UNDERSTANDING PHONE CARDS

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Before buying a phone card you need to understand:

What you are buying.

How much it will cost you to ring overseas.

Whether or not there are costs that you did not know

about.

Things to think about before buying a Phone Card

Most people buy phone cards to make international calls to their families and friends.

If is often a cheap way of making calls and does not cost as much as mobile phone or landline/home phones.

They can save you money.

Types of Phone Cards

Some phone cards look like you gets a lot of time to talk for paying only a small amount of money.

Often they either do not work or you do not get the amount of time to call that you thought you had paid for. There are often costs for calling that they do not tell you about.

Things to understand

Thing to understand

Phone cards are also more expensive if you use them with your mobile phone, because you will probably be charged a high rate for the mobile call plus the money you paid for the phone card.

You can save money by using the phone card from a home phone.

What you need to understand International calling cards can sound like they offer

cheap rates to call overseas but often there are lots of extra fees, charges and conditions.

Administration Costs Sometimes after you have made a call the

phone card business will keep charging a fee.

They will do this whether you are using the card or not.

The phone card business will often charge fees both for connecting and disconnecting calls.

Connection and Disconnection Fees

Many cards only last for a short time – between three and six months

After this time you are unable to use them.

Expiry of time on card

Some phone cards charge in ‘blocks of time”

This means that each call will be charged to the nearest five minutes even though you may have only talked for 3 minutes.

Ways phone cards are charged

If you buy a card which does not work tell someone like your Case Worker about it. They may be able to help you. You can also make a complaint to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman.

If you have a problem