With all of the choices for prepaid phone cards available, selecting the best card for you can be quite intimidating. Here are the major factors you should consider when buying a phone card. Remember, don’t be fooled by advertised low rates, as they tell only part of the story. The true cost of the long distance you will end up paying for depends on factors such as connection, maintenance and service fees. By asking yourself the following questions, you will be able to select the best phone card for your needs:

How often will you use the prepaid phone card? If you use the card regularly (everyday or every other day) until it is used up, you can choose a card with a low rate and a weekly or monthly maintenance fee. By using the card quickly (within a week) you will use up the card before you will have to pay any fees.

How long will you talk on the phone for each call? If you are making long calls (over 20 minutes per call) but infrequently (once a month), you can buy a prepaid phone card that has a connection fee in conjunction with a low per minute rate. This way you will spread out the cost of the connection charge over many minutes that you talk on each call. However if you make a call and no one answers or you leave a message, you will still be charged the connection fee. If you talk infrequently but for longer calls, you don’t want to buy a card with a maintenance fee with this scenario because you will be charged a fee for not using the card very often. These fees will eat away at your phone cards balance, reducing the amount of money remaining on the card.

How long will it take for you to use up the phone card? If you plan on having a card for a while and don’t make long phone calls, don’t buy one with a maintenance fee or connection fee. These cards tend to have a higher per minute rate but they are worth it with this scenario. Remember you can always buy another one or refill a phone card if that option is available. Also, you need to beware of the expiry date on the card from when you activated it. Be sure you can use the entire card up before it expires as any money left on the card once it expires will be gone.

In order to maximize your calling time, you want a card that is going to give you the cheapest total calling time for all calls that you make and not just a low per minute cost. You need to look at all charges to determine which phone card is best depending on how you will use it.

Chris Stevenson has been using prepaid phone cards for over 10 years and has been scammed many times by phone cards that advertise low rates only to cost more due to hidden fees.

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