You've just arrived at your London hotel,
and you'd like to check in with the home office. If you pick up the phone
in your room and dial directly, the cost of a leisurely 10- or 20-minute
conversation could exceed the rest of your hotel bill.
Many overseas hotels pad long-distance calls outrageously, whether billed
to your room or a calling card. To avoid those gouges, smart overseas
travelers use international calling cards.
Here's how to find a deal that will cut hotel phone costs by 90 percent or
more:
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Check
first with your regular long-distance supplier. AT&T, MCI,
Sprint and many smaller long-distance carriers offer low-cost
overseas calling card programs that are available from most of the
countries you're likely to visit. In those countries, each U.S.
phone company provides one or more local or toll-free numbers that
provide access to the U.S. phone network. Once connected, you
punch in your card's code then place your call just as you would a
domestic calling-card call. Operator assistance, directory
assistance and collect calls are available at extra cost.
To
get the best rates, the big three companies require that you sign
up for a special overseas program and pay an additional fee of $4
to $10 a month. Once enrolled in AT&T's One Rate Global Plus,
MCI's International Weekends or Spring's Global Family Traveler
program, you pay as little as 10 to 12 cents a minute for calls
from Britain. The sample rates from France, Australia and Japan:
MCI and Sprint charge 14 to 25 cents a minute, while AT&T
charges 29 to 48 cents a minute. AT&T and Sprint also impose a
connection fee of 89 cents for each call; MCI does not.
If
you don't sign p for a monthly program, you can still use an
ordinary domestic calling card or credit card with any of the big
three call-home services --- but that's not a good idea. Sprint's
You program is the least expensive of the three, but they cost
still about 10 times more than the monthly programs.
Unfortunately,
some foreign hotels block access to the U.S. - based phone
companies' local numbers. When that happens, you have to go to an
outside phone booth. |
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If
you don't want to pay a monthly fee for an international calling
card (or switch long-distance carriers), several independent
long-distance companies issue stand-alone overseas calling cards
with good rates. A typical program is e-kit (www.ekit.com), with
rates of 9 to 48 cents a minute from the four test countries and
no extras. E-kit is a prepaid card, which you can "top
off" with a credit card if you wish. Similar cards are
available from TravelTel (www.traveltel.com.tj) and many other
suppliers; and Internet search will display dozens. |
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If
you're visiting Britain, Phonecard Services (www.phonecard-services.co.uk),
a local stand-alone card, offers the Short Break program for
visitors from overseas with extremely low rates. You pay 4.9 pence
(about 7 cents) a minute for calls to the United States and 7 to
16 cents to most of Western Europe, with no connection surcharge.
You can even use the card to call the United States from other
European countries at the same basic rates, but with a surcharge
of about 50 cents a call. Your minimum up-front prepayment is 10
pounds (around $15), and you can sign up online by credit card
before you leave home. An internet search will identify similar
cards from some other countries.
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Ed. Perkins -
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(408) 262-2304