How To Find The Best Phone Card Option For You
When shopping for phone cards, the choice is extensive and it can sometimes present an overwhelming feeling of indecision for the consumer. Basically, remember that a phone card is designed to do one thing; provide you with a low cost alternative to more expensive and traditional means of connecting with friends and family. For overseas calls they are an absolute boon.
In my case, maintaining a long distance relationship with my fiance has been helped no end by the daily use of a phone card. Making long distance calls by traditional means between Australia and the United States can be an expensive past time however, with a phone card, my costs have virtually been reduced to a miniscule proportion of what they would otherwise have been.
Choosing A Phone Card
When selecting my phone card I performed a checklist of requirements before going online to find the most suitable card for my situation. These are some of the requirements I needed:
- What is the per minute cost of calls to my destination of choice? Surprisingly, I didn’t choose the cheapest option out there simply because there were too many grey areas present. Sometimes cheapest isn’t best and in the end, the choice you make may be a combination of things.
- Will the rates vary or stay constant? Are there any hidden fees? This was important. I preferred to select a card that offered constant rates and the opportunity of earning bonus minutes in relation to how often I used the card. The last thing I needed were unwelcome surprises. Another factor I considered was the charge of connection and maintenance fees. I wanted a straight out rate and this is one area you will need be clear about when choosing your phone card.
- Placing more than one call without re-entering the pin? This wasn’t a major factor in my overall decision however, I liked the idea of not going through the entire process of re-dialling lengthy pin numbers if I happened to be disconnected. This could occur by several means but one of the most common is flat phone batteries. This is an option to consider but more a preferred choice.
- Customer service… could I contact my phone card company if a problem arose? In the end, this was the one requirement I placed the most emphasis on. Even though they weren’t the cheapest, their level of customer service was fantastic and for the sake of a few cents for every hour I spent on the phone, it was well worth it. I recently put the customer service factor to the test when I required a copy of my phone records for a 12 month period. They reciprocated with a full copy within three days. It was no trouble at all. I couldn’t have asked for any more.
Remember, depending on the level of use, a phone card can provide a tremendous saving to your telephone activities. Cheapest is not always best; I consider developing a good relationship with a company more important than saving an extra cent or two an hour and possible problems down the track.