Does anybody know about prepaid calling cards

I don't have any out of state relatives and everybody relative are local, so I don't have long distance on my landline. I have a cell phone for long distance but decided to buy one of those prepaid to use when my son was sent to the VA hospital in Minneapolis. I got 150 minutes cause I thought I never used more than that. Well I have called three times each time I talked for the most about 6 minutes and now I checked and I have only 20 minutes of call time left.

A couple of years ago I had one for 150 minutes and it lasted forever. This card is AT & T can't remember the other one.

Which cards are cheaper. I'll never buy an AT&T again.

Usually they are for a fixed per-minute rate, like 3 cents per minute (only exception is if you use a payphone, it costs more. And overseas, obviously)

Read the back of the card and see what the rate is. Maybe someone else is also using it?

I have used the MCI ones they sell at Costco, and they last forever (well, depending on... how much you use them, lol)

And I have had it for YEARS and it is still good! And a great cost! I don't know if they still have them at Costco.

It seems they are all different, and some cards are a terrible bargain. They charge for lots of things besides that per minute rate. Buyer beware! Read the fine print, especially if the card comes on a cardboard that has lots of rules/regulations/instructions. Don't throw that away.

to Sprint. My current MCI card is running out and they are not offering the recharge anymore. Guess I am going to have to get the Sprint card - hope it is as good.

that I know of.

Some of them charge a hookup fee from a payphone. You have to read the small print.

Also, when you call someone, be honest--ask them if they have regional or national calling, and ask them to CALL YOU BACK. Make that card last longer. I realize you might not be able to do that with hospital calls, but in other cases, why not?

We also do not have long distance on our landline. We had been using pre-paid cards until a neighbor told us about USADatanet. If you choose a regional plan, and call within the region, you can call and talk as long as you want and the call is never more than 99 cents.
If you call outside your region, you can talk as long as you want and the call is never more than $1.99.

There is NO monthly fee. Sign-up is free. We have been very satisfied with the service.

Here is the link:

http://www.usadatanet.com/residentialServices.html

I am sorry to hear your son is in the hospital. All Best Wishes to him and you!

you get 3 cents a minute (or whatever) UNLESS you're calling the next town.

The logic is that comparatively few people spend hours on the phone cross country than in the next county.

I don't have long distance service on my home phone either. Not because I don't make any LD calls, but because I found a much cheaper alternative.

It's just like a calling card, but you do it all online. The web site is www.onesuite.com

You set up an account and put some money in your account beginning at $10 and up to as much as you want. You can set up speed dial numbers and to access your phone account you dial a local phone number. All domestic calls cost 2.5 cents a minute, and their international rates are just as great!
You can even use it when you aren't at home by entering a series of numbers as you would for any other calling card.

I've been using this service for about 5 years now, and have never been disappointed!

never have to worry about running out of minutes or what store to go to for a new card.

Some cards charge a certain amount for each call, plus minutes, others don't.

is a long distance carrier that charges a reasonable rate for intra-state and inter-state long distance. I pay more than I should for a land line because I can't live without caller ID. I don't need the cell phone because I'm not important enough to keep in touch when I'm not at home. It doesn't sound like you spend much time on the phone, so I'd scrap the cell unless you need it for incoming calls. My long distance carrier bills are generally well below $5/mo and the rate is $00.0425/min for all my calls. The last pre-paid calling card I had didn't give a better rate than my LD carrier. I haven't looked in a few years, but I'm sure there are companies out there now that are down to 3 cents a minute. Use the Google.

it might cost 20 minutes or something just to connect, and then you start using minutes at 1 a minute after that. Read the fine print. It probably discloses its a scam there, cause they know most people won't read it.