About Prepaid Phone Cards
Calling card industry has exploded into a four billion dollar per year business in just a decade with an estimated 500 million cards sold annually. The cards can be purchased in most stores - gas stations, bookstores, convenience stores or supermarkets. You can also purchase them online.
The price per minute is usually featured prominently on the card and its advertising. However, the price per minute does not necessarily reflect the best rate. There are several surcharges that can be added to the cost of a call. In fact, the general rule is that the lower the per minute charge, the higher the surcharges. Some cards have a large connection fee that is charged for each call. This connection charge alone is enough to bring the actual per minute cost much higher. Another surcharge that comes as a big surprise too often is the pay phone surcharge. This is a charge as much as 50 cents more for each call made from a pay phone. Lower price per minute is often the marketing trick to you to buy the cards. The surcharge for international call can be as high as $3.00 per call. Other surcharges include “taxes”, which can be as high as 25% and a weekly maintenance fee. The weekly maintenance fee can sap the remaining minutes in your card if you do not use them quickly. Another hidden charge is rounding.
The way to select prepaid phone cards is to have a good understanding of how you are going to use the phone, and where and when your calls are going to be made. For example, cards with low per minute rates and high surcharges are usually better for calls that run from 10 to 15 minutes or longer. If your calls generally run less than 10 minutes, the high minute, low surcharge car is better. A prepaid phone card is a tremendous advance in communication, and cheap prepaid phone cards can save much money in emergencies or while traveling. Most cell phones won’t work in foreign country. The prepaid international phone cards have brought the world closer together. It has made communication better and safer, but do not be afraid to shop around for the right card.