Phone cards are a great way to keep yourself on a budget with your phone use, no matter where in the world you call.  ZapTel has a number of phone cards that can help you stick with your budget and keep in touch with your loved ones.

The best phone cards I can recommend for sticking with a calling budget are either flat-rate cards or phone cards with no weekly/monthly service fees.  I say this because there may be periods of time because of your budget that you may not be using your phone card.  During that time, you don’t want service fees to come off the balance of your phone card.  The rate per minute may be higher than some of our other cards, but the benefit long term will be better.

To budget your time, first decide on how much you’d like to spend per week or month on calls.

After you’ve figured out this amount, do a rate search for your calling origination and destination.  This will give you a list of phone cards available for your calling need.

To view the flat-rate cards only, click on the link under the rate search that says Click for advanced options.  Choose the filter that shows flat-rate cards only and press Search Rates.

Review the cards available that you feel would best suit your calling needs.

Two phone cards that will not come up when you use this filter are the International Student’s Choice and Au Pair’s Choice.  Both of these cards have a 10% surcharge per call but no other service fees.  Take a look at these two cards as well when you’re evaluating your card choices.  To see how their rates stack up to the flat-rate phone cards, add the 10% surcharge to the rate per minute.  Here’s an example.

Let’s say that you’re looking at a card that’s 10 cents per minute with a 10% surcharge per call.  When you add that into the rate per minute, it makes the rate 11¢ per minute.

For more information about finding the right phone card for your calling needs, check out our First Time Buyer’s Guide.

Phone Card Coupon for Week of January 23rd

Through February 5th, receive $1.00 off of your purchase of a new phone card PIN 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 February 5, 2012.

Every day, we come across new customers who see the array of phone card choices and don’t know which way to go.  Phone card math is something each of ZapTel’s Customer Service Representatives is fully versed in and this knowledge can help you better understand how your phone card bills and which card will be right for you.

The flat-rate, no fee phone cards are the easiest when doing math.  All you have to do is take the denomination of the phone card and divide it by the rate per minute and you’ll get the total number of minutes you’ll have for talking.

Where it gets more complicated is when you’re looking at a phone card with additional fees.

Just like when you had to solve math problems in school, you first have to have all the facts.  Find the answers to these questions first before moving forward:

1)  Where are you calling from and to?

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

3)  What is the listed rate per minute for the phone card you’re looking to purchase? (Be sure to look at the difference between landlines and mobile rates as the mobile rate is likely to be higher.)

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

5)  What are the billing increments for the phone card you’re looking to purchase?

6)  What are the associated fees with the phone card you’re looking to purchase?

-  Connection Fee

-  Surcharge Per Call

-  Service Fee (usually weekly or monthly)

After you have these answers, start doing 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.

For more information on phone card math and an example of how to do it, check out our How to do Phone Card Math page.

Phone Card Coupon for Week of January 9th

Through January 22nd, receive 5% off of your purchase or recharge of a phone card from ZapTel . Use the following code to receive the discount:

DOMATH

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 January 22, 2012.

Phone Cards with Updated Calling Rates:

• Oceans International
• Extreme Talk Time International
• True North
• Study Abroad Student’s Choice

Click on the name of the phone card above for the latest rates or do a rate search to see the most current rates to your calling destination.

What makes the Giftster mobile gift registry so great?

By being mobile, you can take your Giftster with you wherever you go: while you’re shopping gifts, at family gatherings to help others make lists, while you’re at a specific store and you see things you’d like to add to your list.

One of my favorite mobile Giftster features that I can’t wait to use this holiday is the shopping list.  I already use my iPhone to make shopping lists when I go to the grocery store.  Now, I will have my Giftster shopping list at my fingertips loaded with all the items I’ve reserved off of others’ lists from my group.  And the minute I buy them, I can mark them purchased.

Giftster on my iPhone will also be great to use at Thanksgiving.  My mom, who enjoys Christmas as much now as she did as a kid, doesn’t like using the computer, but loves that I help her with her Giftster list.  She’s always asking me to add things on her list and check others’ lists for her.  At Thanksgiving, I plan to sit down with her, iPhone in hand, and update her list.

Download the Giftster app through the Apple app store today and have as much fun using it as I will this holiday season.

Why ZapTel phone card customers should make gift lists on Giftster.com

We know how much our ZapTel phone card customers have come to love our store for its great quality products, friendly customer service, and money saving options.

It’s with this same philosophy that we designed Giftster.com.  It’s an easy to use free application that not only will help ease the stress of knowing what gifts to give, but also helps users save money on holiday gift giving.

We hope you take the time to check out Giftster.com and, if you have an iPhone, you check out the free app.  We hope you love it as much as we do.

Giftster.com, a sister company to ZapTel.com, is a free online family gift list and wishlist maker created to help families give better gifts, spend money more effectively and stay within their holiday budgets.

You may be asking “doesn’t the thought count for anything?”  In Joel Waldfogel’s book Scroogenomics, he examines what he calls a $14 billion problem with gift giving.  The amount a person pays for a gift versus what the recipient values the gift at is a difference of $14 billion.  This kind of makes the thought count after all.  In this economy, who has that kind of money to waste?

For the past couple years, we’ve been beta testing Giftser.com to be that $14 billion solution reducing the stress around gift giving, making it affordable for everyone, and bringing back the joy that goes with giving gifts.

This is a great way for any family member to use - from young children to grandparents.  One of my favorite aspects of Giftster is that it’s not tied to any one retailer.  You can put anything - literally anything - on your wish list and share it with your group.  It’s not only great for holiday gift giving, but is also fabulous for any gift giving occasion like birthdays, graduations, weddings, and baby showers.

Creating a wish list is easy and sharing the gift list is even easier.

1) Press Sign Up on Giftster.com to set up an account. All you need to enter is your name,  email address, and birthday.  You’ll also be asked to set up a password for your Giftster account.  You can also set up your account by logging in with Facebook.

2)  Create a list by clicking on New List under My Lists. Here, you can add any items you want from websites, regular stores, salons or barber shops, even your mom’s or grandma’s recipes.  You can get as detailed as you want as well by entering in the price, where the item can be found, and further description so the gift givers in your life know exactly what you’d like to receive.

3)  Share your list by creating a group for your family and asking others to create lists, too. Click on My Groups and Add a New Group.  You’ll be able to send an email to everyone you’d like to invite to view your gift list and in turn, they can share their list with you in this group.

4)  Go shopping! View the lists of others in your group.  Mark items as reserved to add them to your shopping list (don’t worry - the recipient won’t see what you’ve reserved or purchased, but others in the group will see that the item is no longer available).

5)  Give great gifts. When gift giving rolls around, you’ll know for sure that you’ve chosen something meaningful for the recipient and have wisely spent your money.

You get all this from Giftster.com for free.  FREE!  Can’t get better than that.

Create an account and try Giftster.com out today and receive an exclusive phone card coupon good towards your next ZapTel.com purchase.

Click here to check out Giftster.com.

Coming Soon - Giftster.com Wishlist iPhone App

Like Giftster on Facebook and be one of the first to know when the Giftster iPhone App is ready.

We’re proud to re-introduce a great phone card redesigned for not only great rates but flat rate calling to anywhere in the world: The Precision World phone card exclusively found at ZapTel.com.

What makes Precision World so great? The Precision World was designed for the person looking for complete precision with their phone card:

No Fee Phone Card. You pay just the rate per minute.  No surcharges or weekly or monthly service fees.

30 Second Rounding. This helps you maximize the minutes available on your phone card, giving you more precise billing.

Recharge Available. Reload your Precision World PIN anywhere from $20 to $100.

Fully Loaded with Features: PINzap™ Pinless Dialing, Speed Dial, Online Call Detail Records and Internet Dialing.

Great Rates for Calling All Over the World:

Brazil: 4.4¢ per minute
China: 3¢
France: 2.9¢
Germany: 3¢
India: 3.6¢
Japan: 4.6¢
Mexico: 6.4¢
Nepal: 16.9¢
South Korea: 3.6¢
United Kingdom: 2.6¢
USA - 48 States: 3¢

Buy the Precision World phone card today.

Phone Card Coupon for Week of September 26th

Through October 17th, receive $1.00 off of your purchase or recharge of a Precision World phone card from ZapTel. Use the following code to receive the discount:

PWORLDCALL

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 October 17, 2011.

Phone Cards with Updated Calling Rates:

• Au Pair’s Choice (rates updated for Congo, Tanzania, US Virgin Islands, and Bahamas)

• International Student’s Choice (rates updated for Seychelles, Maldives, Azerbaijan, Austria, and Burkina Faso)
  

Click on the name of the phone card above for the latest rates or do a rate search to see the most current rates to your calling destination.

Many ZapTel phone cards have online call detail records.  These records can help you monitor your phone card use and give you a record of your calls should you need them for work or obtaining a fiancee visa.

Here’s how to pull up your call detail records online:

1. Log on to www.zaptel.com with your email address and password. This will bring you to your Account Dashboard.

2. Under PIN Options, click on the link Call Details.

3. Our site will initially display the call details for the last 30 days.  You can change the date ranges to show up to 60 days worth of call details at one time.  Call details are retained for 180 days.

Below is a list of phone cards from ZapTel.com that have online call detail records available.  Other phone cards not listed do not have call detail record capabilities and we are not able to acquire them from the carrier.

• Au Pair’s Choice
• Call the World
• Destination Cell
• Extreme Talk Time International
• Extreme Talk Time USA
• Flying Colors!
• International Student’s Choice
• Oceans International
• Precision World
• Study Abroad Student’s Choice
• True North
• Wireless World

Phone Card Coupon for Week of August 29th

Through September 4th, receive 5% off of your purchase or recharge of a phone card with online call detail records from ZapTel (as listed above). Use the following code to receive the discount:

CDRCARD5

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 4, 2011.

You have the ability to organize your ZapTel dashboard so you will see only the phone cards you want to see when you log in. 

 Here’s how to set up your custom dashboard:

1.  Log on to www.zaptel.com with your email address and password.  This will bring you to your Account Dashboard.

2.  Just under the heading “Your ZapTel Phone Cards” is a link that says Customize My Dashboard.  Click on this link.

3.  Next, you’ll be able to select the cards you’d like to display on your dashboard.  From now on, you’ll be brought to your custom dashboard when you log into your ZapTel account.

4.  New PIN purchases will automatically show in your custom dashboard when you purchase them.  To add older PINs to your custom dashboard, click on the link Show Other Cards and select the PINs you would like to show,

5.  To see all the PINs you’ve purchased with ZapTel, click on the link See all of your PINs.

6.  To turn off your custom dashboard, click on the link Turn off custom dashboard.

Phone Card Coupon for Week of August 22nd

Through August 28th, receive $1.oo off of your purchase or recharge of a phone card from ZapTel. Use the following code to receive the discount:

TRSTZAP

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 August 28, 2011.

The answer, unfortunately, is maybe.  There are some things you need to coordinate first before using your USA based mobile phone from outside the USA, and a phone card may or may not play into that.

Before using a mobile phone outside its country of origin, whether you want to use a phone card or not, you first need to contact your mobile phone provider and ask about roaming.  Many providers may charge roaming fees, many times very high, for using your cell phone outside of the range you normally use it. 

It’s at this point that you may be able to decide whether or not a phone card is best for you to use if you plan on using your mobile phone when abroad.  Many mobile providers may have a global plan available that could be more affordable for you.  Other times, your mobile provider may provide global access, but you may get more affordable calling with your phone card.  It is best to consult your mobile provider so you can decide which option is best for your calling need.

Of course, if you plan to not use your mobile phone while traveling and instead need a phone card, ZapTel carries a number of global phone cards that can be used from all over the world.  Check out our Travel Card FAQ’s for advice on finding the best card for your needs.  Here’s an example for you.

Phone Card Coupon for Week of August 15th

Through August 21st, receive $1.oo off of your purchase or recharge of a global phone card from ZapTel: Absolute Global, Absolute World, AT&T Prepaid Phone Card, Global Caller, Global Line, Study Abroad Student’s Choice and True North. Use the following code to receive the discount:

RTW1OFF

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 August 21, 2011.