Connection Fee
Every time a call connection is established, a connection fee is deducted to the actual minutes especially in a prepaid calling card. And this prepaid calling card usually has a low per minute rate thought to be a source in saving in your international calls. It is sometimes known as a call setup fee or minimum call charge where a call made is less than the required length of call by certain phone card companies or service providers.
Maintenance Fee
In order for telecommunication companies to maintain their services provided to their customers, they sometimes charge a maintenance fee every week, every two weeks or every month. This is a minimal amount but when accumulated, this can deduct a large portion of the calling time.
Phone Surcharges
This is the amount charged when making calls using a prepaid calling card from a public payphone or when using a toll free access number. The fee is deducted on your phone card minute every time a call is made or the amount is added to the per minute rate that’s why a customer sometimes wonders that the rate is not the actual one as promised but is actually higher. It is then given to the payphone owners to pay them in using their payphone to make calls.
International Roaming Fees
In wireless telecommunication, that is common in mobile phone service providers, international roaming fee is the fee charged for the connectivity service in a location different from the home location where a customer applied for the service. This is the amount for the payment of the international connection to the network. Prepaid calling card nowadays have avoided this fee as they have different rates to call a certain destination given a specific place of call origin.
Minute Rounding
Different companies and services providers have different minute rounding policies. Minute rounding refers to the billing increment on the consumption of the calling minutes. Some would charge one, three or five minute rounding off. This means that your call for at least 50 seconds will be charged as one, two, three or five minute of call. More than a minute rounding is big enough to cost your talk time.
Before making any call, make sure to check your prepaid calling card. And before buying a card, be careful to choose the right one according to your calling needs. You can enjoy traveling abroad with easier communication and cheaper rate per international call made.
About the author: Febe is a freelance writer who does reviews and contents on telecommunication companies, services and products for international calls like Pingo prepaid calling cards.
Image by BlackCat-By
