Long Distance Phone Service Reviews

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Long Distance Phone Service Reviews Reviewed
Review Ratings	Citation	CS Credibility Rating	Long Distance Phone Service Ratings Comments on Reviews
1. SaveOnPhone.com	Long Distance Rate Comparison Chart Editors of SaveOnPhone.com As of Feb. 2008		SaveOnPhone.com's editors continuously research long distance plans in order to offer ratings of the best plans. At our last check, the rate comparison chart featured over 30 plans. The top five include ECG, CogniState, Pioneer, Covista and Unitel. 3U is recommended for international callers, and 3U gives you a special access number so you can get low international rates from your cell phone.
2. TollChaser.com	Long Distance Comparison Chart Editors of TollChaser.com As of Feb. 2008		Another online rate-comparison site, TollChaser offers a number of tools to analyze your phone bill, resolve a dispute, and find the cheapest plans for your usage. This is the first site we saw that adds USF fees into the per-minute rate. For example, Airespring Global Fibernet's advertised 2.85¢ per minute plan actually costs 3.23¢ per minute when fees are figured into the price. ECG's 2.5¢ per minute plan comes out to 2.77¢ when the monthly recovery fee is figured in. Plans from ECG, Pioneer, Unitel and Touchstone are top-rated here.
3. Telcompare.com	Residential Long Distance Editors of Telcompare.com As of Feb. 2008		Telcompare.com is similar to SaveOnPhone.com. However, while there are details about rates and fees for most companies, the ratings appear to be in no particular order. Some plans get a detailed review, while only basic information is given for others.
4. LongDistanceSmart.com	Best Residential Plans Editors of Long Distance Smart.com As of Feb. 2008		Like the other sites in our chart, Long Distance Smart.com lists the cheapest plans by state. You can also filter results by entering your usage estimates. We appreciate the fact that in-state rates are easy to find. Unitel, Pioneer and CogniState are often the top plans here.
5. PhoneRateFinder.com	Rate Comparison for State-to-State Calls Editors of PhoneRateFinder.com As of Feb. 2008		Yet another rate comparison site, this one allows you to compare over 200 different plans including interstate, in-state, international and calling cards. There's also a calculator for researching in-state versus state-to-state call rates. We would have thought that all these sites would have similar charts. It's interesting when they don't really correspond. While most of these sites have similar entries, the order varies a lot. Several CogniState, CogniPhone, PNG and Covista plans occupy top spots here, along with Unitel and AmeriCom's Simplicity. Also included, for comparison sake, are mainstream plans from MCI, Verizon and AT&T. The site also offers to analyze your phone bill free of charge.

Long Distance Phone Service Reviews above this line are significantly better than reviews below.

Review Ratings	Citation	CS Credibility Rating	Long Distance Phone Service Ratings Comments on Reviews

6. Phonedog.com	Long Distance Plans Editors of Phonedog.com As of Feb. 2008		Phonedog's phone service information site includes long distance service comparisons. By entering your phone number, a list of long distance providers and the best deals for your area code will appear with all the details such as fees, rates and savings. The site gives you the option to rank carriers by lowest in-state rate, lowest state-to-state rate or biggest yearly savings. Along with plan details and a brief editorial review, each plan is accompanied by extensive user ratings and comments. This is the only resource where we found user ratings.
7. Cyber Scans Telecom	1 Plus Long Distance Services Editors of Cyber Scans As of Feb. 2008		CogniState, Accxx Long Distance, Opex and Covista captured the top four "one-plus" slots as of our last visit. Providers are given ratings from one to five stars. Since there are no negative comments here, though, it's hard to tell whether these picks represent editors' recommendations, or are the result of paid product placement.
8. My Rate Plan	Long Distance Editors of MyRatePlan.com As of Feb. 2008		Editors of My Rate Plan suggest that if you are paying more than 4¢ per minute for long distance, you should do a little investigating. Rates can be calculated by entering the state, monthly usage in minutes and percentage of calls made in-state. Pioneer, ECG and Big Red Wire were the best plans for several states. The site also includes discussions of long distance options, the pros and cons of going wireless, etc.
9. 1+ Call Saver	Best Bets: Residential Editors of 1+ Call Saver As of Feb. 2008		This site runs a regularly updated list of the top 32 residential long distance plans. It seems to favor plans with no or very low monthly fees, even if the per-minute charges are a bit higher than other plans. ECG is in the top spot with its 2.75¢ plan. CogniState, TCI, Voice Revolution and 3U hold other top ratings on the chart. The site receives commissions from some of the companies listed but claims to be unbiased.
10. The Digest	Long Distance Deals & Discounts Editors of The Digest.com As of Feb. 2008		The Digest is a good source for telephone industry news and views. It also provides this chart of long distance services that provides information on per-minute charges, minimum charges, fees, billing increments and billing methods. The chart requires you to enter your home state and the country you dial most often to get recommendations. Users can provide their own ratings, but at the time of our visit, most companies had not received much feedback.
11. Calling-Plans.com	Top Ten Long Distance Calling Plans Editors of Calling-Plans.com As of Feb. 2008		Based on eleven years of telecom experience, Calling-Plans.com lists their top plans by price per minute. The top ten all are less than 4¢ per minute. Billing increments, minimums and other fees are noted but not added into the calculations. The site also has a rate calculator to refine options.
12. Better Telephone Rates.com	Top Long Distance Plans Editors of Better Telephone Rates As of Feb. 2008		BetterTelephoneRates.com lists Covista, Unitel, ECG, CogniState and Pioneer as their top five. Selections are based solely on interstate rate, monthly fee and billing increments of each company.

Long Distance Phone Service Reviews above this line are significantly better than reviews below.

Review Ratings	Citation	CS Credibility Rating	Long Distance Phone Service Ratings Comments on Reviews

13. Consumer Reports >> Details/Subscribe	Phone service: 5 ways to cut bills Editors of Consumer Reports Oct. 2006		This article doesn't rate phone companies in any way. Instead, it offers general advice about cutting costs, including bundling local and long distance service, using phone cards for long distance calls and switching to VoIP. The pros and cons of various options are considered.