Simple math question?

I’m comparing telephone deals for my sister so she can make occasional calls to her friend in Syria.

I found her an online phone card that costs $20 plus a $2 processing fee, and charges 23.5¢ a minute.

Since the $2 processing fee changes the reality of the fee being 23.5¢ a minute, how do I find out the actual per minute price?
I came up with this, but I’m not sure it’s accurate:

Since the $2 processing fee is 10% of $20, I added 10% to 23.5¢ and came up with 25.85¢ a minute.

Am I correrct?

Hmm, or do I do it this way?:

At 23.5¢ a minute, she would be able to talk for 85.1 minutes on a $20 phone card. 10% less than that is 76.59 minutes. 20/76.59 = 26.1¢

Your first post is right. In your second post, you calculate a 10% decrease in minutes, but the $2 fee is a 10% increase in cost. A 10% decrease in minutes would match an 11% increase in cost 1/(100%-10%)=(100%+11.111…%)

At onesuite.com you should be able to find much better cards than that.

I pay 2 cents a minute to the US, with no additional charge, and to my recollection, no out-of-country calls were more than 11 cents on the “card” (its all online) I use.

-FrL-

Never mind, I was wrong. The only one I found was like 38 cents. Sorry about that.

-FrL-

25.85 cents per minute is right. The card costs $22. $20 of that is usable minutes, at 23.5 cents per minute = 85.1 minutes on the card. $22 / 85.1 = $0.2585 per minute.

I don’t know if they cover Syria but try 712-945-1111. You need no percentages calculations for free phone calls :slight_smile:

I just Googled the number and I found this website. Does anyone know if this is legit? Unfortunately it won’t be of any good for Gus_R’ s sister (Syria’s not on the list), but I’d sure like to use it for some other countries.

It certainly works. I use it almost daily to call Australia, Venezuela and Canada. They have very few traffic issues and the quality of the connection is very good.

I once heard the theory that they make their money with something to do with a payment to/from the company that terminates a phone call. It is pennies on a call but can make money off dark lines. Maybe someone in telco can shed some light on it.

And all the numbers I dial are on the phone-book and all my conversations spin around weather, food and children. They are welcome to listen in to all my yacking, for all I care.

I thought it was just the twenty second ad you listen to before you can make a call.

-FrL-