I have been trying to resist getting a cell phone for the longest time now. I find them to be very expensive, however they can be very convenient. To this day I have been sticking with a landline phone. It can be a little less expensive, especially when receiving long-distance calls and making local calls. This tip is about making out going long-distance calls and is applicable to both cell phones and landline phones.
I use to have a long distance plan with Bell, who charged approximately $10/month and provided 200 long distance minutes and charged 10 cents for each additional minute. I cancelled the plan and switched to prepaid long distance cards. (I heard VOIP is better, however I am not too familiar with using it. Please leave a comment if you are familiar with this system). Here are three reasons why prepaid long distance cards are better than the traditional long-distance plan.
1) You Pay As You Go - regardless of whether you use all your long distance minutes a month, Bell (or whoever your service provider is) will charge you the long distance plan fee. With a phone card you pay only when you run out of minutes and require a new card. One catch about a prepaid long distance card is that some expire after a month after your first use, so in a way you do have to get another card soon afterwards. However you only have to get a card when you want to make a long distance call, which is a big difference from being charged on a regular basis regardless of your long distance calling.
2) You Get More Minutes - I have gotten the President's Choice card at Loblaws before which has worked well. For $5 you get 250 minutes of long distance in Canada. Which means for the same price as the Bell long distance plan you get 500 long distance minutes in Canada, which is way better value!
3) You Can't Talk Over Your Limit - When you run out of minutes on your prepaid long distance card your phone conversation ends. You will receive a one-minute warning when the card is about to run out. On a long distance plan they will charge you an exorbitant amount for any extra minutes you use. 10 cents a minute adds up quickly and it is difficult to track your usage. This is where the phone companies really make their money.
So switch to prepaid phone cards today if you have a long distance plan. You have to type in more numbers if you use a prepaid calling card, but your fingers could use the work out. You'll save bundles and be able to talk to loved ones longer!
I believe VOIP will be the future of the phone industry. Here is a brief video explaining the basics of what VOIP is:
Great article. I cancelled my home phone long distance package and will continue to use prepaid phone card!!
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