"phone calls from room"

[macnodos]

Arriving at CBR on Weds. morning and was wondering the best way to make long distance calls from room. Normally it's not a concern, but this time I will have to make a few out of state calls. Would a calling card be best? Thanks.

kevin

 

[mickeymule]

If you have a national call plan for a cell phone, I would think that would be best, or maybe even a pre-paid cell phone just for the trip??? As long as your calling card is a toll free number, that would most likely be your 2nd best option.

 

[ILoveWDW2003]

A good cell phone plan is the best way to go.

 

[SuzyQue]

Don't forget there is a charge (75 cents?) for each call you make from your room. ~~

 

[jel0511]

Originally posted by SuzyQue
Don't forget there is a charge (75 cents?) for each call you make from your room. ~~

That's for local calls only. Long distance calls are ATT's STANDARD rate + a 50% surcharge on that rate. A 10 minute call can cost way over $1 per minute, and probably higher than that. If you know you need to make some calls, buy a pre-paid callingcard before leaving home. You can either make the calls free from a pay phone, using the 1-800 number, if you call a 1-800 number from the room, Disney charges $1 per call. We always travel with our cel phone, which has a national plan on it, so we always use that while in WDW.

 

[safetymom]

Cell phone or calling card. Sam's Club has a great price on calling cards.

 

[skiwee1]

Use a phone card and Disney only charges .75 each time you use the room phone. I also bring my cell phone to use if I'm out and about.

 

[AirForceRocks]

If you have a calling card with your home long distance service, that works also. When we had AT&T for our long distance service, we used our AT&T calling card, and only paid the .75 charge for the 1-800 call.

 

[SAWYERMAW1]

When we checked in at POR in November, the CM advised me to use a calling card for long distance calls as the rate from the room was $7.50 per minute. Check at the desk when you check in.

And just think, there are people who think using refillable mugs on multiple visits is cheating Disney!!

 

[mickeymule]

SAWYERMAW1

You need to remember that it is not necessarily Disney whom sets the rates. As in a buisness, every phone call made to the outside costs, regardless of local or long distance, and with the amount of phones Disney has, the long distance carriers in that area may not be interested in cutting any sort of deal since it is a captive audience. I am sure there is some fees Disney collects for this, such as for the cost of the phone system itself (trust me, these are not cheap to buy or run).

All I am trying to say is the cost is not entirely Disneys fault

 

[GoldenOldie]

Current phone charges on calls from a Disney resort room: http://allearsnet.com/acc/room_phn.htm

 

[whozit]

If you plan to use a calling card, the lowest priced ones I’ve seen are from Sam's club and Costco. ). If you use the card to call from your room at a Disney resort, you won't incur a surcharge on your calling card, but a $0.75 charge will appear on your room bill for every one of those calls (this is their charge for any local or toll free number dialed). If you use the card at a payphone, there is a small surcharge (check your individual card for the specifics, but it is often $0.45 or $0.50 per call). I think that in either cases, you incur a charge even if your call isn't answered (because you did make a call to the toll-free number to access your account....even though you got no answer, or got a busy signal at the number you were trying to reach). Even with these charges, you'd have to make a lot of unsuccessful calls to come out worse than paying the per minute call for long distance from the resort. (At check-in this past August (at POR), I was given in info sheet that required my signature acknowledging that I had been informed of the phone charges at the resort, and the CM told me (and I think it was written in the info sheet) that if you dial direct long distance from your room, you will pay the highest per minute long distance charges allowed by law (and I think it was something like $9.00 per minute)).

If you do use a calling card, check instructions on your card, or call the customer service number to find out how to make more than one call during a single “transaction”. Usually, once you dial the toll free number to access the long distance calling, after you complete your call (or if you get a busy signal), you can press a certain key(s) on the phone and it will allow you to place another call. By doing this, you’ll only pay once to access the toll-free number, if you hang up and dial the toll-free number again, it will be another $0.75 (or $0.45 or whatever the surcharge is).

 

[mom_rules]

Yes, we had the shock of our lives last trip. DD was trying to connect from our room using a calling card. Everytime she dialed out (and did not connect) she was charged $.75. Finally gave up and decided to make a quick Intl long distance call directly and have them call her back (you don't get charged for calls to your room)-the phone bill for that one call came to $52.00-of course added onto our room bill!! Although we tried to resolve it, there was nothing guest services could do.

She then used her calling card from the pay phone in the lobby and everything worked just fine (couldn't connect with a calling card through the room phone).

 

[SAWYERMAW1]

Originally posted by mickeymule
SAWYERMAW1

You need to remember that it is not necessarily Disney whom sets the rates. As in a buisness, every phone call made to the outside costs, regardless of local or long distance, and with the amount of phones Disney has, the long distance carriers in that area may not be interested in cutting any sort of deal since it is a captive audience. I am sure there is some fees Disney collects for this, such as for the cost of the phone system itself (trust me, these are not cheap to buy or run).

All I am trying to say is the cost is not entirely Disneys fault

I believe it is Disney that sets the 55% surcharge.

 

[pumpkinboy]

Another Vote for using a Cellphone here.

If you do not already have a cellphone account, get a prepaid throwaway phone from someone good (like Verizon or T-Mobile, the latter is cheaper). You can always buy more minutes if you run low. This should cover your calling needs during your vacation. But remember, you use minutes for incomeing calls also, so best to take incomeing calls on the Hotel phone, but use your cellphone for outgoing calls.