Phonecard Minutes - How many do you really get?

First, lets establish the facts. Phonecards are the cheapest method for calling the greatest number of countries. So if you are looking for cheap calls to your country, you're right to choose phonecards.

So what should you look out for when you are choosing a phonecard?

When buying a phonecard you need to read the terms and conditions carefully. For many phonecards, the terms and conditions state that the minutes quoted are based on "single use of card".

What this means is that if you use the card to make a single completed call, you could talk for the specified number of minutes before the card would run out of credit.

For example, You may see a phonecard with 500 minutes to a particular destination country. What the card supplier is saying is that if you called the specified country using this phone card, you could speak to your contact for 500 minutes before the phonecard runs out of credit.

At a glance this may appear to be a good deal.

However, it is necessary to strike a note of caution here. Why?

The answer is that almost all phonecards come with fees and charges attached.

What are some of the fees and charges to look out for?

Phonecard Fees and Charges

Connection Fee

The connection fee is an amount deducted from the phone card's balance once a call is connected. As a general rule of thumb, the higher the connection fee, the lower the destination call rate. Therefore, if you make only occasional calls and tend to speak for a long time, a card with a connection fee may provide the best value. If you make regular calls it is recommended that you use a phonecard with low or no connection fee.

Maintenance Fee

The maintenance fee is an amount deducted from the phone card's balance daily/weekly/monthly having the effect of reducing your minutes. Most phone cards carry a maintenance fee which usually coincides with the expiry period after first use of the card.

Call Completion Fee

Some phonecards have a call completion fee which is a fee applied every time you complete a call. This has the effect of reducing the number of minutes on the card.

Rounding

This is the basic unit for measuring duration of a phone call. Our phone cards are generally rounded one minute. Some phonecard suppliers have a stepped series of charges where for example the first 10 minutes of a call may be rounded to one minute and the next ten minutes are rounded to 2 minutes etc. Call the phonecards customer services number to check these details if uncertain as to the phonecard's rounding policy.