Saving money on long distance calls with prepaid phone cards

One of the horrors of going to another country and staying there for a long time is not only acclimating yourself to a new culture and the weather, but also trying to cope with missing your family and friends in your native land. Still relying on old technology, it's a good thing then that with today's technology, it is no longer a problem to stay connected. Computers and telephones keep the communication lines open every minute of the day. It is not even surprising for someone to chat with another person across a thousand miles every day. Web cameras even allow people to see one another while chatting over the Internet. That is how great technology is right now. Not everyone can afford to buy a web cam, though, let alone a computer. Chatting and sending emails necessitates that both parties have computers or access to computers and the Internet, which is not always the case, especially for people who live in developing countries. Most overseas workers and foreign students still rely on the good old telephone to deliver their message. Not only will this avenue be convenient for both parties, talking on the phone is also more personal. This is also the reason why people still call one another even when there is the Internet and a web cam in the house. Nothing can yet beat the sound of your loved one's voice on the phone. In terms of expense, long distance phone calls can be pretty expensive. Unlike sending an email, which is actually free except for the cost of the Internet connection, long distance phone calls are charged by the minute of talk time. For a worker or a student with a small budget, this can eat up a big portion of their income and make up a large chunk of their expenses. Another problem with telephone calls is that you cannot actually monitor the length of time that you have used the phone. This is especially true with people who have not talked or seen each other for some time. Realizing this need, phone companies have begun to come up with prepaid long distance phone cards that cater to this segment of he population. These international prepaid phone cards have become so popular that over four million websites have been put up to sell them online. Here are some of the reasons why you can actually save more when you use a prepaid long distance phone card compared to using traditional phone lines at home. The amount that you paid for will be the amount of money that you will consume when you make the call. The cost is relatively cheap because there are no taxes involved, nor are there international surcharges when making long distance calls. Phone cards are so cheap that when you compare what you pay for with traditional phone lines and with long distance prepaid phone cards, you will see that you have saved up to 70 percent in fees. You can actually save even more when you buy in bulk, as most stores and online sites offer special promos for wholesale purchases. You should not worry though about not being able to use all of them. Most prepaid long distance phone cards do not expire as long as you have not activated them yet. Others have one to two years expiration dates. If you are not sure that you can consume all the phone cards within the expiration period, you can always sell the long distance prepaid phone cards to other people. You can even give them as gifts for Christmas. As mentioned before, using prepaid long distance phone cards allows one to control the length of time that one will talk on the phone. It is not even necessary to constantly look into the screen for the timer as some phone cards will let out a signal when time is about to run out. Others warn the people that you are talking with at the start of the call that when the call is cut off, that means that time on the phone card has run out.