Long Distance Phone Companies

Edwards Finance > Phones

Q. I make very few long distance calls. My current long distance has been creeping up the minimum monthly charge (it started as no minimum and is now 3.50 plus tax). I'd like to cancel my long distance service that I currently have and instead use some type of prepaid card where I call a local number and then enter the long distance number I would like to call. My questions are: Will a local phone company allow someone to have local service without any long distance provider? Will I be able to recieve long distance calls? Can I call 800 numbers with just local service ( I assume 800 calls won't be free if I use the prepaid card)? I know there are long distance services that don't charge a monthly minimum but they require credit card info and an ssn to do a credit check so I'd rather avoid them if I can. Are there any recommendations for prepaid long distance? It would have to be something where the time doesn't expire since I don't want to have to be buying more time every so often.

A. YES. Be sure to ask them to freeze your account or whatever they call it to avoid getting slammed. You can call 800, 888, 866 numbers for free with just local service. The only problem is directory assistance (which is a ripoff anyway). You can also ask your local telco for whatever longdistance plan is available in your area without a month minimum or a monthly charge and sign up for that 'plan', then just never use it. Just make sure everyone in your home knows to use the calling card. (I have the calling card number posted on an index card next to the phone as a reminder, or you could program it into your phones memory). We use the card we bought at Sam's Club several years ago. I think it comes out to somewhere around 3 cents per minute, depending on how many minutes you buy at a time, and the time never expires. I usually buy 2000 or 2500 minutes at a time and it lasts for about a year before I need to renew it. You already got some good answers. (I dumped my land line long distance and just use my cell for long distance.) But I just wanted to add that you might want to try "Skype" You talk through your computer with a microphone. It's totally free when you are talking with someone "computer-to-computer." But it does cost if you want to use it to talk "computer to someone's phone." The sound quality is very very very good. I talk to people in other countries with it. Yes, I believe the law requires them to let you choose your long distance provider, and I believe they must allow you to have no long distance provider at all. I have done it myself, although it has been years. By the way, not everyone realizes this, but you actually have two long distance provider choices to make: inter-LATA and intra-LATA. The US is broken up into areas called LATAs (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LATA ), and you can choose on provider for calls within your own LATA and one for other calls. The reason I mention this is that you may need to be clear with your local phone company about which one(s) of these two services you want to have turned off. If you don't have them both shut off, I think they could continue to bill you a monthly fee for just intra-LATA. My phone company tried a stupid trick with me like that once: there was something like a $2 fee for being on a plan called "1+ Saver". The $2 fee entitled me to lower rates on calls to an area I never called in my life.

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