Category: Long Distance

By Rick

International calling can be a very expensive thing to do unless you find one of the many long distance packages to help you lower this cost. These calling plans allow you to make these calls at a discount and can save you hundreds of dollar every year on your long distance charges. There are a wide variety of long distance packages to choose from and comparing them carefully is the first step in find the one that’s right for you.

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Some of the plans provide a certain number of minutes each month for your long distance calls and others simply guarantee a lower fixed rate per minute of calling time. Overall they can be a very effective way to make the calls you want without paying more than you need.

Minutes per Month

One of the most popular long distance packages typically provides a certain number of minutes each month that can be used for long distance calling. This is a great way to lower your costs and allows you to stop worrying about how much your call is costing you. You can simply use the minutes provided by these long distance packages and call as often as you like.  With many of the plans, any minutes you don’t use in a particular month can be carried over to the next. This is a great option to have and one you should look for with any plan you’re considering.

Lower Cost per Call

Another standard plan from many carriers provides for a reduced cost per minute for the long distance calls you make. These types of long distance packages typically require a small monthly fee as well as the charges for the calls. This type of plan is less expensive for most people that only dial long distance occasionally. They can enjoy the lower rate on the calls and not have to worry about using all the minutes of a monthly plan before they expire. These types of long distance packages are available from carriers that supply landline services as well as mobile carriers. If you have to make occasional long distance calls, see if your current carrier has a plan that allows you to lower the cost per minute of your calls.

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Unlimited Long Distance Dialing

If you make a lot of international calls to family and friends, you might want to consider one of the unlimited long distance packages. These plans allow you to call a select number of people each month for one flat monthly fee. The restrictions on these plans vary considerably so be careful to read the fine print before agreeing to a contract. With some plans you have to specify these numbers you are including in advance and with other long distance packages the first 10 numbers you call every month make up that group. This can be a great way to lower your monthly long distance charges if you only call a small number of people.

The only other consideration is that some of these plans only work with specific regions of the world and may be restricted further to only calling landlines. Understanding these restrictions before signing a contract is always the best idea when shopping for a long distance plan that works for you.

Click here to compare long distance packages and save 100s every year

By Rick

Long distance minutes could be an expensive decision for many people to make when trying to stay in touch with friends and family. In years past your only option was to pay the high cost of these calls to your local phone company or use a calling card to buy discounted minutes. With the explosive growth of the internet there are far more ways to find free long distance minutes if you do a little searching. A wide range of companies and technologies are available today that will let you make these calls for free if you know the secret. Using these free long distance minutes will help you stay connected with family and friends while you lower or even eliminate your monthly long distance charges.

Click here to get free long distance and international minutes, compare phone plans, and find out how much you could be saving.

Call for free from your cell

If you own a Smartphone there are a number of applications that allow you to make free calls over the internet. These services use a Wifi connection and provide free long distance minutes to call any place in the world for free. By using your cell phone to make the call, you’ll hardly notice any difference in making the call. You simply start up the application, dial the number you want, and start talking. The only caveat is that you’ll need to have a Wifi connection to the internet for the service to work. If you’re not near a Wifi zone some of these applications can use the data connection on the phone to make the calls. Even though it will seem like you are using your regular service provider, these free long distance minutes will never show up on your monthly phone bill.

Promotional minutes

If you’re a regular user of calling cards to reduce the amount you spend on your long distance calls, many of these companies offer free long distance minutes when you recharge the card. Typically the more minutes you purchase when recharging, the more free long distance minutes they’re willing to add to your account. While technically you have to purchase minutes to take advantage of this offer, many cards will offer a set number of free minutes up front, just for signing up for their card. The calling card market is extremely competitive and these deals offering free minutes are a common tactic to try and move your business away from a competitor. You could easily switch companies every few months and make all the calls you want with these free promotional minutes.

Sponsored calls

Another way to get some free long distance minutes is by using a sponsored service. The way this works is that you call a specific local number and then enter the long distance number you want to call. Before the connection is made a short advertisement is played that you’ll have to listen to for the free long distance minutes. Once the advertisement is done your call is connected and you can talk for a limited amount of time completely free. This is a great way to stay in touch with distant family and friends and make quick long distance calls for free. The best part about this service is that you can use it as often as you like. The length of the advertisement and the amount of time you can talk will vary between the various companies that offer this service but it’s still a free way to connect.

Click here to get free long distance and international minutes, compare phone plans, and find out how much you could be saving.

By Rick

Long distance free calls are a reality these days. If you’re searching for ways of making free calls, there are a few options available. Each of these free services are a little different in the way the calls are made and how you have to use them but are well worth the effort involved. They allow you to make long distance free calls for a certain amount of minutes that helps you to eliminate whatever pricier plan you may now be using. Since nothing in life is truly free, all of them come with a slight catch that is easy to put up with when you realize the long distance call you’re making is costing you nothing.

Click here to make your first international or long distance call free. Compare multiple phone plans, test them with a free call, and decide on the option that’s best for you.

Internet enabled calls

Ever since high-speed internet became commonplace, it has changed the way that phone calls are made. Initially making a call on the web required paying a fee to a company that would route the call through a specialized appliance you had to attach to your network and connect you to the person you were calling. This type of service typically involved the cost of the connection appliance and a stiff monthly fee. As competition increased in this market, new companies started including long distance free minutes each month as part of your basic charges. This meant that you could make all the local calls you wanted as well as a set number of minutes to someone long distance for less than an older traditional phone service would cost you. If you needed more minutes every month you could upgrade the long distance portion of your plan to add them. While these services did charge for these additional minutes, if you could stay under the long distance free minutes they provided as part of the plan each month your calls cost you nothing.

Ad supported calls

In the past few years there are few companies that provide a service that allows you to call long distance free if you’re willing to listen to a short ad first. This is a very novel advertising approach that guarantees that a sponsor’s ad will be heard and you’ll be rewarded with a free long distance call. It’s actually a great deal for the sponsor since they know their products will get the exposure they need. It’s also a great deal for you since all you have to do to make the call is listen to the advertisement. The catch is that you have to listen to the entire ad before the call is connected and there is a time limit on the call. Even still, this is a great way to stay in touch with loved ones and make calls long distance free as often as you like.

Click to Call

One final way to make long distance free calls is by using the internet itself. There are a number of applications that allow you to click on the web and be connected to friends far away. Google was one of the early pioneers that started this click to call service as part of their mapping function. Initially it allowed you to locate a business through their search bar and then click on their listing to call them. This same functionality was later expanded to anyone through Google Voice. In the years since its introduction, other companies have also provided a similar service that allows you to make calls long distance free as well. These are great ways to connect with distant relatives without having to worry about paying for the call.

Click here to make your first international or long distance call free. Compare multiple phone plans, test them with a free call, and decide on the option that’s best for you.

By Rick

Phone company evolution finds its roots in history. Ever since the invention of the telephone in 1876, the phone company has been going through a constant evolution. Many of the changes to the way phone calls are made have enabled these systems to be more automated and less expensive over time. Modern systems are more reliable than ever and provide a simple and convenient way for people to stay in touch not matter how far apart they may be. Faced with an ever-changing landscape of competition, the phone company continues to innovate to provide value for their customers.

Click here to compare phone companies. Find out how you can make a free international call and save hundreds of dollars on your phone bill. Free comparison tools.

The early years of the telephone

The telephone was one of those rare inventions that gained a very wide adoption soon after it was invented and instantly became a commercial success. Within a year of the actual invention, there were over three thousand phones in service that could make calls to each other. The first phone company, known as the Bell Telephone Company, was formed the same year and started offering telephone service in larger cities.

The number of phones in use tripled within the next few years and shortly thereafter the telephone became almost commonplace. These first telephones were very crude devices that relied on human switching to make calls but still became more popular every year. The phone company offering these telephones soon started researching ways to make the system more automated to lower costs of these calls.

Major improvements along the way

The first major improvement to the basic telephone came in 1919 with the introduction of the rotary dial phone. This allowed the phone company to eliminate the manual connection that older models required and have the phones themselves handle the connection. This substantially lowered the cost of these calls and made the telephone even more popular. Another major innovation came in 1946 with the introduction of the first commercial mobile phone. It was gigantic by today’s standards but did allow the phone company to connect a call for a customer while traveling. In 1963 the modern touch-tone phone was produced which helped to make connection times faster for callers and also enabled the now common menu options when calling a company. This phone is the basis for all traditional phones used today and has stood the test of time with little change.

Click here to compare phone companies. Find out how you can make a free international call and save hundreds of dollars on your phone bill. Free comparison tools.

Modern competition

With the invention of the internet, companies started developing technology that would allow calls to be placed over this network and this presented some stiff competition to the traditional phone company. The cost of these calls was basically free and both local and long distance calls could be made through the same network, for the same cost.

These early development efforts eventually produced what came to be known as VOIP service, which now allows you to make calls over the web for free. All the major carries have adopted this technology in some fashion to start exploiting these lower costs. Over the past ten years there has been a huge shift in both the consumer and business segments toward utilizing this proven technology. Every year there are more improvements made to the VOIP technology to allow it to function more like a traditional phone company phone.

Features like CallerID, Voicemail and Call Forwarding are all now available though a VOIP connection, which makes it the perfect alternative to a standard phone.

Click here to compare phone companies. Find out how you can make a free international call and save hundreds of dollars on your phone bill. Free comparison tools.

By Rick

Making calls to friends and family in other countries can be an expensive indulgence unless you have a long distance call service to help you lower your costs. There are a number of ways of accomplishing this and all of them have both advantages and disadvantages for most people. Understanding how often you want to call and where you’re most comfortable making the call from can help you find the perfect long distance call service for your needs.

Click here to compare long distance call services, including plans that offer a free first call to any long distance or international location of your choice.

Call for free

The internet has changed the way most businesses now operate and long distance call service is no different. There are a number of ways to make a call to anyone in the world from your computer at an incredibly low cost. In some cases these calls are free and can even include video chatting. The challenge in using this type of long distance call service is that you have to be near your PC to make the call and are typically using a microphone and speaker when speaking to the other person. This lack of privacy can be overcome by adding one of the inexpensive accessories that work like a more traditional handset to your computer. This helps the calls feel more natural but still requires you to be tethered to your PC.

Call from home

With most cable companies and other vendors trying to get you to switch to a VOIP phone at home, many of them are including some type of long distance call service as part of your basic package. This means that for a low monthly fee you can typically call anywhere in the country for free and may even be able to call certain other regions for free as well. In some cases there is a small upgrade charge for these out of country calls but the fee is very reasonable. The main advantage in using a long distance call service like this is that you can make the calls from the comfort of your home. You’ll also keep your standard phones and the only thing you’ll notice are the lower monthly bills.

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A calling card option

Another great option when searching for a long distance call service is using a calling card. Most of these cards are restricted to a specific country or region but can provide some of the lowest call costs of any option. You’ll need to compare cards to find the best deal but will love the flexibility the cards provide for your calls.

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You can typically use the cards to make calls from any phone and reload them for an even lower fee when you’re getting low on minutes. For many people a calling card is the best long distance call service they can find. These calling cards have becomes so popular that you can find them in almost any local store and they are even being sold in airports now from vending machines. You’ll need to verify the terms of any card you are considering since many of them have expiration dates on the minutes you purchase. As long as you are aware of any limitations of a particular card, they can be a very economical way to make your long distance calls to friends in faraway places.

Click here to compare long distance call services, including plans that offer a free first call to any long distance or international location of your choice.

By Rick

People that don’t call friends in other countries are usually confused on how to make a long distance call. Even though the process is easy enough once you figure it out, the first time you make a call like this it can be a little overwhelming. The trick is knowing the special codes you’ll need to dial out from the country you’re making the call from and the code for entering the country of your call’s destination. Understanding how to make a long distance call starts with these details being plugged into your phone in the right order.

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Finding your country’s exit code

Because the phone systems are different between countries, many places require you to first dial an exit code when calling out of the local country. These vary based on your location but can easily be found if you’re wondering how to make a long distance call. The internet is a great place to start your search and there are a number of sites that list all the exit codes needed for international calls. For the United States this exit code is 011 and is the first part of the longer number you’ll need to make a call to another country. This exit code is critical in allowing the call to go through on the other end. Even though a few countries add this to every international call automatically, it’s always better to have it handy in case you need it. This is one of the steps that many people miss when trying to figure out how to make a long distance call.

Know where you’re calling

Once you know the exit code, you’ll next have to find the correct country code for the area you’re hoping to call. These country codes are listed on the same websites that explain how to make a long distance call and are different for every country. In some cases you’ll need the country code as well as a regional or area code to complete your call. In the United States we refer to this second number as the area code and with other countries it made be called something else. When trying to understand how to make a long distance call this is the second important detail you’ll need along with the actual number of the person you’re calling.

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Special cases to watch for

In a few cases there may be other details you’ll need when trying to understand how to make a long distance call. Some countries have very different phone systems between their traditional wired and cell phone networks. There is no automatic routing system that decides where an incoming call is to be sent. Because of this, you’ll need to know if you’re calling a wired or cell phone number when you place the call. In the countries that require this you’ll have to add this prefix to the actual number you’re calling. This will allow these older systems to make the connection to the proper telephone network in the country you’re calling. These details are also available on most of the websites that explain how to make a long distance call for the countries where this is required.

Click here to compare cheap long distance call offers and plans. First international call free.