Cheapest Phone Cards???

[Emme]

I have always used my calling card and pay .25 a minute when we are on vacation to make calls. I have no clue about prepaid calling cards but everyone seems to use them.

Where can I purchase the cheapest price per minute ones? I know many stores carry them in different amounts of time, so what do you suggest for the least costly?

Thanks!

Emmy

 

[BethR]

Your very best rate on phone cards are the ones that are sold at Sam's Club - 3.47 cents per minute (plus any state sales taxes). There are no other surcharges or anything on that except for a 9 minute charge (about 20 cents) for calling from a pay phone.
You can get a 600 minute card for about $20. I am not sure if they have them any smaller than that. But, like Disney hoppers, the minutes never expire.
I use them for all of my long distance and local long distance calls.

Good Luck!

 

[LIFERBABE]

I second Sam's Club for the best Phone cards.

They are At&T and very cheap! They come in different amounts but the smaller units are sold as packages. This works out great for me. One year I bought a 15 pack of 45 min cards for like $22 and included them in the Christmas Cards I sent to family. You can also give them to the kids if they are away at school.

You should always carry a Prepaid card with you when you travel because it is so much cheaper and you may run out of change and have to pay alot for even a local call using your calling card.

The cards are no hassle and round up to the next minute. These cards are so great that I cancelled my home long distance and now use these cards or my cell phone for all local long distance and long distance calling. You can't beat 3 cents a minute anywhere.

My phone company hates me! I have 2 lines no extras!

 

[Lewisc]

COSTCO also sells prepaid cards, about the same as Sams. BE CAREFULL, some places (7-11 for example) sell cards that have a low per minute charge but also add A PER CALL FEE,a monthly fee or may have a minimum number of minutes charged per call.

The cards sold by COSTCO (and Sams) are legit. There is a small extra charge if you use a pay phone (the owner of the pay phone gets some money).

 

[BethR]

LIFERBABE is correct - you can purchase multipacks of 45 minute cards. But these are not rechargeable.
That is a wonderful thing about the other cards - you CAN recharge them - either at Sam's or on the phone. I have had the same card for a couple of years now. And if you have college students and have their Calling Card PIN, then you can recharge their cards too.

 

[cindala]

We've bought our cards at B.J.'s. We paid $10 for a phone card with 4 and 1/2 hours of time or 270 minutes. Used from a payphone you avoid the $.75 room charge for the phone call, but it uses up 8 minutes of your phone card.

PS. BTW, you don't have to be a member of B.J.'s .... the cards are available for sale in the entrance way of the store, and don't require any identification.

 

[disneysteve]

Originally posted by LIFERBABE
I second Sam's Club for the best Phone cards.

The cards are no hassle and round up to the next minute. These cards are so great that I cancelled my home long distance and now use these cards or my cell phone for all local long distance and long distance calling. You can't beat 3 cents a minute anywhere.

My phone company hates me! I have 2 lines no extras!

FYI - You can get 3 cents per minute long distance from home with KissLD by Covista Communications. That's who I've used for about a year. It is 3 cents 24 hours per day. No special numbers to dial. They bill via e-mail and charge your bill to a credit card. They also have very low rates on in-state toll calls (3 cents in NJ, but varies in other states). Their website is www.kissld.com. They do have a $3 montly fee, but its still way cheaper than the major carriers.

Steve

 

[horseshowmom]

Here's another vote for the Sam's Club cards.

We also dropped our long distance service and switched our phone back to just local service (from statewide) and will be using the card and/or cell phone. Our phone bill dropped $50 a month by the time I finished (substantially more than enough to pay for the cell phone).

We bought a 1000 minute card for less than $40 last May and have used it everywhere we go. It's wonderful for when you're out of town but also saves me a lot of money using it at home.

 

[Fantasmic303]

I trust this isn't a problem with the cards everyone else is suggesting you use, but I just wanted to share a tip that I learned the hard way...


When purchasing cards, just make sure the cards are good to be used everywhere - I bought calling cards in NYC last year, and they were only good for calls made from the five boroughs. Which was fine, except that when I got home to CT, I still had 200 minutes to use before they expired six months later, and, naturally, I couldn't.


So just...read the fine print and make sure there aren't any strings to hang yourself on.

 

[BethR]

Absolutely true Fantasmic! That is what is so nice about the cards from Sam's, Costco, BJs - they can be used everywhere and do not expire.

We bought our nephew a card at Sam's to use while he is out of the country. He is in the Army Reserves and was called up a few weeks ago. He will be going out of the country any time now.

 

[mickey4ver]

I wouldn't buy a phone card anyplace but at one of the wholesale clubs, you don't have to worry so much about the fine print with these. I've stopped and looked at others in other locations, that claim 1 cent minutes etc., but when you read that fine print, there are a lot of hitches to these. As others have stated, the only hitch on the ones from Sam's etc., is using them at a payphone, and to me, who cares, I only use them that way very seldom, perhaps when at an airport or something to let the others back home, we are ok. I vote for those cards and enjoy the fact you can "recharge" them over the phone at any time or place.

 

[Emme]

Thank you all sooo much!! Sam's Club it is then!

Emmy

 

[ShariB]

Can you reload the cards from Sam's Club even if you aren't a member? I'm not a member but I have a friend who is that might be willing to get me a card, and then I could reload it.

 

[BethR]

Yes Shari, you can recharge the cards by phone. And you don't have to be a Sam's Club member.

As a matter of fact, they even have an option that when you get down to 1 minute that you card will recharge for a predetermined number of minutes and get charged to your preauthorized credit card. I use this option myself. Makes things so easy.

 

[DISNEYDADINOREGON]

COSTCO has the 575 minute phone card right for 2.00 instant rebate. The final cost is 17.99. This come out about .31.9 a minute. These are MCI rechargable cards. My wife works for COSTCO so I am not much of a Sam's Club fan....sorry. I find COSTCO has the quality that I shop for.