Phone cards are a gift to the long distance callers. It is an inseparable part of international calling. It is one of the most popular calling mechanisms for the reason that it is quite economical. A savings of about 50% to 80% can be achieved on telephone bills. Per minute calling rate is very much lower. In this prepaid calling device there are no hidden costs. On the other hand, calling companies offer various discounts in calling rate to those who frequently make long distance calls. Connectivity is free and the card can be bought with very little investment of about $2.
There are other features of calling cards. Another important feature is local access. Most of the calling companies have provided for local call number in the area code. Instead of calling the toll free number, the caller can dial the local call number applicable to the place he is stationed at the time of calling. So, by this the caller will be able to save lot of money. If for any reason the local access number is not available or cannot be accessed, he can place the call through the toll free calling number.
Rounding is another important feature of calling card. There are what is known as 1 minute rounding, 3 minute rounding etc. For example a call for 50 seconds will be rounded as billed as one minute. In 3 minute billing, calls made for 2 minutes and 50 seconds will be charged as 3 minutes. Now, many calling companies have started to bill on per second. For example, a call for 50 seconds will be charged for 50 seconds and is not rounded off. So, by this the caller saves lot of money.
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