The cheapest way to call abroad from the UK is using phonecards. We strive to provide you with the full details of all the charges connected to the phonecards that we sell. That way, you get no nasty surprises when you use our phonecards, you just get great rates!

How to make a call

1. Dial one of the Access Numbers (0800, 0845 or 020)

2. Listen to the welcome message with instructions

3. Enter your PIN Number

4. Dial your destination number including 00 and the country code

How Phonecards Work

If you intend to buy or have already bought a phone card and you're unsure how to use it, read on and you'll find the answers to your questions.

First, let's clear up some common terms used when discussing phone cards:

• PIN - Personal Identification Number : it is the unique number of your calling card and it is vital to have, as this identifies your account within the phone card company's system. Do not disclose your PIN to anyone, as someone else might start using it.

• Access number: it's usually a toll free or a local number. You need this number in order to connect to the phone card system. After you dial it, you get a voice prompt asking you to enter your PIN.

• Destination number: this is the number you want to call. It can be dialled in different ways, depending on where you're calling to and from.

• Maintenance fee : an amount deducted from the phone card's balance daily/weekly/monthly having the effect of reducing your minutes.

• Connection fee: an amount deducted from the phone card's balance once a call is connected.

• Rounding: is the multiple of minutes you'll be charged when making a call. For example, 4 minutes rounding means that you'll be charged in 4 minutes increments, like this: 4, 8, 12, 16, 20 and so on. A call for 9 minutes and 30 seconds will be charged 12 minutes.

• Expiration date: lists the date when the PIN will no longer be usable. Nowadays, most phone cards do not have an expiration date.

There are hundreds of phonecards, but you need to know how to differentiate and choose the one that best suits your needs. Forget looking at the name of the phone card - Super Saver, Lots of Minutes, whatever the name is, it will make no difference if you don't look at the Details section. Here you will have listed all the phone card's features and THIS is what really makes the difference between them.

Make sure you get a card according to your calling needs. It doesn't have to have the lowest rate (or the highest) to be the best. If you usually make long calls or if you make calls very often, you can get a card with a maintenance fee or even one with a connection fee, as these types of phone cards offer the lowest rates. Even if you have a maintenance fee, given that you'll make a lot of long calls and use up the balance quickly, the maintenance fee will be only deducted once or maybe twice, but you get a huge amount of minutes to talk.

Phone cards can be used from any active phone line, even from payphones (from these types of phones a surcharge will be applied when you use the calling card). However, you need to make sure you are dialing your numbers from a tone-based system. Phone cards use tones to identify the numbers you are dialing (like the PIN or destination number) and cannot be used from rotary or pulse based phones. If you get an error message while you are dialing the PIN, it is very likely that the phone you are using is not tone enabled.

Don't worry, this is an easy fix: look on the side or base of the phone for a tone/pulse button and switch it in the right position. If you can't find such a button, try dialing * (star key) before the PIN - it will switch the phone to tone dialing for that call only.

How Many Minutes do you get? - Click Here