I am looking for a suggestion for a US telephone calling card account
where I can dial a toll free number from any phone in US (e.g. hotels)
and enter my calling card & PIN and then make low cost calls (both US
Long distance and also international to UK, Europe and other parts of
the world).  I need it to do a monthly total charge to my credit card
(I think pre-paid cards would probably be too tedious).  A reasonable
monthly fee on top would be OK.

I dont have a US social security number or a residential or business
phone in the US since I am a regular visitor to the US.

dogbreath-ga,

Credit-card-billed calling cards are not nearly as common as prepaid
cards; however, these cards do exist.

Please remember that I am not endorsing any of the following services.
As with any service you purchase, you will want to do your homework to
make sure that the service with be the right one for you.

I have located for you a couple of websites that provide comparison of
a number of companies providing this type of card, and links to those
companies so that you can order their cards, as well as a couple of
other companies providing this service:

"Calling Cards For the Road"
(note that a couple of these require you to have residential
long-distance service with them and will probably not work for you)
http://www.phonemyhome.com/multiple.html
"International Calling Cards from the US"
http://www.phonemyhome.com/intlfrom.html

ABTolls Domestic Calling Card Phone Rate Comparison
(contains cards that call Internationally as well)
http://abtolls.com/compare/callingcard/longdistancerates/cdayrate.html

Everdial's Passport Calling Card
http://www.everdial.com/callingcard.asp

Business Caller LifeLine Connections
http://businesscaller.com/plans/LifelineConnections.html


Search Strategy

calling cards billed to credit card
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credit card billed telephone calling cards
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=credit+card+billed+telephone+calling+cards&btnG=Google+Search

comparison of calling cards credit card
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=comparison+of+calling+cards+credit+card&btnG=Google+Search

calling cards charged to credit card comparison
://www.google.com/search?q=calling+cards+charged+to+credit+card+comparison&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&start=40&sa=N


Before Rating my Answer for this Question, if you have a question or
need addtional information, please post a Request for Clarification,
and I will do my best to assist you.

I hope this provides you with the information you need!

aceresearcher

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Request for Answer Clarification by dogbreath-ga on 27 Oct 2002 22:34 PST

Thanks for this answer - looks like what I need.  I have applied for
CogniCall service which looks like the best on the surface.  Will
activate it tomorrow and see if it works as I expect.  Will then rate
the answer. Thanks.

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Clarification of Answer by aceresearcher-ga on 27 Oct 2002 23:47 PST

dogbreath-ga,

I am delighted to hear that you found my information helpful! If
CogniCall does not work out, and you need additional assistance,
please let me know before Rating my Answer, and I will be glad to help
you out!

Regards,

aceresearcher

Good answer - thanks.  CogniCall does exactly what I require.

I can't believe that no one told you about the calling cards from
Sam's Club.  You can call anywhere in the U.S. for $03.47 per minute.
I bought one card about a year ago - I know the 800 # and my pin
number by heart - it is automatically renewed everytime I run out of
time.  I call my brother in Japan and this card is a real money saver.
 I have 1000 minutes for which I paid $34.95.  For the $34.95 I can
call my brother in Japan and talk to him for 250 minutes!  These cards
simply can not be beat.  No, you won't get a print out report so if
that's what your looking for this card is not for you but if you are
looking to save a bundle of money - go to Sam's Club now!

mr4698-ga,many thanks for your comment, I'll have a look.

Just an update after 7 months of using CogniCall - it has worked
perfectly all the time, especially for International calls + I spend
about $100/month on it, which saves hundreds of dollars.

I have also registered my cell phone number with them and simply call
the Cognicall 1-877 number whenever I am making international calls
from my cell phone since Cingular charged over 20 times as much to
call international directly!

I highly recommend CogniCall