Watch Out: Calling Cards

Calling cards are the cheapest way to make international calls. But there are facts that are usually written small print. Here are 5 issues everybody who calls abroad often should keep in mind:

Billing Increments.

This is the minimum call duration and the increment used to calculate the call cost. Typically calling cards have a one minute minimum. Beware the cards that have minimum times of two to three minutes. You should consider cards that have a 60 second minimum and have a low billing increment. Low billing increments start at 6 seconds.

Rounding up.

Incomplete time increments are always rounded up to the next highest time unit. So if your time increment is 3 minutes and you make a 4 minute call - you will be charged for 6 minutes.

Don't get caught by the Surcharge.

This is discussed above. For the sake of completeness internatinonal calling cards that have a very cheap per minute rate often have a very high connection fee or surcharge. Making short duration calls with this type of card can be very expensive. You should use this type of card to make long duration calls particularly to International destinations.

Check if there is a delivery charge.

Calling cards come in three forms:

Actual plastic phone card

Actual plastic phone card and an e-mail PIN

PIN only (no plastic, instant PIN)