Phone Cards have become sophisticated and there are many ways for phone card companies to charge you more. All phone cards have a combination of one or more of the following charges:
- Timebased charge:
The actual time you spend onlineeither in units purchased or a timeincrement in seconds. The time incrementsvary from 1 second to 5 minutes. - ConnectionFee:
A one off charge for initiatinga single call. Each and every timeyou use the card and your partyanswers, you will be charged a connectionfee which will be deducted fromthe available minutes. This amountis deducted from the card valueeither in money or in minutes. Ifa calling card has a very low perminute rate, the chances sare ithas either a high connection feeor a surcharge. It is a logicalextension that cards with a connectionfee are hopeless for short durationphone calls whereas they may behighly effective for long duration calling.
- InitialConnection/Weekly/Monthly Service/MaintenanceFees:
Some cards have an initial set upfee. This could be a one off justto get you on the road. Some, however,charge a weekly or monthly fee ofaround $1.00. This is charged afterthe first time that the card isused and is deducted in minutesor dollar from the card. Even ifyou are not using your calling cardyou may be racking up a charge. - PayPhone/Cellular Phone Charges:
Nearly all phone card calls originatingfrom a Pay Phone are charged a feeper call. This is required by federallaw and the fee typically rangesfrom $.35 to $.50 per call. Thisgoes to pay Uncle Sam or the ownerof the payphone. This amount isdeducted in minutes from the card.If your cellular or mobile phonecompany allows you to call fromyour mobile phone, there maybe acharge per call fee. Some Cellphonecontracts do not allow the use ofalternate carriers like phonecardsor dialaround services. - Taxes:
There are FCC/State/Local chargestaxes based on where the call originates.(This is the same tax that appearson your phone bill each month andis calculated on each call.) Normallythis is factored into the rate butit can be deducted separately andwill be deducted from the valueof the card.