The Calling Card Gatcha

Picture this, you are at the office and need to make a long distance call or you are on vacation, possibly in a foreign country and need to call back home.

You think for a moment and remember that your long distance carrier provided you a calling card. Seems like the perfect solution, just pull out the card, punch a few number and volia, you'll simply get the charges on your month's telephone bill. You're home free!

Free..not exactly!

Most of these cards provided by the major phone companies and long distance carriers come with higher cost per minute rates than your are used to seeing from using your home or even cellular phone.

You may be very surprised at your next month's phone bill after using some of these cards. This may be especially true if you use these cards for international travel where you could be paying as much as $5, $8 or $10 or more per minute.

The solution, purchase prepaid calling cards. Prepaid cards come with low rates 5-10 cent per minute domestically with 6-75 cents per miniute internationally (based on the country of call origin).

Keep in mind you can save a bundle by giving your new college student a pre-paid calling card before sending them off to school this fall. By giving a pre-paid card you lock in the rate you are going to pay. No surprise phone bills or collect calls. Best of all no more Telecom Gatcha!

The CCBA has partnered with Cogni-Talk and AccuLinQ to offer domestic and international calling cards to our members. For more information about either of these plans click on the ads shown. [ more options.. ]

You can also get similar pre-paid calling cards from many discount wholesales clubs and retailers.

by: Staff Reporter