Just ordinary long-distance ones. Which ones are decent, and which are a rip-off? I have a couple of friends in Texas, and I’m a phone card ignoramus. I want to call them for as little as possible. Therefore, I’m turning to the Dope for help.
Also, I don’t know which forum this belongs in. Feel free to move it, mods.
I buy my phone cards from Sam’s Club - 3.9 cents a minute, I believe. I think Wal-Mart also sells something similar. It’s an AT&T product, and you have to dial a boatload of numbers every time, but it’s cheap and handy and if you have a credit card, you can recharge it indefinitely at the same price.
Ditto Internet Legend. Be careful using them from payphones, though, as they charge extra minutes for it. But otherwise, they’re awesome.
I go to my local gas station (Chevron, if you’re interested) and pay $20 a piece for a card that reads “Connect Me…Worldwide.” No indication of company. But it is touted as giveing “32 hours long-distance.” Of course, this is only true if you dial your firned and then talk for the next32 hours straight. I find that, averaging 90-minute conversations, I probably get between 10 and 15 hours of actual long-distance time out of a given card. Still not bad.
These cards do have a .49 cent connection feel, but still not bad.
Pssst, Lissla you might want 'em to know where you live, 'cause I don’t think these suggestions are going to be useful to you. 
Lissla:
This is gonna sound too good to be true. It’s not. I’m serious.
See, when I left my last school, I was highly pissed at them. Also I had 200 dollars left on my meal plan, and, I thought, damned if I’m gonna let this school get any of my money for free. So I went to the campus store and bought 200 dollars worth of, yup, phone cards. (Consequently, it was the “end-of-year bulk sale” and there was an award for any purchase over $100- the award, a free $5 phone card.)
Anyway Lissla, I can give you a phone card for free. I’ve got tons of them, so it’s no big loss to me. If you’re interested, let me know and we’ll work it out so I can IM you or email you the phone # and password. We’ll arrange it so you can be sure I’m serious and I can be sure you’re not someone else trying to get a free card.
I’m not trying to scam you. Just consider it a favor from one doper to another.
—Have you had your flup today?
This thread is better suited for IMHO. I’ll move it for you.
Cajun Man - SDMB Moderator
ex-phone card junkie here…
i dont really know about what state you’re in but when i used to make calls to northern ca (im in southern ca) i’d just pick up phone cards from the the closest liquor store. Five dollars would get me anywhere between 3 and 8 hours, depending on which card i got. There were like 3 or 4 different “brands”, i guess you’d call it. On rare occaisions i got ripped off but that was like twice… it didn’t turn me away. Just my experience with phone cards… I never got AT&T or any other store brand card b/c these ones had LOT more time on it. So maybe you can check out liquor stores in your area or something? Unless of course you get the hook up from flup
I did what InternetLegend did and bought an MCI 575 minute card–3 or 4 cents per minute. I even took it one step further and cancelled my long distance service. So far I’m happy with it.
A couple of years ago, I cancelled my AT&T long distance service. I was paying about $120/year just to have access to the service. When I called AT&T to tell them I didn’t want their service anymore, this conversation occurred:
Me: I want to discontinue using your long distance service.
ATT: May I ask why?
Me: I only make 1 or 2 calls PER YEAR and it’s costing me too much money to have a service that I rarely use. Instead, I’ll be using phone cards.
ATT: You realize that you may be paying substantially more per minute by using those cards.
Me: True, but if I buy a $20 card and it takes me all year to use it, my long distance calls have only cost me $20 for an entire year whereas your service will have cost me $120 PLUS whatever the calls would cost. So you can see how I’ll save much more money by using the cards.
ATT: (long pause)
Me: So could you please take care of discontinuing my service.
ATT: Yes, we will. And thank you for using AT&T.
Me: Sure.
The part of the billing that really pissed me off was a charge ($3-5/month) that put money in a fund to (supposedly) help those who can’t afford phone service to have access to said phone service. The bill stated that this was a charitable donation, but that it couldn’t be stopped. That kinda makes it a charge and NOT a donation.
Right. Everyone, I’m in Canada (Toronto, actually), and I’ll be calling Texas, Arkansas, and Pennsylvania.
Thanks, Cerowyn.
See if your local Costco or Sam’s Club has a Canadian phone card. They are the cheapest deal. There are a load of numbers to program your phone with for access, but after the first time it a matter of hitting a quick dial button or two and then entering the number you want to call.
Even if you are not a member-I can only speak to Costco-you can get a one day free pass. Just bring your cheque book.
Canada, eh? (Sorry, I couldn’t resist.)
Mr. Legend and I used the AT&T card between New Zealand and the U.S., so I know it can be done. The rate was substantially higher, of course. I think those calls used 5 “minutes” of phone card time per connection minute. I’ll bet that it’s cheaper for Canada/U.S. calls. As a matter of fact, I seem to remember hearing the the drony AT&T voice saying, “To place a call within the United States or Canada, dial…”
I also will now be hearing that voice say, “Thank you for using AT&T. Please shop again at Sam’s Club” all day long, but it’s a small price to pay for helping a fellow SDMBer.
The rates on the AT&T/Sam’s Club calling card are more expensive if you use them from another country. I know that where it is 3.47 cents per minute within the US, it is over 12 cents to call Canada. (The same rate I pay to call Ireland from the US on the card.) I don’t know exactly the amount to call from Canada, but I know in addition to the numbers you need to call within the US there are other numbers you need to use to call into the States.
I do exclusively use the calling card, but I did not have to pay a fee to not have long distance. I think that all depends on what phone carrier you use.