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Long Distance Phone Service Reviews

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Long Distance Phone Service

Updated February 2006
Full Story Continued - Long Distance Phone Service Consumer Report

At one point, reviews said, telecom giants AT&T, MCI and Sprint were the best choices for long distance service but this is no longer true, partly because call quality and service are uniformly good across all vendors. Meanwhile, the cheaper no-name companies buy their long distance service wholesale from the telecom giants, so the quality of service is generally the same no matter what. Fueling the competitive market are cell phone companies, most of which lure consumers away from traditional long-distance services with free evening and weekend minutes.

Conventional long-distance providers are staying competitive with cell rates, offering single-rate 24/7 plans, so calls to out-of-state relatives no longer need to be delayed in order to snag lower nighttime or weekend rates. In our research, we found long-distance rates as low as 2.5¢ per minute. And surprisingly, we discovered the big three are offering competitive rates in bundled packages. A bundled package is a flat rate fee for unlimited local, in-state and long-distance calls. This type of plan, however, is only beneficial if you make a high number of calls.

Per-minute plans offer cheap long distance

If you make less 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. $29.95 per month). But 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. Newcomer 3U Telecom has the best international long-distance rates.

 

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SaveOnPhone.com and Tollchaser.com say that right now, ECG (Enhanced Communications Group) has the best deal. Long-distance rates with ECG Easy 2.5 run 2.5¢ per minute state-to-state with a minimum 59¢ monthly charge. The minimum per-call charge is six seconds and after that, calls are charged in 18-second increments. While this isn't the absolute lowest billing increment we found (some companies bill in six-second increments; 3U bills in one-second intervals), competing companies such as OPEX 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 say customer-service response time was less than one minute.

With ECG's Easy 2.5¢ plan, you must pay your pay automatically with a credit or debit card. A paper bill or check payment isn't an option. ECG has another plan, the Basic 3.5 plan, which charges 3.5¢ per minute with a $2.50 monthly minimum. The only advantage to this plan is that you get a monthly bill in the mail, which you can review before you pay. Still, if you prefer receiving a monthly paper bill, ECG has one of the better deals. These plan won't be available to customers in about 15% of the U.S., depending on your local service carrier. You can determine whether you are eligible for ECG by punching in your phone number on their Web site (https://dialecg.com). Note that calls to Hawaii and Alaska cost more (18.7¢ per minute for Alaska and 21.4¢ for Hawaii). Higher-cost calls to these states are typical of discount long-distance services.

CogniState and CogniWorld are both listed in the top five in many of the reviews we read. CogniState, which boasts great in-state rates, also has a long distance plan which includes a competitive 3.45¢ 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, editor of The Digest, reviews the CogniState 3.45¢ per minute plan and highly recommends it. He also points out the low rates only apply to those whose phone service is provided by a regional Bell company such as SBC, BellSouth, and most of Verizon. Customers outside of these service areas will pay a higher rate. But if your area is served by these companies, then you also qualify for the cheaper ECG plan.

Known for their International rates, CogniWorld charges 3.9¢ per minute in the 48 continental United States, and offers low international rates such as 4.3¢ per minute to Moscow and 5.5¢ to Italy. Like CogniState, CogniWorld charges by six-second increments and has a minimum six-second call time. There are no monthly fees, but there is the same $2 fee if your bill is under $20 and you want your bill by mail. Rates for calls to Hawaii (9¢ per minute), and to Alaska (12¢ per minute), are better than most, but not as great as 3U's 4.8¢ per minute cost to either state.

3U is a new company mentioned in two reviews we found, and it undercuts other providers when it comes to international calls and calls to Alaska and Hawaii, even though its 4.8¢ per minute domestic rate is higher than ECG and CogniState/CogniWorld. 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 no monthly fee, and no 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 paper.

One of 3U's most unique features is its cheap international calling rates. Many countries (including Australia, Japan, Germany and the U.K.) cost the same 4.8¢ 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 other companies. Complete rate info is easy to find on the 3U Web site (http://www.3Utelecom.com). 3U is available to anyone; your local carrier does not have to be a 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 a wider availability than ECG or CogniState. Total Call has a 3.9¢ per minute, 24/7 rate plan with no minimums or monthly fees, and six-second billing increments. You get a regular paper bill in the mail. Total Call's customer service is unique in that you can request a Spanish-speaking representative, in addition to five other languages. Although it is more expensive than ECG, Total Call is available with most carriers, and is 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).

Pioneer is another company we saw mentioned frequently in reviews of long-distance services. Pioneer's per-minute rate is cheaper than anyone else: 2.7¢ per minute for domestic calls (excluding Hawaii and Alaska). This company also has a good reputation for customer service. Billing, however, is in 60-second increments, so if you make a 10-second call, you are billed for 60 seconds. Like ECG, your current location must be served by a baby Bell company, so about 15% of the country won't be able to access Pioneer. Paper bills cost $1. There appears to be little difference between ECG and Pioneer, but we like ECG's shorter billing increments. If you make a lot of intrastate calls, it pays to check the rates of both carriers.

We also saw several plans that offer some kind of incentive for luring your friends and relatives to join up. AmeriCom offers an incentive of 3.5¢ per minute for referring three friends plus a bonus of 1% of your friends' usage, but if you are always nagging your friends to switch phone providers, you might find yourself with fewer friends to call. Several providers offer incentive minutes. PNG (Power Net Global) entices new customers with 100 free minutes. The catch is that these minutes are distributed after four months, and you can only use 25 free minutes per month. If you fail to use up your free minutes, you lose them.

Big Red Wire is also available in all but fifteen states (excluded states are AK, AZ, CO, IA, ID, ND, MN, OR, MT, NE, NM, SD, UT, WA and WY). There's no monthly charge, and rates are 2.6¢ per minute. Big Red Wire offers only e-mail customer service and automatic credit/debit card billing. If you know anyone else using BRW, this company will give you $5 worth of free calls per month, but only to other users of Big Red Wire.

Free Long Distance

Keep in mind that you can also make free Internet calls through software applications you can download for free. The catch is that you can only call people who also have the same installed application. One popular service is Skype (http://www.skype.com), which gets great reviews. You can call anyone else who has installed the software over your Internet connection at no charge. Skype also has add-on plans that let you call regular phones through your computer for about 2¢ per minute in the U.S., Canada, most of Europe and Australia.

We have a separate report on VoIP , which includes software such as Skype that lets you make free long-distance calls through your computer.

Important Features: Long-distance phone service

Here's what the experts say to look for when choosing a long distance carrier:

  • Check the fine print for a monthly fee or minimum usage charge. For most callers, a monthly fee is a completely unnecessary expense. Since long distance rates decrease as competition grows, some companies add a monthly fee to offset these lower charges. Most companies call this charge a 'recovery fee.' The only federally mandated charge is federal tax. The USF (Universal Service Fund) charge is required of long-distance companies, but the company is under no obligation to pass the fee to consumers (most do anyway). Anything additional charges on your bill (other than calls) are assessed by the long-distance company, no matter what phrasing they use.
  • Time increments can have a big impact on your bill. Some companies (like AT&T) bill in one-minute increments; if your call lasts one minute and one second, you're charged for two minutes. This unused time can add up, especially if you make many short long distance calls. Programs that bill at six-second increments more accurately reflect your actual calling time. Editors of Phonedog.com say the savings are 12% to 14% when using a six-second billing increment versus a full minute plan.
  • Inbound toll-free service is a nice option. This can be a great way to avoid accepting charges for collect calls. Many long distance providers now offer residential 1-800 numbers, usually with the same rates as outbound long distance calling. There's usually a monthly charge of about $3 for this service and many services, such as ECG and 3U, offer it for free.

The USF (Universal Service Fund) is a required fee from the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) used to help supplement phone service for low-income families, schools, roads, libraries and health care. Phone-service providers are under no obligation to pass the fee to consumers, but most do anyway. In the past, companies used this as a license to charge pretty much whatever fees they liked, attributing them to USF and pocketing the difference. That has changed. The FCC now mandates that all companies charge the same fixed amount, which is announced and changed quarterly, and pay the full amount to the FCC. The current USF fee can be found on the FCC Web site (www.fcc.gov).

Bear in mind that this report has no relevance to intrastate calls. If a considerable amount of the charges on your monthly bill comes from long distance calls made within your state (i.e., from Los Angeles to San Francisco), you'll have to do some of your own research to find the best rates, since intrastate rates vary so greatly from state to state and between carriers it's impossible to make recommendations for the general consumer. SaveOnPhone.com is a good resource for checking the intrastate rates of various long distance providers.

Consensus Report

Our Consensus Report shows how many times products are top-ranked by reviewers included in our
All The Reviews Reviewed chart. The Consensus Report appears also in the Full Story.

# of Picks Model
8 ECG
6 CogniState
6 Pioneer
3 Unitel
2 3U
2 Total Call International
2 ACCXX
2 CogniWorld
1 each Voice Revolution, PNG, Capsule, Simplicity, OPEX

ECG, with eight recommendations, is included in our Fast Answers as the best domestic cent/minute provider. Total Call is also listed in our Fast Answers, even though it's more expensive than ECG, they serve most of the U.S. CogniState, CogniWorld, and Unitel aren't far behind ECG with their low rates and no monthly fees. But most of these companies cost more than ECG's 2.5¢ plan, and are not included in Fast Answers. Pioneer comes close, with a 2.7¢ plan, but Pioneer charges in 60-second increments. 3U is a new company with some terrific international, Hawaii and Alaska rates.

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Alternative Considerations

10-10 Long Distance

Before the emergence of so many low-cost direct-dial plans, 10-10 long distance providers were the cheapest way to make a long distance phone call. These require you to first call an access number before placing your call.10-10-834's 3-cents/minute rate is low, but every call has a 39¢ connection fee. So, even if you get an answering machine, your call costs 39¢.

10-15-335 has a 3.9¢ per-minute rate for the first ten minutes, and then the rate increases to 4.9¢ per minute. The catch is that there is a ten-minute minimum per call. 10-10 long distance plans are not the great deal they once were.

Unlimited long distance – Flat-rate long distance

If you make more than fifteen hours or so of long-distance calls, a flat rate plan may be worth investigating. AT&T‘s Unlimited Plus plan includes "all you can talk" local calls, plus in state and state-to-state long distance for $29.95. AT&T charges a monthly connection fee in 23 states to recoup charges from some local phone companies. The fee varies, but is generally between $1.25 and $1.75. You can find out if your state is included by consulting the AT&T Web site. AT&T's Unlimited Plus plan does not include local service, and you need to have AT&T local service to qualify for the plan. AT&T's all-inclusive local and long distance plans start at $58.

SaveOnPhone.com recommends an MCI plan - The Neighborhood bundle plan - for users who spend over $60 on local and long distance service. Prices for unlimited calling start at $49.99 (and as low as $39.99 in California). The Neighborhood supplies customers with caller ID, call waiting, speed dial, voicemail, three-way calling and DSL options.

In comparison, a bundled package from Cognigen, $29.99 ZeroCents, for first time customers, has no setup fee, disconnection fee or regulatory assessment fee. Therefore, you'll save a couple dollars over AT&T, but only if you're a first time user.

VoIP plans include both local and long distance calls, along with lots of extras like voicemail and call waiting. Starting at about $25 per month, most VoIP services are cheaper than traditional bundled local/long distance plans. See our report on VoIP for more.

Best Research

Most of the sources in our All The Reviews Reviewed chart, especially SaveOnPhone.com, and The Digest, are ideal for looking up information on specific long distance plans.

For information on the USF fee, see the FCC Web site: http://www.fcc.gov/wcb/universal_service/quarter.html

Consult a provider's Web site to check on availability and rates for your area:

ECG: http://www.dialecg.com

Total Call International: http://www.totalcallusa.com/

Pioneer: http://www.lowestphoneratesonthenet.com/

3U: http://www.3utelecom.com/

CogniState: http://www.cognistate.com

CogniWorld: http://www.cogniworld.com

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