Pre-paid phone cards

Ripwave

I got a Swiftcall card recently, because I call the US a lot, and I want to give as little money to Tony O'Reilly as possible.

The posters in the shop clearly state 4c/minute for calls to the US.

But it turns out that that's only the off-peak rate - daytime calls to the US cost over 16.5c per minute (4c+12.5c), plus 5c minute to eircom for calling into swiftcall in the first place, so it ends up costing more to use Swiftcall to call the US than to just use eircom! (19c/min for eircom, 21.5c/min for Swiftcall!).

What's even worse is that, while their website does actually mention this 12.5c "peak rate" surcharge, they compare their own off-peak rate of 4c to eircoms "Daytime Rates", and then give incorrect rates for the eircom rates. (They say that eircom charge 42c/minute for calls to the US, which is over twice what eircom actually charge, even though eircom put their prices up this year. They also overstate eircoms prices for European calls, but seem to have the right eircom rates for the UK, New Zealand and South Africa).

And Peak Rate apparently applies to Christmas Day.

Can anyone recommend a decent prepaid phone card?

BluE-WinG

Century have been quite cheap for South Africa - Maybe theyd be good for the US.

Gordon

Try Talkshop.ie also, they aren't bad, I used to work for them.

Ripwave

Originally posted by Gordon
Try Talkshop.ie also, they aren't bad, I used to work for them.

Their website isn't all that informative - it doesn't say how much extra it costs to use the freephone number, or whether there are any surcharges.

Century have a couple of different cards, and it looks like their Global Caller card might actually be an "all-day, every day" card - I actually read the small print on the bottom of the poster when I went out to lunch today. I'll check it out when I finish this switfcall card.

(Off topic, but this is a pet peeve of mine. The talkshop web site requires you to enter the www. - why do so many "webmasters" not understand how to do away with this? They've been advertising "basis.ie" for months on the radio as a Public service website - but it doesn't exist, you have to go to www.basis.ie).

Gordon

True, their website isn't the most understandable when it comes to surcharges but if you call them and ask them about it all they will give you honest answers.

Jabbathegut

Swiftcall looks like a total ripoff

Call cards are definitly the way to go here.
Firstly you can a toll free number to call (if dialing from a fixed line) and no peak penalties.

I've used both the Planet and Century cards, the Planet while cheaper (3c/min to Oz) the toll free line can be busy at times while I've never had a problem with the Century toll free (4-5c/min to oz). The line quality is generaly very good, just like talking to someone in the next room, no delays etc

Hope this helps

Ripwave

Originally posted by Jabbathegut
Swiftcall looks like a total ripoff

Call cards are definitly the way to go here.
Firstly you can a toll free number to call (if dialing from a fixed line) and no peak penalties.

The free-phone number costs 6c extra per minute (reasonable enough), even on Century cards. This is useful if you want to call from someone elses phone, or from a hotel or something. But it's still cheaper to call the 1890 number or the local Dublin number, even during the day (especially if you're not paying for the local calls!)

I've used both the Planet and Century cards, the Planet while cheaper (3c/min to Oz) the toll free line can be busy at times while I've never had a problem with the Century toll free (4-5c/min to oz). The line quality is generaly very good, just like talking to someone in the next room, no delays etc

I think I saw a vending machine with Planet cards in it, but they didn't have any mention of rates to the US. Do you know if they have a website? (I couldn't find one).

K!LL!@N

If you buy Swiftcall cards from USIT or the swiftcall website, you can get 20% off.
So if you buy a €30 card you get the €7 extra, and it only costs you €24.
So you're getting €37 worth of calls for €24.
I've been using swiftcall cards for the last few years.
Had problems with a couple of cards, but was able to email swiftcall and get it sorted out.
The service has only been down once or twice that i can remember.
With the €30 card i get 668 minutes talktime to US/Canada.

Killian

Ripwave

Originally posted by K!LL!@N
With the €30 card i get 668 minutes talktime to US/Canada.

That's 668 minutes of off-peak time - I just checked, and I have "109" minutes left on my my card for a call to the US at the moment - if I call in 50 minutes time, after 6PM, I'll have about 380 minutes. (I had a little over 400 minutes left when I made a call last night).

K!LL!@N

Yeah, sorry i meant off-peak.
I'd deleted part of my post by mistake.

But still i think 668 minutes off-peak is great value.

Calling off-peak to us/canada isn't really a big deal because they could be anywhere from 4 to 8 hours behind. So calling at 6pm here it could be 10am to 2pm depending on where you're calling.

If you were calling east i could see it being a problem.

Killian

Ripwave

Originally posted by K!LL!@N
But still i think 668 minutes off-peak is great value.

It's no better than lots of other cards offer, but the rip-off is that it's not obvious from the posters that the 4c rate is off-peak only, and the "peak" period isn't defined anywhere on their website.

Calling off-peak to us/canada isn't really a big deal because they could be anywhere from 4 to 8 hours behind. So calling at 6pm here it could be 10am to 2pm depending on where you're calling.

If you were calling east i could see it being a problem.

I usually call in the evening. But I found out the hard way that Swiftcall cards are a rip-off because sometimes I need to call during the day. It actually costs more to use a Swiftcall card during the day than it does to call directly using eircom.

If Swiftcall want to advertise their service for what it actually is (cheap off-peak international calls), I wouldn't have any grouds for complaint. But by deliberately misleading the public by not making it clear that they only offer off-peak bargains, they deserve the title Rip-Off Merchants. Hopefully this thread will save at least one other boards user from being stung by them.

Gordon

Ripwave, fyi the telco controllers have very little stranglehold over this kind of misleading advertising. I have tried to contact them about ambiguous advertising in the past and it has proved pointless.

Therefore if you have a gripe be prepared to spend a lot of time and effort in getting justice. Unfortunately. Therefore these companies tend to get away with murder wrt advertising their precise prices.

Ripwave

Originally posted by Gordon
Ripwave, fyi the telco controllers have very little stranglehold over this kind of misleading advertising. I have tried to contact them about ambiguous advertising in the past and it has proved pointless.

ComReg, the regulatory body for telecommunications, couldn't be arsed doing anything about protecting consumers - they consider it beneath them. (If they wanted to, they could post clear and unambiguous price information, like the Financial Services Regulator does.

Therefore if you have a gripe be prepared to spend a lot of time and effort in getting justice. Unfortunately. Therefore these companies tend to get away with murder wrt advertising their precise prices.

I'm not looking to get any money back from Swiftcall - I make enough off-peak calls to the US that the card certainly won't go to waste. But I won't be buying Swiftcall cards again, and I just hope that even one person reading this will be informed by it, and choose a different card next time.

Cork

I have 2 prepaid telephone accounts:

Esat home

& GoTalk!



Go Talk 1800920555 (Freephone)
Esat Home 1800924400 (Freephone)

Ripwave

Originally posted by Cork
I have 2 prepaid telephone accounts:

Esat home

& GoTalk!



Go Talk 1800920555 (Freephone)
Esat Home 1800924400 (Freephone)

And.........?

Gordon

Originally posted by Ripwave
I just hope that even one person reading this will be informed by it, and choose a different card next time.

I understand, fair enough.

Cork

Originally posted by Ripwave
And.........?

they don't charge for 1800 access.

Check them out on these Freephone numbers.


There are surcharges from mobiles & payphones.

Typedef

Ripwave be nice.

Ripwave

Originally posted by Typedef
Ripwave be nice.

Huh?

HelterSkelter

www.yaptel.com charge 5.49c per minute any time of the day with freephone access to UK, USA & Europe. I use them all the time and find them great. If you live in Dublin you can use an 01 access number and then the cost is 3.49c per minute. You order from their website and you receive an email within one day with the pin number and access numbers to dial.