Phone card rates are better than international mobile plans
August 23rd, 2009
Are phone cards really more affordable than international plans with mobile providers?
Believe it or not, you may find that you’ll save more money by using a phone card than the international calling plan offered by your mobile provider. There’s a little math involved to see how you can compare this for your calling destination, but I can break it down for you so you can easily compare ZapTel’s great rates to the plans offered by your mobile carrier.
I’ve blogged in the past about how to do phone card math. Here’s a quick refresher of the info you need to find your total costs:
- Find the rate per minute to your calling destination. Remember, there is usually a difference in the rate per minute to a landline versus a mobile phone. Make sure to find the right rate to the number you’re looking to call.
- Know about how long you plan to talk on each call. In other words, are you a long talker or short talker? Remember, cards with additional fees are generally better for long talkers and/or frequent callers, and flat rate cards are better for short talkers or infrequent callers.
- Look for additional fees and details about the phone card or calling plan like billing increments (i.e. 1 minute, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, etc.), connection fee per call, surcharge per call, service fee (usually weekly or monthly if there is a fee).
Next, use these formulas to do the math:
1. Calculate the cost of the minutes you plan to use. Make sure to round the number of minutes to the billing increment indicated on the phone card you’re looking to purchase.
Cost of Minutes = Estimated Number of Minutes per Call X Rate per Minute
2. Add connection fees to calculate call cost.
Call Cost = Cost of Minutes + Connection Fees
3. Calculate the total surcharge for the card.
Total Surcharge = % Surcharge per Call X Call Cost
4. Add in the surcharge per call to calculate the total call cost.
Total Call Cost = Total Surcharge + Call Cost
If you plan to call more than once per week, you would multiply the total call cost by the number of times per week you plan to call. For cards with service fees, you would have to understand how much would be deducted either weekly or monthly from your phone card for this fee.
Once you’ve done this for the phone card you’re reviewing, go back and do the same thing with your mobile provider. They may not have fees like surcharges per call or connection fees, but they’re likely to have a service fee. For instance, one major mobile provider I reviewed charges an additional $3.99 per month to your regular monthly service to be able to place international calls on top of the additional rate per minute.
The best way I’ve found to calculate your monthly calling usage for your mobile provider is like this:
# Minutes X Rate per minute = Total Call Cost
Total Call Cost + Monthly Service Fee = Total Cost for International Calls
I recently did an analysis comparing our best calling rates to all the countries on our rate search list to the rates and fees to call with major mobile provider’s international dialing plans. The results were astounding! ZapTel’s best rate phone card was anywhere from 25% to 98% better than the mobile providers’ calling plans.
So my challenge for all of you is to do the math between ZapTel and your mobile phone provider’s international dialing plan. Leave me a comment and let me know what you find.
Phone Card Coupon for Week of August 24th
Through September 6th, receive a $1.00 off of your purchase or recharge of a phone card from ZapTel. Use the following code to receive the discount:
CMPR2SV
Enter the coupon code on the Review Your Order page, and be sure to click the “Add Coupon Code” button on the page to apply the discount. Offer expires at Midnight Central Time on September 6, 2009.
This entry was posted on Sunday, August 23rd, 2009 at 11:00 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
