Top Ten Benefits to a Prepaid Phone Card

I often get asked “what is the benefit to using a prepaid phone card to make long distance calls.” Having answered this question so many times I decided that it would be beneficial to share my top ten list with everyone:

1) You will save lots of money vs. regular long distance - At&t can charge as much as $0.50 a minute to call some countries while prepaid cards usually cost about 1/3 less

2) They are portable! Ever found a time when you were at another family member’s house and needed to make a long distance phone call but felt guilty about running up your hosts phone bill? With a phone card you don't have to worry as you are now paying the bill!

3) Great for emergencies - carry a low value one with you in case you need to make an emergency call from a pay phone and have no change

4) They can be used to make long distance calls from your cell phone - Everyone knows that they will be taken to the cleaners by their cellular company if they make a long distance call outside of their plan but with a phone card you now use your cell phone to make long distance calls and not have to give up your 1st born to pay the bill

5) You can use them from your office - Many companies don't allow their employees to make long distance calls from work and in some cases they even block all non local calls. With a phone card you don't have to worry about your boss getting mad as now you can flip the bill using your prepaid phone card.

6) Perfect for traveling - No traveler should leave home without a phone card! If you are traveling internationally make sure to find a phone card with access numbers from the country to which you are traveling. A great traveler’s phone card is Net2Phone Direct

7) They can be rechargeable! Most of the phone cards with the super low rates are usually meant for one time use but you can find some good ones with low rates that can be recharged!

8) You don't need to sign up for a monthly plan to get the best rates. You can use it when, how and wherever you like!

9) Allows you to better budget your long distance calls! You can keep track of the amount you spend and limit yourself by only buying the amount you want to use! No more surprises at the end of the month where you are asking yourself why did you spend so much and if I only new it would have been this much money I would have talked a little bit less.

10) They are easy to use!

Verizon Fiber Service

I have been hearing a lot of good things about the new Verizon fiber service now available in select areas. This looks to be their answer at declining home phone service revenues and from my perspective will most likely be the savior of this company. For a decent price they will hook up a fiber connection to your house through a special batter backed up box installed in your premise that can provide phone, high speed internet and eventualy cable TV.

With the VOIP providers like Vonage and Net2Phone chipping away at Verzion's customer base and with a lot of people just choosing to have a mobile phone instead of a wire line, Verizon had to come up with a way to keep their customers and start turning many back. Their price point will be key and all indications are that the pricing will be in line with the VOIP competitors and will deffinately be lower for the cable TV portion.

Lord knows that DSL is not a viable long term internet option and with the bulk of their subscriber on the bare bones $14.99 plan, I don't see this option as sticking around lone as it is just too darn slow... it would be interesting to see what the lifetime value of a customer is for this service. Most people I know tried it because it was just such a good deal but then releazied why it was so cheap and have since switched. This fiber connectivity should be on par if not better than most cable modems and will be priced cheaper.

The future looks bright for Verizon thanks to Fiber, I only hope that they can speed up their roll out to avoid being to late to the party!