"Why do some phone cards have extra fees?"

No one likes to be charged extra fees when they buy a product, especially a phone card.  However, many phone cards that have extra fees also have very low rates, and depending on your calling need, may give you more overall minutes than a flat-rate phone card.  And there's actually a logical reason why some cards have these fees and others do not.

When carriers decide what charge for calling a certain country, they have to consider a number of things: the type of phone being called to (landline or mobile phone), how much it costs to route the call to that country, any additional taxes that may need to be paid, and if it's a mobile phone, sometimes a mobile connection cost.  For flat-rate phone cards, all these fees are rolled into the rate per minute so you see the overall cost.  For cards that have additional fees, these additional costs are rolled into the service  fees and  surcharges, and the rate per minute is listed separately.  You could consider it to be like a service charge or tax you would  see on your regular landline or mobile phone bill.

Depending on your overall calling need, a phone card with fees may actually give you more minutes than a flat-rate card will.  I know what you're thinking.  How can that be?  If you were to call into our Customer Service department and ask one of our reps "what is the best value phone card you can sell me," besides asking where you will be calling to, we will next ask you to help us better understand your calling need. 

How long do you estimate each of your phone calls will be?

How many times per week do you plan on using your phone card?

What kind of phone are you calling to?  Landline or Mobile Phone?

Your answers to these questions helps us to better direct you in purchasing the best phone card for your calling needs.

If you call 1 or less times per week for less than 30 mintues per call, or if your calls  are less frequent and you consider them occasional, then a flat-rate card would be what I would recommend to you.  We have many to choose from depending on your calling destination.

If you call 2 or more times per week for at least 30+ minutes per call, I would take a look at the cards with fees, do some quick math,  and help you find the card that will give you the most minutes for your need.

So let's look at an example.  Let's say you plan to call a landline in Austria 3 times a week and estimate you will  talk for about 45 minutes per call.  You also  tell me that you'd like to use a toll free access number instead of a local access number.  When I search for rates when calling from the US to Austria, a number of phone cards come up.  I'm going to choose one phone card with fees and one without.  that Then, it's a matter of doing the math.  Here's what it would look like:

Extreme Talk Time International

Rate:  2.4¢ per minute     Connection Fee per Call:  $0.19     Surcharge per Call:   10%     Service Fee:  $0.59 per month

How to do the math

Cost of Minutes:  45 minutes x 2.4¢ per minute = $1.08

Surcharge:  $1.08 x 10% Surcharge = $0.11

Total Call Cost:  $1.08 (Cost of Minutes) + $0.11 (Surcharges) + $0.19 (Connection Fee) = $1.38

Per Week Cost:  3 times per week x $1.38 = $4.14

Per Month Cost:  4 weeks x $4.14 = $16.56 + $0.59 (Monthly Service Fee) = $17.15

For the month, your calls would have cost you $17.15.

True North

Rate:  3.8¢ per minute    Connection Fee per Call:  None     Surcharge per Call:   None     Service Fee:  None

How to do the math

Cost of Minutes:  45 minutes x 3.8¢ per minute = $1.71

Total Call Cost:  $1.71

Per Week Cost:  3 times per week x $1.71 = $5.13

Per Month Cost:  4 weeks x $3.64 = $20.52

For the month, your calls would total $20.52.

Based on this math and this calling need, my overall recommendation would be an Extreme Talk Time International phone card even though it has fees associated with it.  Between these two cards, this one gives you a better value than the flate-rate card.

The above math does not include if the billing increments are higher than 1 minute.  If you have a card that bills in 3 minute increments, you may want to round up your minutes before you do the math.  For example, if you have a card that bills in 3 minute increments and you talk for 35 minutes, your call will be rounded up to 36 minutes and be billed as that. 

As with any phone card purchase, make sure to read all the details about the phone card before you place your purchase so you know all the specifications for the phone card.  To find all the details about ZapTel's phone cards, click on either the name or picture of the card.  There are different tabs with information about the cards that will help you better understand how the phone card workks and what features are available. 

Phone Card Coupon for Week of March 10th

Through March 16th, receive a 5% discount on any purchase or recharge of an Extreme Talk Time International phone card from ZapTel. Use the following code to receive the discount:

EXINTL

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 March 16, 2008.