The Truth About Calling Cards

A calling card may seem like a convenient, cost-effective way to make domestic and international long-distance calls. Advertisements promise rates of 3 to 4 cents per minute.  But, have you ever checked out exactly how much you're really charged for those calls? It may not be the amount you think (or they promise)!

We wondered just such a thing, so we decided to run some simple mathematical tests.

First, we purchased a standard calling card for $20.00 at a nearby popular retail/warehouse store. Next, we planned to place a 55 minute call to an international destination to which the card promised a rate of 4.3 cents per minute.  Of course, we read the fine print carefully and found the following restrictions:

1) Three minute minimum
2) Billed in increments of three minutes
3) 49-cent surcharge per week

Although these restrictions were cleverly downplayed by the "NO ADDITIONAL SURCHARGES" slogan printed in large letters across the front of the card, most calling cards implement such limitations, so we were not surprised.

During the international call, sound quality was less than satisfactory. We encountered long voice delays and intermittent cutting in and out. To assuage our curiosity about the poor call quality, we did some additional research and found that the major national carrier providing the calling card was using a tightly compressed form of Voice-over-IP, without any mention of this system to its users. 

This, of course, reminded us just how unique the crystal-clear audio tones we provide really are - we always maintain the highest sound transmission quality (at 99.9% reliability when data packet loss is only an issue at 95% or less). We utilize 8000Hz at 8-bit PCM standard, so calls always have more than enough room to be heard exactly as they are spoken.

After the single 55 minute call was placed, we were told that the current card balance was $14.72. Now, let's see, we started out with:

$20.00

Even though we had the card only a few days, let's take out the weekly surcharge.  We're now left with:

$19.51

Subtract the total balance left on the card ($14.72). We've got:

$4.79

Round up to the highest possible 3 minute increment:

58 minutes

If we divide the per-minute cost of the call by the amount of minutes used, we should get 4.3 cents per minute, right?

WRONG!  8.258 cents per minute!!!

Why would the calling card companies even try to get away with such blatant misrepresentation? Sadly, because they can, and because most people don't know any better. (When's the last time you heard of anyone actually taking the time to do the math on this one?)

Beware of the "untruths" calling cards and competitors may try to use to lure you into their money-wasting schemes. 
Don't forget to do the math!

We freely invite you to do the math on our quality service! Our telecommunications rates truly are the lowest possible for any type of quality sound transmission - free unlimited local calling (within 503 and 971 area codes) and just 3 cents per minute flat rate for all domestic long-distance outside Oregon.  Our international rates are also very competitive, with crystal-clear audio.