Discount Long Distance

Per-minute plans offer cheap long distance

If you make fewer than 12 hours of long-distance calls per month, then a per-minute plan is probably your best bet. Of course, you'll need to do a little math and figure in your local service in order to decide whether you'd do better with an all-inclusive long-distance plan like AT&T's Unlimited Plus (*est. $33 per month). However, if you don't make that many long-distance calls, a per-minute plan will most likely be your cheapest option. Three companies came up repeatedly in our research: ECG, Pioneer and CogniState. 3U Telecom has the best international long-distance rates.

SaveOnPhone.com and TollChaser.com say that ECG (Enhanced Communications Group) has the best deal. Long-distance rates with ECG Easy 2.5 run 2.5 cents per minute state-to-state, with a minimum monthly charge of 59 cents. The minimum per-call charge is 18 seconds, after which calls are charged in six-second increments. While this isn't the absolute lowest billing increment we found (some companies bill in six-second increments with no minimum; 3U bills in one-second intervals), competing companies such as Pioneer and PNG charge by the minute. Customer service appears to be a factor in many of the reviews we read, and ECG excels in this respect as well. Editors at SaveOnPhone.com say customer-service response time was less than one minute. User feedback at Phonedog.com is also above average.

With ECG's Easy 2.5 plan, you must pay your bill automatically with a credit card or automatic debit plan. A paper bill or check payment isn't an option. ECG has another plan, the Basic 3.5 plan, which charges 3.5 cents per minute with a $2.50 monthly bill-processing fee. The only advantage to this plan is that you get a monthly bill in the mail, which you can review before you pay. Even if you prefer receiving a monthly paper bill, ECG has one of the better deals. These plans aren't available to customers in about 15 percent of the U.S., depending on the local-service carrier. You can determine whether you are eligible for ECG by punching in your phone number on their website (http://www.dialecg.com). Note that calls to Hawaii and Alaska cost more (24 cents per minute for Alaska and 21.4 cents for Hawaii). Higher-cost calls to these states are typical of discount long-distance services.

Pioneer is another company we saw mentioned frequently in reviews of long-distance services. In fact, Pioneer tied with ECG for total number of high rankings. However, our most reliable reviewers rated ECG higher than Pioneer. These reviewers did not like the fact that Pioneer bills in 60-second increments. If you make a 10-second call, you are billed for a full minute. Pioneer does offer a plan with six-second increments, but the charge is 3.25 cents per minute rather than 2.7 cents.

Pioneer's per-minute rate is still cheaper than most: 2.7 cents per minute for domestic calls (excluding Hawaii and Alaska). Calls to any other Pioneer customer are billed at only 1.9 cents per minute. As with ECG, your location must be served by a current or former Baby Bell company, so about 15 percent of the country won't be able to access Pioneer. Paper bills cost $1, though this charge is waived if you make at least $15 worth of calls per month. There appears to be little difference between ECG and Pioneer, but we like ECG's shorter billing increments. Editors of Phonedog.com say the savings are 12 percent to 14 percent when using a six-second billing increment versus a full minute plan. For this reason, we have chosen ECG as the Best Reviewed long-distance service plan and Pioneer as the runner-up. If you make a lot of in-state calls, it pays to check the rates of both carriers.

CogniState is listed in the top five in some of the reviews we read. CogniState, which boasts great in-state rates, also has a long-distance plan that includes a competitive 2.7-cents-per-minute rate with no monthly minimum and no monthly service charge, along with six-second billing increments. Online billing is free, but if you prefer a paper bill, CogniState tacks on a $2 monthly fee if your bill is under $20. If your bill is over $20, the paper-bill charge is waived. In our research, we found this policy to be fairly typical of discount long-distance companies.

William Van Hefner at Telcompare.com reviews CogniState's plan and highly recommends it. He also points out that the low rates only apply to those whose phone service is provided by a regional Bell company such as SBC, BellSouth (both now part of AT&T) and most of Verizon. Customers outside of these service areas will pay a higher rate. However, if you qualify for CogniState's least expensive rate, then you also qualify for the still-cheaper ECG plan.

3U Telecom is a company that undercuts other providers when it comes to international calls and calls to Alaska and Hawaii, even though its 4.8-cent-per-minute domestic rate is higher than ECG's and CogniState's. 3U charges in one-second billing increments, an industry first. That means that if your call lasts three seconds, you pay for three seconds. With other plans, you'd pay for a six-second call or even a 60-second call. There is neither a monthly fee nor a minimum usage charge. Billing is online or by e-mail, and you must pay with an automatic credit-or debit-card deduction. You'll have about three days to review your bill before your card is charged. You may choose to receive a paper bill, but 3U charges $1 for that.

One of 3U's most unique features is its cheap international-calling rates. Calls to many countries (including Australia, Japan, Germany and the U.K.) cost the same 4.8 cents per minute as domestic calls (when calling a landline). 3U also gives you a special access number, so you can get those same rates when calling from your cell phone (as long as your cell phone is registered in the 48 continental states). Your cell company will simply think you are making a domestic call. If you're calling an international cell phone, rates vary a lot but are still lower than those of other companies. Complete rate information is easy to find on the 3U website (http://www.3Utelecom.com). 3U is available to anyone; your local carrier does not have to be a current or former Baby Bell (as it does with ECG), so 3U is a good choice for those who can't get ECG.

Total Call International is not mentioned very often among the least expensive calling plans, but this company has the advantage of wider availability than ECG or CogniState. Total Call International has a 3.9-cents-per-minute, 24/7 rate plan with no minimums or monthly fees, and six-second billing increments (with an 18-second minimum call time). If you make frequent long-distance calls, there is also a 2.9-cents-per-minute plan with a $15 monthly minimum. Online billing and payment is required. Total Call International's customer service is unique in that you can request a Spanish-speaking representative, in addition to five other languages. (The other languages are English, Japanese, Vietnamese, Tagalog and Arabic.) Although it is more expensive than ECG, Total Call is available with most carriers, and it's a good choice if you don't live in ECG's coverage area and don't make many international calls. (3U is cheaper for international calls.)

We also saw several plans that offer some kind of incentive for luring your friends and relatives to join. AmeriCom offers an incentive of 2.9 cents per minute (reduced from their standard 3.9 cents per minute) for referring three friends, plus a bonus of one-percent of your friends' usage, issued as a credit to your long-distance bill. However, if you are always nagging your friends to switch phone providers, you might find yourself with fewer friends to call.