Research the world of long distance telephone rates and you will discover that plain old conventional long distance is more expensive than virtually all other alternatives. This is especially true when you add extra fees and taxes paid to providers and especially state and federal government.

Local phone companies like old Ma Bell (AT&T) and others who provide local service like Verizon and Southwest Bell used to rely and get away with people simply being uninformed and unmotivated to check out their alternatives. Often they bundled long distance with local services so you were never quite sure how much the long distance portion of your service was costing you.  That changed for most during the 1990s and into the early new century as nearly everyone "wised up" to the fact that long distance alternatives were widely available with rates that were dropping nearly every year.  The emergence of the mobile phone for many caused them to ask "just what services do I have and what am I paying?"   And this then expanded to include asking about home and office calling.  

Today people have options like VoIP (voice over internet protocol) which are designed to use high speed internet connections to make calls far cheaper.  These plans typically include nationwide calling for free as do most mobile phone plans now.  These both can save you money versus conventional long distance.  The quality and 411 issues remain for VoIP as does the inflexibility to use from anywhere other than your high speed connection. Also, any single month fixed payment structure means you could easily be paying more in some months than you might otherwise.  

Two interesting alternatives have emerged since divestiture of AT&T in the late 1980s that are getting a very strong look as they bill without taxes and have per minute rates of less than 2 or 3 cents - often for international calls!  

Phone Cards - a solution with serious limitations

One alternative to direct dial long distance service is to the prepaid phone card. These cards are often purchased online or at local convenience stores like 7- Eleven or even major chains like Staples, supermarkets or wholesale wearhouses like Costco or BJs.  These can be good for limited times or for short term travel, but for most this is taken care of by mobile phone plans.  Frankly, most are purchased by people who need make long distance - perhaps international calls - but who cannot afford an unlimited mobile phone plan.  After signing up you are sent an account number and PIN which allow you to access the long distance system of the phone card operator.

Having a phone card lets you place long distance calls by calling a toll free access number, entering your PIN and then dialing the number you want to call.

Some of the features and shortcomings of phone cards are as follows:

* For international calls, phone cards are often country or region specific. It is difficult to find one card that gives you good rates to multiple countries or regions.
* They are good for short term situations like traveling or for occasional use if one does not already own a mobile phone with good interstate rates or even free national calling
* Calling can be cumbersome unless you can find a "PIN-less" phone card.
* Charges can be higher than expected because of hidden fees and taxes.
* Calls can be more expensive because of longer call duration rounding intervals. A 6.5 minute call will be billed as 7 minutes if a 1 minute rounding interval is used. But it will be billed as 9 minutes if they use a 3 minute interval.
* Phone cards often have a higher minimum call duration. Some cards charge a minimum of one rounding interval for every call, even it is not completed.

Dial Around Plans - a much better alternative

A much better alternative is what is called a dial around plan. They are called "dial around plans" because you use a local number or toll free number to bypass or "dial around" the conventional phone company. You call the assigned access number and once you get a dial tone you dial the area code and number you are calling.  The service uses ani-ID (number recognition) of your line to identify you.  This saves the need to enter a long 10 or more digit PIN.

Here are some of the features you can get with a quality dial around plan

* With good plans you only pay for minutes used. There are no fees, taxes, or hidden charges.
* No monthly minimum charge or account fee.
* Very low long distance rates, including low domestic rates to the USA and Canada.
* Savings are substantial - from 50% to 90% less than conventional long distance.
* Low instate rates which with most local providers and even competitive long distance companies can be much higher than calling out of state or even to some international destinations.  
* Quality plans do not require a caller to enter an account number or PIN when calling from registered numbers. You can register as many as 12 phone numbers with your account.
* Connection quality is comparable to conventional long distance because the same fiber optic lines are used.
* Some plans (higher quality ones) give you free online account management including real time call history. This lets you see the details of every call -- the number called, time and date of the call, duration, and cost.
* Dial around plans can be used at home, with a cell phone, or while traveling in the USA or Canada.

Summary - Dial Around Plans are much more versatile

While it is true that phone cards provide a short term convenience when traveling, dial around plans offer a better and cheaper long distance alternative for anyone who makes long distance calls on a regular basis for personal or business reasons.

A prepaid dial around plan I have used since 2004 for ALL CALLS in my home state of New Jersey, calls nationwide and most importantly overseas is Tel3Advantage.  I call anywhere in the continental US for only 1.9 cents.  My NJ rate is 6.9 cents with my standard provider and they are competitive to the competition.

There is information about this deep discount calling alternative at:  www.prepaidlongdistance.us and at the Namada.com website

Joseph Horton
Founder/Owner
jh@namada.com
http://namada.com  

Unique Calling Plans Designed to Save You Money