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How to Call Long Distance For Just Pennies Per Minute

How much do you pay to make a long distance call from your home phone? If it is anything more than a handful of Abraham Lincolns per minute, read on.

Dozens of cost-saving alternatives exist to cut down your long distance bill but one of the easiest has to be using a pre-paid phone card. You can find a wide selection of pre-paid phone cards at big name stores like Sam's Club, Costco, Wal-Mart and Target. To get your hands on one, just visit one of these stores, grab a pre-paid card off the shelf and head to the checkout. The card will be activated as soon as you complete your purchase

What's the going rate? Here's a sample of pre-paid phone cards and their prices as of August, 2008:

• Sam's Club: AT&T PrePaid Phone Card - 1,000 min., $34.70 or $0.0347 (3.47 cents) per minute
• Costco: Verizon 700 Minute Prepaid Phone Card Plus, $19.99 or $0.0286 (2.86 cents) per minute

When you are ready to use your card, just follow the instructions on the back of the card. This usually entails dialing a toll-free access number to initiate a call. Next, enter the personal identification number (PIN) assigned to your card. Finally, enter the number you want to dial and your call is connected. With some pre-paid phone cards, you may even be able to eliminate the middle step (known as PIN-less calling).

If this sounds like a lot of steps, it can be. Especially when after dialing all of these numbers you get a busy signal and have to try again a few minutes later. If you have speed dial or memory dial on your phone you can get around this by programming the toll-free access number to one speed dial or memory dial number and your PIN to another. This should speed up the dialing process significantly.

Extra charges if you're not careful

It's important to know when using a pre-paid calling card that they are primarily designed for domestic, state-to-state calls, from one land-based line to another land-based line. Anything other than these exact circumstances and you can wind up paying a few more pennies a minute than you expected.

Here's a summary of situations where you may experience higher rates:

• You call from a mobile phone or to a mobile phone
• You call from a pay phone
• You call to a number outside the United States
• You call to a number in the same state as your own (ex: Indiana to Indiana)

Besides cost, there are several other advantages to using pre-paid phone cards including:

• Minutes never expire. Check the terms of your card to verify this before purchase.
• Can be used on any land-based phone line, not just your own. So go ahead and make that long distance call from your friend's house.
• No monthly or recurring fees such as the ones your local phone company may charge for unlimited long distance.
• When you run low on minutes on your card you can recharge your card with new minutes right over the phone. No need to run to the store to buy a new card.

To be fair, there are a few disadvantages as well. Notably, most calling cards display generic caller IDs such as "GEORGIA CALL" which means your best friend with caller ID may not recognize you and ignore your call. Also, it can be an inconvenience when you unexpectedly run low on minutes and you are in the middle of an important call.

Most would say that these are fair trade-offs for the low per-minute cost of the call.

Patric Welch, also known as "Mr. Noobie," empowers people to confidently approach technology and use it to enhance their lives. He has a passion for understanding and answering your technology challenges. You can find Mr. Noobie on the web at http://www.noobie.com

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