Calling Cards

What is a calling card?

No doubt at some point in your trip you are likely to want to call someone back home to let them know how you are getting on, to share the stories of all the great stuff you have been doing

(Along with the routine e-mails you find yourself sending back home when you get time)

and also to see what the guys & girlies are doing back home

(They will be doing exactly what they were doing in exactly the same places. This just like they will be when you get home).

How do I know which calling card to get?

As I am sure you can imagine there are hundreds of different types of calling card out there, they all offer different rates and the purchasing experience can be daunting especially when the guys who sell them don’t have a clue of which calling card is best or how to use one.

Prices of call rates can vary wildly depending on who the supplier of that calling card is and the overall purchase price of the calling card.

I can only assume that the prices vary due to how well the wholsale service price was negotiated and the retail margin the supplier would make on the calls made via the network.

As different suppliers have negotiated different rates you will find some calling cards that provide a great deal to call a particular county but average deal for other countries.

It is therefore hugely advantageous to know this when you attempt to make a purchase assuming that once you buy the calling card you use it in the best way to maximise its use in terms of minutes.

How long does a calling card last?

You need to make a decision and its not long before you realise some calling cards last for 5 minutes and some last seemingly for ever!

There is one technique that you must use if you want to maximise the use of each calling card you buy. If you use this technique it will save you loads of money and ensure that you get the total minutes advertised on the card!!

If you think you are buying a calling card so that you don’t have to pay for the call then you are WRONG but you only need to pay local rate which is cheap as chips!

How do I use a calling card?

The way to get the most benefit and a better experience is to follow this process:

• Buy a calling card with the best rates per minute for the country you want to call
• Ensure the calling card will last for the amount of minutes you want to use it for
• pay the connection fee (this is the price of local rate call)
• dial the phone number stated for connection (NOT the free phone number the local rate number)
• enter the code on the calling card and it will tell you how many minutes you have
• Dial the country code and phone number

I know this may sound random but if you use the calling card without paying the call charge you will end up paying the local call rate per minute as well as the calling card cost per minute from your calling card.

This is where you find that your $10 calling card will last 10 minutes instead of several hours. If you get caught out buy this you feel totally ripped off especially when it is the last of your spare money and you really needed to talk to someone back home!

As long as you remember to pay the local call charge your calling card will only be used up at the call rate advertised and this is how you can make your $5 card last for a good few hours; let’s face it that what you want right?

N.B some calling cards will only work in the country of purchase.

For more information or to purchase a calling card click this link

(if not pick up a calling card while you are backpacking around)

If you would like some more advice and information on how to keep in contact with you friends, family and people you meet along the way visit our How to Keeping In Touch page.