you make a single, 16 hour phone call. If you want to make a short phone call lasting for a minute or two, then you will be charged 51 cents per minute plus connection fees.

Longer Calls mean Less Money

However, such cards can be extremely cheap for you if you make long duration phone calls – as longer the call, lower the rate. The Wild Card will only cost you 2.7 cents per minute if you make a 30 minute phone call.

Do not Invest Money in a Small Company

One last thing, never invest too much money in a prepaid calling card by a small company. This is because you never know when the company might shut down and you loose all your money.