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As with all purchases, read the fine print and make sure that our plan is a "good fit." Specifically, let's take a look at your current provider's:
Calling Patterns: Consider the long distance rate your current long distance carrier charges you for making calls at different times of the day. Do you make most of your calls during the day, night, or on weekends? What is your average volume? Do you make long distance calls mostly within your state, outside your state, or to other countries? With GotoLongDistance.com long distance plan it doesn't matter. You are charged 3.9¢ per minute no matter what time of the day or week you place your long distance calls.
Monthly Fees: If your long distance carrier promises 10 cents a minute, look for any additional long distance rates, such as, monthly fees or surcharges you have to pay to get that long distance rate. GotoLongDistance.com has no monthly billing fee if you sign up for AUTOPAY billing option or if your bill is over $20.00 each month. (NOTE: $1.99 billing fee is charged when your bill is under $20.00 for all non-Autopay customers.)
Minimum Charges: Look for minimum charges for each long distance call. If every call has a 50-cent minimum, even a two-minute call can cost you 50 cents. On "up to 20 minutes for a dollar" long distance plans, a one-minute call or a message you leave on an answering machine is a dollar. In effect, this charges you for time you're not even on the phone. GotoLongDistance.com doesn't impose minimums.
Billing Increments: Some long distance carriers(like AT&T, Sprint and MCI) bill in 60-seconds increments; if your long distance call lasts one minute and one second, you're charged for two minutes. This unused time can add up, especially if you make many short long distance calls or when you get a recording.
Programs that bill at six-seconds increments and six-seconds minimum call lengths (like GotoLongDistance.com) more accurately reflect your actual calling time and save you money every time you place a long distance call.
Climbing Rates: An ad may say that all long distance calls up to 20 minutes cost a dollar. Look for information on what happens to the long distance rate structure after 20 minutes. The long distance rate may increase dramatically.
Shop for Long Distance Plan just as you would for a everyday Consumer Product
Ask your long distance carrier about any "sales" or promotions they might be running. Compare "apples to apples". Check out long distance carrier web sites and you will see that the big names you're familiar with – AT&T, MCI, Sprint, etc. – are no longer the best choices for long distance service. Because they spend so much money promoting themselves, their prices are generally higher than we are.
The best long distance plans now, say the experts, come from smaller long distance carrier like GotoLongDistance.com partners with. Compare them to us!
Time Restrictions: Is the advertised long distance rate available when you want it? Some long distance rates apply only at certain times of the day or only on certain days of the week. What are the long distance rates at the other times?
Geographic Restrictions: Is the advertised long distance rate available on all long distance calls - those that you make to someone in another state as well as those that you make to someone in another city in your own state? Some long distance plans do not include long distance calls in the same state. Factor those rates in when you make your decision. Learn the terms intra- and inter- state.
Promotional Restrictions: Are the advertised long distance rates constant or an introductory offer that's good for a limited time - such as, the first 60 days of your subscription? If so, what are the long distance rates once the promotion is over?
Our long distance rates at GotoLongDistance.com are always 3.9¢ per minute, period. Compare them to us.
Basic Rates: An ad promising "50 percent off the basic rate" isn't always a good deal because the "basic" long distance rate is another term for the highest long distance rate available .
Comparable Services: Make a list of long distance services offered by your long distance carrier. Compare them to GotoLongDistance's great long distance rates and common sense long distance services.
Analyze your Bill: Pay attention to your bill, checking to make sure you are being charged exactly what you were told and expected. If you think there's a mistake, or if you just don't understand your bill, call your long distance carrier for an explanation.
Calling Card: An alternative method for billing and collecting for telephone long distance services. Use is very similar to "credit card" use, but may have additional "per call" charges to the per-minute long distance rates. Dial Around: Long distance services that urge consumers to dial a long distance carrier's access code (or "10-10" number) before dialing a long distance number, to bypass or "dial around" the consumer's chosen long distance carrier and to get a better long distance rate.
Inter-state: Calls made from one state to a different state.
Intra-state: Calls from one location in a state to another location within the same state.
Prepaid Calling Card: A variation of the calling card where the money for long distance services are rendered. Time/units/money are removed from the card as it is use. **THERE CAN BE SOME HIDDEN CHARGES WHEN USING THESE - such as additional charges when using the card for a payphone call, and higher long distance rates being charged for international long distance calls.
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