Good po'boy choice: terminate LD service with your local phone carrier. This costs $1.04/month in my state Wyoming. Use a Sam's Club pre-paid card @ $.059/min. I'm still trying to get more miles from MCI, else this would be my choice. No tax, UCF, PICC, etc., which often double my total rate to $.14/min. You can still use 800 #'s

[This message has been edited by pierre mclopez (edited 05-02-2000).]

Yikes!! Whats going on with 10-10-636? So I sez why not call the nice friendly folks at 1-800-589-4480 and see. After 20 min of 10-10-636 music (thank goodness for my great new cordless phone w/ speaker phone in the handset) I spoke w/ Amber. She sez "No changes MisterNice, your account in Delaware (I didnt know I had one) is still 5 cents/min, 7/24, 3 minute minimum and no monthly charges". I can call to HI for that deal but cannot call from HI. This plan started Sept 1999 so she added.

They do have a 10-10-811 plan. It is 5 cents/min, 7/24, 5 min minimum AND $5/mo. She said "some people prefer this plan". WHA? She is going to send brochures on both plans.

My current fallback plan (and what I use on trips) is the 240 min MCI phone card from Costco for $14.19 (works out to 5.9 cents/min). So I suggest calling these 10-10-636 folks at 1-800-589-4480 for any updates in usage. She sez they negotiate costs with the local (not L/D) carriers. Will look into bigzoo next although I dont like the short expire bit.

I contacted 10-10-636 today about the rate increase. They said anyone who requests to stay on the old plan will continue to recieve the old rates. Any new customers (or customers who remain silent about the rate increase) will be placed on the new plan.

I found another company from my friend who works for an airline. Ive been using it and it seems to have no flaws. Its 6.9 cents a minute 24/7 no monthly fee. This is for long distance and 800 service. There number is 1-800-477-9692 enrollment code 7422.

Interesting....when my bill comes it says, "ATN, a division of MCI Worldcom."

I have been using IDT for 2 years. I am now switching to Twister. Although the rates with IDT are good, Twister has .05 cent calling to U.S./CAN/and the EU...anytime. IDT calls often can't get through or I get disconnected/bad connection alot. So far, no connection problems with Twister. One note with Twister...they are not clear about disclosing higher rates using your card vs. the rates when you call from your designated phone number--if you ask, you can get more than one designated phone number.

Question: I have been told that when you place a direct call, you get charged a higher rate when calling a cell phone than a land-based phone. Anyone know more about this policy? How are we supposed to know if a number is a cell phone?

Aubey, I presume the higher rate for cellular terminations applies for Europe only...in Europe and in Latin America there is a concept called "calling party pays" which means that the person dialing pays both the LD but also a call termination fee. The numbering of cellular phones in these areas differs from the numbering of landline phones in the area.

The US/Canada practice of numbering both landline and wireless phones identically makes "CPP" tough to implement. In the test areas for CPP, if one dials the call, one gets a recording generally.

Contact the LD provider for guidance as to how country-by-country you can tell if a number is wireless.

jl

I recently found bigredwire . State-to-state calls are 5 cents/minute. The kicker is that you can "zap" your calls and they are removed off your phone bill!

Here is how it works. You make a call, visit the site afterward, then simply indicate which call you would like to remove (you can only remove 1 call per day) and it is deducted from your bill.


The idea is a little funky, but it does work. Check out the site for other details & limitations. I have used it for a few months and been fairly happy. The link above is a referral link, so if you do sign up for the service, please use the link above.

Here's the Bronx Cheer for IDT: f-ff-f-f-f

These guys WERE great. 6.9c/min, with a 0.99 fee per month for their dialaround service. Look closely at your usage rate, though. I began to find that my cellphone was being charged as a PAY PHONE, with $0.85 added on to every call, completed or not. Calls to IDT, (requiring a 20 minute hold) were met with "we can't do anything", etc., and "nice, concilatory" gestures like removing the last 3 charges (big deal if I have to spend 2 hours a month of my time on this). Then, they raised the monthly fee to $1.50 with no notice, and twice, I've been changed to a higher rate (each time they happily changed it back ONCE I SPENT 20 MINUTES ON HOLD and then told them it was wrong).

Sheesh; too busy for this. I can't possibly recommend them to anyone until they clean up their act.