Use local access number to save big even if its not local to where you live.

Phone Cards are still a popular way for foreign born Americans to call home. Even with all the fees and hidden surcharges, a phone card will typically give more than twice as many minutes to an international destination as a traditional phone call made from your home or business phone using your long distance company.

Tip #1 - Use the local access number even if it is not local to where you live.

Phone card companies compete intensely to deliver the maximum number of minutes to their target destinations. For example, if the Target market is Filipinos calling home to the Philippines, then every minute counts. There are two types of minutes: The advertised minutes and the delivered minutes. While it would be nice if the advertised minutes were the same as the delivered minutes, they almost never are.

If the phone card issuer delivers 50 minutes when using a local access number, it will typically deliver only 42 minutes when using a toll free 800 number. This differential is true for almost any phone card and for good reason. The reason is that all phone card companies pay between 1.0 cents per minute and 3.0 cents per minute or more for every toll free 800 call coming into their switch. They pay only 1/10 to 1/4 of a cent or less for local access numbers coming into their switch.

The access numbers for the phone card are printed on the back of the phone card. A toll free number starts with 1-800 or 1-888 or 1-877 or 1-866. A local access number starts with a normal area code such as 1-212 for New Your City, or 1-714 for Orange County California, or 1-216 for Cleveland Ohio.

When you dial a local access number to make your phone call, the phone card company is happy to pass along most of the savings, which means more minutes. (as in example of 50 minutes vs. 42 minutes). When calling destinations such as Western Europe where the minutes on a $5 phone card are advertised at 250 minutes or more, the difference between using a local access number or a toll free number can be even more dramatic with a local access number delivering twice the minutes given that would be delivered if the 800 number were used.

Unfortunately, there is simply not enough real estate on the back of a phone card to list a local access number for every local calling area, but in most cases it simply does not matter.

Here is why. Most people today have a cell phone with free nights and weekend minutes after hours, including free long distance minutes to anywhere in the USA. Likewise, most local telephone companies now offer a plan that includes free domestic long distance as part of the package. Because of time zone differences, it is common to make international calls when the cell phone's nights and weekend rates are in effect.

All of this means that if you make frequent international phone calls using a phone card make sure you have a free domestic long distance calling, then dial any local access number printed on the back of your phone card. If you live in Small Town Nebraska, you can dial a local access number beginning with 1-212 for free, and get more minutes from any phone card offering "local access".

Bob Collett sells phone cards online to consumers at http://www.hellocallingcards.com/ and to retail stores at http://www.phonecardhotline.com/