I have found two things to be helpful: Firstly, with sprint's 29.95 cell phone plan I get 250 anytime minutes and 250 night and weekend minutes long distance service. So that saves me a fortune. I keep MCI only for the milage bonus but hardly ever use that service. Then if I have to call from somewhere and don't have my cell phone, I use Voicenet, which is half the price of MCI or any other calling card. It works for me.