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How to Make the Best Calling Card Selection

With so many selections of phone cards, choosing the calling card can be tricky. Phone Card Stop would like to help you make the best phone card choice for your needs. Here are some tips on how to choose the right calling card:

1. Familiarize yourself with calling card terms & minutes counting
Please check out our Phone Card Terms and How Rates are Computed articles.

2. Know your need
Destination – Where are you calling? Are you calling to a certain city or several cities within a country? Are you going to make a call to a mobile phone?
Duration – How long do you think your calls will be? Under 30 minutes or over an hour?
Frequency – Is it a one time thing where you need to make an international call, or do you frequently make international calls?
Connection – Do you need high connection quality, or are you simply looking for the cheapest way to place a call?
Preference - Do you have any specific phone cards service provider in mind?

3 Understand your options
- If you are going to make a long call everytime, choose international calling cards with a connection fee. This is applied everytime you are connected, but the rates per minute are very low.
- For those making many calls during a short period of time, look for the billing increment/minutes rounding. The best choice for short calls is to get a calling card with 1 or 2 minute rounding. Also, where applicable, choose a card with a maintenance fee but with lower minute rounding. You will probably use up your international calling card until the weekly or monthly fee is deducted.
- If you intent to use your international calling card over a longer period of time, choose one that does not have a maintenance charge and the lowest maintenance fee when applicable. Even though the rates will be slightly higher, you can use your international calling card for a longer time. However, keep in mind that most phone cards will expire 90 days after the first use, and some phone cards will expire 90 days after purchase or first use, whichever comes first.
- If you use payphone to place a call, get a calling card with low payphone surcharge.

Conclusion
It is important to determine your needs before selecting a calling card. Frequent callers, or short-term callers should select cards that have few fees. Frequent callers, may be better off selecting a phone card with a low rates and other fees. Check out our calling card buying tips and stretch your dollars even further.

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