Calling Card Rate Comparisons

Calling card per minute rates vary widely based on many factors. Rates vary significantly from card to card and from company to company.

They also vary over time with providers adjusting rates on an upredictable basis - sometimes rates vary from one day to the next.

Rates can also vary between landline and mobile phones -- with calls to mobile phones often being more expensive than calls to landline phones, sometimes a lot more.

Calling card rates can also vary considerably between two different countries, aka 'calling routes'. In the old days, these variations had a lot to do with distance - call to someplace far away cost more. But now, rate differences tend to have more to do with local regulations and levels of competition than distance. Highly regulated countries and countries with few competitive telcos tend to have higher rates than highly competitive countries.

For instance, calls between the USA and Mexico often cost more than calls to the UK, even though the UK is much further away. Reason being that the Mexico telecomm market is more regulated and less developed than the UK market.

Not only do rates vary between country pairs, but rates for calls between the same two countries can vary based on the direction of the call - i.e., whether call is inbound to the country or outbound from it. For instance, inbound calls from the UK to India are cheaper than outbound calls from India to the UK.

Our Calling Card Rate Comparisons

The rate comparison tables below show you recent international long distance calling card rates between various countries for several leading companies. The tables can't account for all the many ways that calling card rates can vary, but they do give you a sense of pricing between several popular international calling routes.

The rates shown are accurate as of the date they were pulled off company websites (see table footnotes for the actual date of each table).

To make the comparisons as directly comparable as possible, we have factored several fees into the rate calculations, including connection fees, carrier surcharges, and mandatory toll-free access surcharges.

This gives you a more accurate projected 'actual' per minute rate since the advertised per minute can seriously understate real world experiences for cards with a lot of extra fees.

That said, we have not factored all fees into the calculations. For instance, maintenance fees and credit card processing fees are not included in the calculations.

Click here for more information on how we compile these calling card rate comparisons.

To see our calling card ratings summary, click here.

Notes:

• All prices quoted in US¢ per minute (US$1 = US¢100).
• Prices subject to change without notice by vendors. Please check vendor websites for current rates and pricing.
• Rates shown were posted on vendor websites as of 19 Oct 09
• ^ Signifies that all rates come from same card / rate plan. If not specified, rates come from multiple cards / rate plans
• * PhoneCardSmile adds too many extra and unspecified fees to properly estimate per minute rates
• ** Some Pingo rates are for their 'soft phone', a VoIP dialing option for making calls from a PC or web smartphone to a regular phone

NEXT: How rates are calculated...

How We Compile Calling Card Rate Data

Our calling card rate comparisons are done from time to time using a standardized methodology. Since rates vary over time, the rates shown may or may not reflect pricing available at the time you are reading this. Please check company websites for latest rates.

Here's how we compile the per minute rate information.

1. We identify which companies we will examine.
2. We visit company websites and search for card and rate information for the specific routes cited in the tables.
3. If multiple cards are shown, we choose the card with the cheapest advertised per minute rate. In some cases, if there is a card with no connection fees that is marginally more expensive, we will use that card instead.
4. If multiple rates are shown to the same country (e.g., to specific cities), we choose the most general country rate. Calls to major cities are often cheaper than the general country rate.
5. Where there is a difference between mobile and landline rates, we use the landline rate. If applicable, mobile phone rates will typically be higher.
6. To 'normalize' the prices (make the comparisons closer to apples-to-apples), we factor in the following fees and surcharges, if applicable:
• connection fees (assuming 30 min call)
• applicable carrier or communications surcharges;
• mandatory toll-free access charges
Note that not all companies charge all these fees.
7. We do not factor in fees that you may or may not be charged depending on card usage, such as maintenance fees; credit card or processing fees; or other special fees as charged by the vendor

If you have questions about this analysis, please email us or leave a comment below.

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Calling card per minute rates vary widely based on many factors. Rates vary significantly from card to card and from company to company.

They also vary over time with providers adjusting rates on an upredictable basis - sometimes rates vary from one day to the next.

Rates can also vary between landline and mobile phones -- with calls to mobile phones often being more expensive than calls to landline phones, sometimes a lot more.

Calling card rates can also vary considerably between two different countries, aka 'calling routes'. In the old days, these variations had a lot to do with distance - call to someplace far away cost more. But now, rate differences tend to have more to do with local regulations and levels of competition than distance. Highly regulated countries and countries with few competitive telcos tend to have higher rates than highly competitive countries.

For instance, calls between the USA and Mexico often cost more than calls to the UK, even though the UK is much further away. Reason being that the Mexico telecomm market is more regulated and less developed than the UK market.

Not only do rates vary between country pairs, but rates for calls between the same two countries can vary based on the direction of the call - i.e., whether call is inbound to the country or outbound from it. For instance, inbound calls from the UK to India are cheaper than outbound calls from India to the UK.

Our Calling Card Rate Comparisons

The rate comparison tables below show you recent international long distance calling card rates between various countries for several leading companies. The tables can't account for all the many ways that calling card rates can vary, but they do give you a sense of pricing between several popular international calling routes.

The rates shown are accurate as of the date they were pulled off company websites (see table footnotes for the actual date of each table).

To make the comparisons as directly comparable as possible, we have factored several fees into the rate calculations, including connection fees, carrier surcharges, and mandatory toll-free access surcharges.

This gives you a more accurate projected 'actual' per minute rate since the advertised per minute can seriously understate real world experiences for cards with a lot of extra fees.

That said, we have not factored all fees into the calculations. For instance, maintenance fees and credit card processing fees are not included in the calculations.

Click here for more information on how we compile these calling card rate comparisons.

To see our calling card ratings summary, click here.

Notes:

• All prices quoted in US¢ per minute (US$1 = US¢100).
• Prices subject to change without notice by vendors. Please check vendor websites for current rates and pricing.
• Rates shown were posted on vendor websites as of 19 Oct 09
• ^ Signifies that all rates come from same card / rate plan. If not specified, rates come from multiple cards / rate plans
• * PhoneCardSmile adds too many extra and unspecified fees to properly estimate per minute rates
• ** Some Pingo rates are for their 'soft phone', a VoIP dialing option for making calls from a PC or web smartphone to a regular phone

NEXT: How rates are calculated...

How We Compile Calling Card Rate Data

Our calling card rate comparisons are done from time to time using a standardized methodology. Since rates vary over time, the rates shown may or may not reflect pricing available at the time you are reading this. Please check company websites for latest rates.

Here's how we compile the per minute rate information.

1. We identify which companies we will examine.
2. We visit company websites and search for card and rate information for the specific routes cited in the tables.
3. If multiple cards are shown, we choose the card with the cheapest advertised per minute rate. In some cases, if there is a card with no connection fees that is marginally more expensive, we will use that card instead.
4. If multiple rates are shown to the same country (e.g., to specific cities), we choose the most general country rate. Calls to major cities are often cheaper than the general country rate.
5. Where there is a difference between mobile and landline rates, we use the landline rate. If applicable, mobile phone rates will typically be higher.
6. To 'normalize' the prices (make the comparisons closer to apples-to-apples), we factor in the following fees and surcharges, if applicable:
• connection fees (assuming 30 min call)
• applicable carrier or communications surcharges;
• mandatory toll-free access charges
Note that not all companies charge all these fees.
7. We do not factor in fees that you may or may not be charged depending on card usage, such as maintenance fees; credit card or processing fees; or other special fees as charged by the vendor

If you have questions about this analysis, please email us or leave a comment below.

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