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Articles
Cheap Long Distance
by Jason Kelly
04/05/2002 - updated 04/08/02
Think you're getting a good deal on long distance by subscribing
to one of those flat 9- or 6-cent per minute plans? You're not.
The best deal in long distance is offered by OneSuite, a company I first recommended
in my book, The Neatest Little Guide to Do-It-Yourself Investing.
Using OneSuite, you pay in advance at the company's website with
your credit card. The increments are $10, $20, and so on. You call OneSuite's
toll-free number from any phone, type in a PIN, and then proceed to
call anywhere in the 48 states, 24 hours per day, for a flat 2.9 cents per minute.
You can call Germany for 4.5 cents per minute, Japan for 6.9 cents, and China for 8 cents.
If you end up using the system a lot, like I do, you can establish your
primary phone number as a "zipdial" location. After that, the system
recognizes your phone when you call in from that location so you don't need to
re-enter your PIN. All you hear is the computer woman's voice say,
"Please enter the number you wish to call." You enter it, wait a
second, then hear how many minutes you can talk before you've
exhausted your current balance.
It's usually a long time. For $10, you get 345 minutes of continental
U.S. calling time. That's 5 hours and 45 minutes!
There are a few caveats. Occasionally when I call the toll-free
number, it's busy or gives an error message. There's a back-up
number that I keep handy just in case. That has always been able
to get me through, but is still a hassle when I just want to make
a quick phone call.
Another problem is using the system on the road. Often when I
travel, I like to use payphones and a calling card. OneSuite can
work as a calling card, but charges a 50-cent fee when you use it
from a payphone. That's 17 minutes of talk time. From any non-payphone,
OneSuite is free just as if you were using it from home. So wait until
you get to your hotel or friend's house to make your calls while
traveling.
Overall, OneSuite is tough to beat. I use it all the time and
recommend that you give it a shot. You'll probably never again spend more
than $10 a month on long distance.
04/08/02 Note From Anna Hsueh of OneSuite.com:
Dear Jason,
On behalf of our company, I would like to thank you for announcing our company and service on your article. However, there's this little part we just wanted to clarify. Instead of having a 50-cent fee when using a payphone, it's actually a 55-cent fee. We just don't want to mislead any customers and thought that you might also want to be notified of this. Thank you again for your support.
Sincerely,
Anna - Onesuite Customer Representative
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