The international prepaid phone card has come to the rescue of thousands of international travellers and immigrants who have taken advantage of the extremely low and cheap rates to stay in touch with family and friends.

Once upon a time, picking up the phone to dial overseas was almost a social event; it just wasn't done on a regular basis given the exhorbitant costs facing consumers. Well, it seems consumers are having the last laugh over traditional calling methods.

Reuniting with Loved Ones Over The Phone

For immigrants, the international prepaid phone card allows new migrants to phone relatives for cents in the dollar. People who have lived in their adopted countries for 30 to 40 years have been able to contact friends and relatives they haven't spoken to for a similar length of time.

The downside is the amount of options available to people. Options are usually a good thing but in the world of phone cards, it has created a lot of confusion. The phone card industry has received bad publicity over the years with "fly-by-nighters" and scam artists causing problems and while it's cleaned up it's act, there are still some well worn guidelines you can follow to ensure you find the right company and card best suited to your needs.

Phone Card Checklist

Here's my shortlist of international prepaid phone card checks when I'm shopping for a card.

1. How long has the company been in business? You can check online and if the they've been plying their craft for any reasonable amount of time then they get a plus in my books.

2. Can the company be contacted? This is vital. Recently, I required a copy of my phone card records for immigration purposes. I rang my company and following a request, the information was provided to me within a week. The big factor here was I was able to call them.

3. Customer service was touched on in the previous point. It was excellent. Being able to talk to a real live person when you require assistance makes such a big difference.

4. Can the card be topped up over the phone? Being able to dial a central number when you haven't got internet access is another plus factor for me.

5. Check for hidden fees... these can eat away your payments in no time. Avoid them.

This is a shortlist of things to look out for but in the end, the first three points are the most important in my book for shopping for an international prepaid phone card. When you find a phone card company you like and it works well for you, stick with it and resist the urge to change to a cheaper rate. Sometimes, cheaper is definately not better!

Keep in touch

There's nothing like a phone call to keep in touch with loved ones. Nowadays there are new ways of communicating without even having to pick up a phone, we can fax or even send off an email. But nothing beats the phone, you get a response to your questions instantly, and it's a really personal form of communication.

Phone cards are provided by many different companies you prepay for a certain amount of credit and can use it to make phone calls until that credit runs out. There are a lot of reasons for phone cards, you can get cheap long distance calling, or you could give it to your child so they are always able to keep in touch.

There are also phone cards that offer fantastic savings for international calling. I use an international phone card on almost a daily basis to keep in touch with my son who lives in Australia (because he doesn't seem bothered to phone his dear old mum).

You don't have to call somewhere as far a field as Australia to justify using a phone card in fact it makes sense to use a phone card with pretty much any long distance call.

There are some companies that provide very unreliable phone cards, it's important to remember that not all phone cards are equal, try to buy from a reliable and well known company. Some cards are always busy, what's the point of having money on a card if you can't use it? Look on the internet review sites to try to find a great card, or go with a company like http://www.shopcallingcard.com that you already know.

You pay your phone bill after you've used the service, so it is quite easy to run up a huge bill, especially if you often make long distance calls. A phone card works like a pay-as-you go mobile phone, you can only use the money you have put on your card. This makes it very easy to make sure you don't spend too much, and you can keep an eye on what you're spending before you've spent it.

There are two disadvantages of using a phone card to make calls. Firstly, you must enter the phone cards phone number before you can enter the number you want to dial. There is of course a solution for this, if you intend to use the phone card from home then you can use phone card auto-dialer which you plug in-between your phone and phone line. Even in some public payphones it's actually possible to put the card into the phone, which will save you having to dial the number first. Another disadvantage is that many of the phone cards will give the wrong caller ID number to the person you are phoning. This could mean your phone call will be ignored because they do not recognize the number.

There's really nothing like a phone call, I suggest you look into phone cards today they could well save you a lot of money.

Welcome to Cheap Phone Cards - Calling Cards, Prepaid Cell Phones, and Mobile Refills

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