Hello carlosc,
Thank you for your question.
Here are my reviews and thoughts on these three sites. I compared them
on looks and fees, and compared rates to call Greece and Ireland from
the US. Viapin and Uniontelecard are much better in my estimate than
SpeedyPin, which is not a site I would trust or buy from.
------------------------
SpeedyPin--
http://speedypin.com/
I do not like the look of the homepage. It is too crowded and busy.
However, when a selection is made of which countries to call to and
from, such as here:
http://speedypin.com/phone/cards?originationcountry=USA+-+Continental&destinationcountry=Greece&x=17&y=32
the page looks much better and is much better organized. It is an
attractive site that I wouldn't mind ordering from. I like the
colours, the tables are easy to read, it's easy to see the different
types of cards and where to click to buy them.
The card seems to be convenient in that its PIN number is delivered by
email, so you can start use of the card right away if you need it.
However, from what I can see, SpeedyPin is a bit of a ripoff as far as
making calls goes. Most of their billing practices-- such as
three-minute increments-- are standard issue as far as calling cards
go, but they say they deduct 20 percent taxes after each phone call.
That seems QUITE steep to me... and what exactly do they deduct 20
percent of? Do they deduct 20 percent taxes off the calling time you
just used or off the whole card? I personally would not trust any
calling card that uses "taxes" like this on their card because it's
not a legitimate fee. There are NO taxes on calling cards, so this is
a way for a company to say they have low prices and fees, bilk the
customer out of 20 percent of the time they use on a call, and then
blame it on the government! It is not good business practice to say
the least and I personally wouldn't have anything to do with any
company that does this.
Their cards also expire after 90 days, which is not long and is truly
a shame. It also does not provide local area access, which many
international cards do, so it is not up to par in that area.
Look at this card to call Ireland:
http://speedypin.com/prepaid/phone-card/XTC05
As you can see, it charges 10 percent "taxes" after each call.
on the original Ireland table here:
http://speedypin.com/phone/cards?originationcountry=USA+-+Continental&destinationcountry=Ireland&x=23&y=25
that card, the Xtra Clean, the last one in the original column of the
table, advertises "No connect fee, 1 min. rounding, no other fees."
This is NOT TRUE as you can see when clicking on the card to get more
information. 10 percent fees disguised as taxes (which do not exist
for calling card calls) are charged. This makes me not trust the site
and is false advertising. To call a fee a tax and say there are no
fees is nothing less than deceitful.
One more thing about SpeedyPin's site-- they advertise that they are
"hacker safe." I always think it weird to see this on a site and it
makes me wonder why they have to be hacker-safe-- has their security
been compromised in the past by hackers? For most sites, as long as
you have proper security measures in place, it's not necessary to
advertise being hacker-safe. It makes me think that they're trying to
hide a breach of security in the past or something to that effect. For
some people, however, it might give them peace of mind.
-----------------------------
Viapin
http://www.viapin.com/
First of all, the homepage is better-looking than SpeedyPin's by
almost any measure. It is not as busy or crowded and is much better
organized with the layout and features. One thing that I don't like,
however, is the picture of the woman which is prominently featured at
the top. I am distrustful of sites which use the gimmick of a young
woman or man to "appeal" to customers, when the sites are not fashion
or eyewear sites and there's no reason to show a human face. Many
people might appreciate that, however, and that's why sites like these
utilize that technique. Many people realize this "trick," though, and
like me are not trustful of a site that uses it. The page would be
perfectly professional if it were not for that element.
Additionally-- Viapin seems to have a "live chat" element, which I
appreciate in any site. If it works, it is a very nice and convenient
feature for customers.
Looking at Viapin's Mega Clean card to call Greece on this page:
http://www.viapin.com/calling-cards/product.php?CMP=&productid=17001
I see a claim of "A card with ABSOLUTELY NO FEES and pinless dialing
feature. Local access from 18 US States."
This actually does seem to hold true when I click on the "features"
option. The card has no connection fee, no service or maintenance
fees, no taxes, is rounded to the nearest full minute, costs 2.7 cents
a minute, and expires after six months. It is far superior to
SpeedyPin's rates, and I trust this company because it says
"absolutely no fees" and there actually aren't any. In addition, they
don't try to have fees masquerading as "taxes." I trust them and would
certainly buy this card over SpeedyPin's any day.
--------------------------
Uniontelecard
http://www.uniontelecard.com/
Uniontelecard also uses Viapin's technique of happy faces, but these
faces are less prominently featured and don't distract as much from
the site. I do prefer Viapin's site overall compared to this one. On
the Union site, it takes a bit to find the drop down boxes to select a
destination I want to call, and they seem to want me to put in the
name of a specific card before I choose what my destination is. This
could be good for repeat customers, but for first-time customers, you
want to make it as easy as possible to buy your goods. The box to
select a calling destination should be more prominently featured and
above the one to select a specific card.
Looking at their Greece calling cards:
http://www.uniontelecard.com/destinations/30/greece/
They have the same Mega Clean card that Viapin has, but they feature
it second to the Crazy USA card.... However, the Crazy USA card
charges a 30 percent service fee after each call is completed. I
suspect from its prominent featuring on the main page and also on the
country pages that the Crazy USA card is either owned by Uniontelecard
or is giving them more money than the other cards to feature it first.
It does not have better features than the Mega Clean card by any
stretch of the imagination.
I do like the table they have set up on the specific country page
better than the ones that both SpeedyPin and Viapin had. It's clearer,
easier to read and easier to compare each of the different card's
rates to others.
Uniontelecard also has a "live chat" feature which I appreciate.
-------------------------------
Overall, I would definitely choose either Viapin or Uniontelecard to
order from, due to the ease of access of their sites, the live chat
feature, and most importantly, the better selection of calling cards.
I would probably choose Viapin over the others due to its top
featuring of the Mega Clean card, the best deal any of them had to
call Greece. I would not trust SpeedyPin at all due to their "taxes"
and false advertising of no fees.
Search terms:
speedy pin
viapin
Uniontelecard
If you need any additional clarification before rating, let me know
and I'll be glad to assist you.
--keystroke-ga |
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