It can be difficult to choose what phone cards to buy. Often the cards have cheaper rates from the United States to the Caribbean, to Europe, or even to one specific country. Also, check if the rate per minute is the same all day, or more expensive at peak use times. If your international calls are going to be longer than 15 minutes, use a card that has a connection fee.

If your calls are going to be shorter than 15 minutes, use a card that has NO connection fee. You can get phone cards with your regular land based phone plan, but if you are traveling around, and with the huge expense of pay phones, you may be better off getting a pay-as-you-go cell phone, and use wireless phone cards. Pay as you go wireless used to be prohibitively expensive, but now its heading down toward 12-cents a minute for phone cards of $50 or more.

Standard cards are usually available from your telephone company, or come with your long distance service. Connection fees vary between cards with some cards having no connection fee and a higher call rate while others have a connection fee and lower call rate. Generally it is cheaper to call at night or during off-peak times. Some cards charge their discount rates for the first 10 minutes only after this they charge more expensive rates. Try to avoid these types of cards unless you always make short calls. It is important to consider the time units that the phone card company uses to calculate the length of your calls. Some companies charge by the minute, others charge in six-second or one-second intervals.

To use a phone cards you dial an access number or 1-800 to connect to the service. You can buy these cards in local stores, or get a 1-800-number and a PIN directly on the Internet. Some prepaid phone cards expire on a fixed date. If the card has an expiration date, it is usually 3-6 months after the cards first use. Calls to international mobiles will generally have a more expensive call rate you use a lot more minutes. Also, calls from payphones are nearly 60-cent surcharges, since they are owned by companies, who charge the 1-800- numbers. Check the charge per minute for calls from a land line to a mobile line. It can make a big difference in expense.