Buy Long Distance Phone Cards

Prepaid phone cards can be purchased and used for a flat fee to make long distance telephone calls. Cards provide you a specified amount of call time to certain destinations. For example, advertisements for these cards may offer "$5 for 1000 Minutes to Guatemala."

buy long distance phone cards

Prepaid phone cards are often marketed by companies other than the telephone company or service provider. If you have concerns about deceptive or false advertising or marketing practices, contact the Federal Trade Commission: www.consumer.ftc.gov.

Comfi has an all-in-one cross-platform service that lets you make calls from various devices. With Comfi, you can make calls using calling cards, its mobile app, web calls, direct dial, speed dial, and more. It also has military phone cards, international student calling cards, and travel phone cards.

Straight Talk has global calling cards that serve as an add-on to Straight Talk Service Plans. You can choose from Global Calling for international long-distance calls and Unlimited for nationwide calls and calls to Canada and Mexico.

NEW YORK - Prepaid phone card users now can purchase and recharge Verizon's calling cards anytime, from any personal computer or laptop. Within minutes, callers can choose the card that best fits their calling needs, buy it and start making long-distance calls, including international calls to more than 200 countries.

Verizon offers four online cards -- all with no maintenance fees, which are charged by many other prepaid card sellers. In addition to domestic long-distance, calling is available to more than 200 countries at competitive rates.

A Fortune 10 company, Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) is one of the world's leading providers of communications services, with approximately $67 billion in revenues and 221,000 employees. Verizon companies are the largest providers of wireline and wireless communications in the United States, with 137.6 million access line equivalents and 34.6 million Verizon Wireless customers. Verizon is the third largest long-distance carrier for U.S. consumers, with 14.6 million long-distance lines. The company is also the largest directory publisher in the world, as measured by directory titles and circulation. Verizon's international presence includes wireline and wireless communications operations and investments, primarily in the Americas and Europe. For more information, visit www.verizon.com.

The main US based phone operators tend to have several options/packages available for domestic long distance calls. You would therefore be well advised to research your options and go for something that suits the frequency of your calling needs. By choosing a plan that takes into account the number of minutes you average per month, you can help keep costs down.

AT&T -- For an additional monthly surcharge of $5 you can call long distance for 7 cents per minute. Alternatively, for those who call more frequently, there is a subscription for $25 that allows unlimited calls. The first plan would cover 285 minutes of long distance per month by the time it hit $25; for excess minutes, the second plan is better.

Rebtel -- Long distance calls in the contiguous 48 states can be made for just 1.5 cents per minute, with no monthly fees or hidden charges. An added benefit to Rebtel is that calls can be made from landlines as well as normal cell and smartphones. You can even use Rebtel to call the US from outside the country, using easy to access phone codes for the state you are calling so the call goes through like a local call.

Look back through your records and make a generous estimate of how many minutes you spend on long distance calls each month. Then select the long distance calling plan that fits your usage patterns. The right service can create substantial yearly savings.

Many people use a pre-paid phone card because of the card's convenience - it can be used anywhere and, since you pay in advance, there is no bill. Pre-paid phone cards are popular among travelers, students, people who frequently call overseas, and those who haven't selected a long-distance service.

Rates for international calls can vary dramatically, based on the country that you call or the way that you make the call. Pre-paid phone cards often offer rates that are much lower than a telephone company's basic international rates.

Phone card companies keep track of how much of a card's calling time is used by the card's PIN number. You can add time to some pre-paid phone cards, and the added cost can usually be billed to a credit card. If you cannot add time to your card, you will need to buy a new one once all the time has been used. Also, pre-paid phone cards often have expiration dates. Make sure to keep track of the date your card expires so you don't lose unused minutes.

Make sure you understand the rates for your particular phone card. Also check the expiration date, look for a toll-free customer service number provided with or on the card, and make sure you understand the instructions on how to use the card. You may also want to ask your friends and family to recommend cards they have used and liked.

The amount of talking time you get can depend on the value of the phone card, where you are calling and if you are calling a landline or a cell phone. You may want to try different phone cards to see which ones provide you with the best value.

The prepaid long-distance phone card business is unregulated in Canada. If you have problems with your card, try the customer service number. Some card companies are difficult to reach. If you want to complain about the phone card company, follow the instructions in How do I make a consumer complaint?

*Unlimited Carryover: For Unlimited Talk & Text Smartphone plans, any unused data after your service end date will carryover to the next cycle if active service is maintained and in use with any Unlimited Talk & Text Smartphone plan. For other service plans, any unused minutes, texts and data will not expire as long as any Tracfone service plan is active and in use within any six-month period.

The $10 Global Calling Card must be combined with another Tracfone Service Plan to work. International long distance service is available to select destinations only, which are subject to change at any time. Calls must originate from the US or Puerto Rico only. No international roaming allowed. Only for personal use. Calls are billed in one-minute increments. Airtime minutes will be deducted plus the cost of the International call. Rates are subject to change without prior notice. Card benefits expire after 180 days of last use or 30 days after your service is suspended, whichever occurs first.

A telephone card, calling card or phonecard for short, is a credit card-size plastic or paper card, used to pay for telephone services (often international or long-distance calling). It is not necessary to have the physical card except with a stored-value system; knowledge of the access telephone number to dial and the PIN is sufficient. Standard cards which can be purchased and used without any sort of account facility give a fixed amount of credit and are discarded when used up; rechargeable cards can be topped up, or collect payment in arrears. The system for payment and the way in which the card is used to place a telephone call vary from card to card.

A stored-value phone card stores the available credit balance in an analog or digital memory physically embedded in the card. This balance can be read by a public payphone when the card is inserted into the card reader. This is superficially similar to a bank automated teller machine, but a stored-value card is more closely analogous to a change purse. While ATMs (as well as the remote memory systems discussed below) use the card merely to identify the associated account and record changes in a central database, stored-value systems make a physical alteration to the card, or write data to an embedded chip or magnetic stripe to reflect the new balance after a call. Some magnetic cards also show the remaining value.

The earliest system used a magnetic stripe as information carrier, similar to the technology of ATMs and key cards. The first magnetic strip phonecard, manufactured by SIDA, was issued in 1976 in Italy.

The next technology used optical storage. Optical phonecards get their name from optical structure embossed inside the cards. This optical structure is heated and destroyed after use of the units. Visible marks are left on the top of the cards, so that the user can see the balance of remaining units. Optical cards were produced by Landis+Gyr and Sodeco from Switzerland and were popular early phonecards in many countries with first optical phonecards successfully introduced in 1977 in Belgium. Such technology was very secure and not easily hackable but chip cards phased out the optical phone cards around the world and the last Landis+Gyr factory closed in May 2006 when optical phonecards were still in use in few countries like Austria, Israel and Egypt. 041b061a72