Cheapest Way To Call Abroad - calling plans - Brief Article

Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine, Jan, 2000

I recently started dating a guy who rives in London, and my first phone bill was astronomical How can I lower the cost?--J.W., BROOKLINE, MASS.

If you direct-dial international calls without a special plan, you could end up paying as much as $1.29 a minute. Even using a dial-around plan could be a big mistake. For example, MCI WorldCom's 10-10-321 charges 64 cents per minute for calls to the U.K. under ten minutes (32 cents per minute for longer calls). But you have plenty of alternatives.

If you call the U.K. frequently, you'll get the best rate by signing up for an international calling plan. AT&T's One Rate International Value Plan charges $3 per month, then 10 cents a minute to London (Sprint costs 10 cents a minute, too, but charges a monthly fee of $5.95). Sprint's Nickel Nights plan costs 5 cents a minute from 7 P.M. to 7 A.M. to Canada and the U.K. (plus $6.95 a month).

If you don't make enough calls to make the monthly fees worthwhile, try AT&T's International Regional PrePaid Card for Europe. It costs $20 (a little less than 13 cents a minute) for a 158-minute card. Or you could pay a l0-cent connection fee plus 10 cents per minute for AT&T's 10-10-345 dial-around plan.

And if all of those options sound too expensive, there's always e-mail--although it may not be as romantic.